Fintech startup Aktionariat was established with the vision to transform how companies interact with their investors, making the process more accessible and efficient. Despite having more than 50 companies using the platform, this business model is unsustainable. The startup has thus decided to focus on providing technical tools to a blockchain-affine audience.
Founded in 2022, Akionariat leverages blockchain technology to enable companies to create a market for their shares directly on their websites, thereby facilitating direct transactions with investors and bypassing traditional IPO processes. Positioned as a technology provider, it developed Brokerbot to tokenize company shares, trade and manage them in a fully automated way. Brokerbot integrates with DeFi and other applications on the Ethereum blockchain. This would allow small but robust companies with steady growth that are not ambitious enough for venture capitalists, but that deliver long-term value, to secure funding.
Having over 50 tokenized companies on public blockchains with tens of thousands of investors, Aktionatiart has one of the best track records of tokenizing shares on a public blockchain. However, the current business model would require hundreds if not thousands of issuers to catapult Aktionariat towards the ambitious goal of one day becoming a unicorn. This demand has not materialized despite its strong marketing and sales efforts.
Despite this record performance, strong marketing and sales efforts, Aktionariat found that it lacked a good product-market-fit, and the current business model would require hundreds if not thousands of issuers to catapult the company towards the ambitious goal of one day becoming a unicorn.
New focus: Blockchain-affine customers only
Going forward, Aktionariat will focus on providing technical tools – such as integrated ENS (Ethereum Name System) registration and support listings on sites like Etherscan and Coinmarketcap – to a blockchain-affine audience. The core products will thus consist of three symbiotic components, the corporate dashboard for issuers, a portfolio view (app or web) for token holders, and investor relations pages to build a bridge between the two, including old and new possibilities for the trading of security tokens.
“By focusing more on delivering promising technology to users who have an intrinsic interest in blockchain technology, we can spend less time on making our offering appealing to a traditional audience and can deliver new features with a smaller team and at a faster pace”, noted the company in its announcement. “We will continue working with existing clients and investors. The existing tools will continue working as usual, as most of the features we are planning to cut are the ones that we see are not being used,” explained Murat Ögat, Co-founder & CEO.
For current holders of Aktionariat share tokens (DAKS), Aktionariat is planning a secondary transactions feature to allow token holders to publicly offer their shares for sale. The company will also continue to provide useful tools for investors who want to manage their security token portfolio and connect with issuers.
(RAN)
The new Swiss Venture Capital Report was published on 26 January. It analyses 304 financing rounds closed in 2020 and includes further article such as an interview with Michael Hengartner, President of the ETH Board, and a list of Swiss "soonicorns". 
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