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SEPTEMBER
THIS IS THE MONTHLY NEWSLETTER BY AND FOR THE BERGOS NEXT COMMUNITY.
INSIDE ISSUE 32
Contents
INTERVIEW WITH PHOENIX MECANO’S CHIEF COMMERCIAL OFFICER INES KLJUCAR
SEPTEMBER 2023
Ines Kljucar
WHY LEARNING IS AN IMPORTANT REASON TO INVEST IN STARTUPS?
Ines is leading Phoenix Mecano’s digital transformation, commercial and digital marketing strategy as well as M&A. Phoenix Mecano is a Swiss-listed company with 8000 employees that manufactures enclosures and mechanical components for industrial uses. She is also an advisor for the US-based fund The Equity Alliance, which invests in venture capital funds and startup founders in the U.S. with a focus on people of color and women. Previously, Ines had leadership roles at Körber Pharma, Bosch Security and Safety Systems, and worked as a consultant for Roland Berger. She studied Economics in Berlin and Salamanca and has an Executive MBA from the renowned business school INSEAD in Fontainebleau (France).
You’re a C-level executive in an industrial firm. What brought you to this position?
When I studied finance, I found numbers not to be as intriguing as corporate strategy. In addition I was always fascinated by technology, even as a kid. When I joined the consultancy Roland Berger, I worked in B2C customer-centric areas such as the go-to-market strategy and category management for the retail and consumer goods industry. Then I joined Bosch, where I had the great chance of working on the transition from a component to a solution company, covering all areas from pricing, channel strategy, sales organization, marketing and many more. I really liked the B2B set-up and technology focus and decided to remain in the industrial environment. Luckily, I always had atypical and interesting positions that included many different aspects including, for example, M&A activities or even running a production side.
Does your interest in startups help you in your daily work or is it more of a pastime?
I work in the manufacturing industry and there are countless useful new things to learn about, for example, various industry 4.0. topics, such as additive manufacturing but also AI-driven industrial use cases, business models and customer acquisition strategies. Startups allow me to stay on top of technological developments that are getting faster and faster. If I wouldn’t read so many due diligence documents, I would never be able to keep up with that many topics. I enjoy this learning journey because I’m curious and want to understand how things work and it keeps me in contact with motivated entrepreneurs with a lot of drive.
What are your investment criteria?
As mentioned before, there are a lot of promising industrial technologies to which I lean naturally. Examples include cloud and additive manufacturing. Also, because of my background in customer-centric domains, I invested in a lead-generation software platform. But most importantly I look at scalability, repetitive business models and the founding team. Thus it can happen that I invest in non-industrial areas, e.g. as was the case with mental health startup Sympatient whose founding team really amazed me. I also invested, outside of Verve, in a ski startup Carv which for me is really a passion project. Both are doing great. One topic that I closely follow now for obvious reasons is climate tech.
In general: Who should think about investing in startups?
I think you need a fair amount of financial literacy and a portfolio of diversified investments across different asset classes. You should define a budget for startup investments, and diversify those investments as well, something Verve helps you with. Another point that is important to me next to financial considerations is investing in Europe. For me, it’s crucial to promote innovation and entrepreneurship in Europe through my investments. I think this is the only way we can create a competitive advantage and continue to play an important role globally.
This interview is a shortened version of the original interview, which was first published by Verve Ventures (here).
Bergos AG is an independent Swiss private bank with headquarters in Zurich and offices in Geneva. It emerged from Joh. Berenberg, Gossler & Co. KG, it has been active in the Swiss financial centre for international private clients and entrepreneurs for over thirty years. The Swiss private bank specializes in asset management and advisory services. For its more than 100 employees, the focus is on providing advice in all known liquid and non-liquid asset classes, as well as in alternative investments such as real estate, private equity or art. It provides entrepreneurial clients with access to M&A and other corporate finance services. Bergos AG offers private clients, entrepreneurs and their families a holistic service spanning several generations, which, in addition to investment recommendations, aims at security, neutrality, internationality and cosmopolitanism.
This publication only serves information and marketing purposes. The information provided here is not legally binding and does not constitute financial analysis, a sales prospectus, asset management, or investment advice, and is not a substitute for legal, tax, or financial advice.
© Copyright Bergos AG.
All rights reserved
BERGOS PODCAST
VOL 159 BRANDING & MARKETING
Last week we turned the tables and Martina Oetiker interviewed Bergos Creative Director Aurelia Rauch about Marketing and Branding.
Click here to listen
BOTTOM UP
Written by Martina Oetiker
EQUITIES BOTTOM UP VIEW
MEGATRENDS
WHAT IS THEMATIC INVESTING?
New long-term trends are transforming the global economy. Thematic investing is about finding companies that are set to benefit from a global structural change backed by the Megatrends, which we believe will drive outperformance compared to global equities in the long-run. Moreover, thematic investing seeks to align asset selection with certain economic, political, and social themes prevalent in modern society. In order to represent a long-term component in the portfolio, we seek to capture the arising opportunities across sectors and geographies.
BOTTOM UP
OBESITY: THE BIG PICTURE
A CHRONIC RELAPSING DISEASE
Overweight and obesity present a risk to health and is classified by the American Medical Association (2013) and the European Commission (2021) as a chronic disease. According to McKinsey, more than 2.1 billion people are overweight or obese; 2.5x the number who are undernourished. The issue has grown to epidemic proportions, with over 4 million people dying each year as a result of being overweight or obese in 2017 according to the global burden of disease. Moreover, obesity is a chronic relapsing disease, which in turn acts as a gateway to a range of other diseases, such as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and cancer.
According to The Lancet, more than half a billion people are living with diabetes worldwide and the disease is affecting men, women, and children of all ages and in every country. The number of people affected is projected to more than double to 1.3 billion people in the next 30 years. The rapid rate at which diabetes is growing is not only alarming but also challenging for every health system in the world, especially given how the disease also increases the risk for ischemic heart disease and stroke.
McKinsey estimates that the global economic impact of obesity is USD 2.0 trillion, an equivalent to the GDP of Italy or Russia. Moreover, McKinsey compares obesity as having the same impact on the global economy as armed conflicts or smoking.
SPOTLIGHT
THE DIABETES TSUNAMI
OBESITY AND ITS IMPACT ON HEALTH-CARE COSTS
Diabetes impacts people of all ages and from all around the globe. It is a disease, where the body does not produce enough insulin or cannot use it as efficiently as it should. Insulin is a hormone that allows glucose (sugar) to enter cells and assists in breaking down fats or proteins for energy. The two main types of diabetes are type 1 and type 2 diabetes. In contrast to type 1, the treatment of type 2 diabetes involves managing lifestyle and nutrition. In some cases, type 2 can even be prevented, delayed or reversed. Almost all global cases are type 2 diabetes.
Furthermore, obesity has a major impact on health-care costs, as this metabolic disorder contributes to cardiovascular disease, stroke, and kidney failure as well as some cancers such as kidney, bowel, and breast. Changing the lifestyle would have a significant impact on the number of people affected by diabetes. A US study, conducted by The Diabetes Prevention Program Research Group, shows that a 7% weight loss accompanied by moderate physical activity decreased the number of diabetes cases by more than 50% among the high-risk population.1
In the past, diabetes tended to be a disease largely clustered among older people and developed economies. However, these demographics are changing rapidly. Today, diabetes is afflicting younger populations and it is spread more globally. The figure below shows that the number of people with diabetes will grow dramatically in regions that continue to have high levels of economic growth.
1 The Diabetes Prevention Program Research Group
SPOTLIGHT
RETHINKING OBESITY
The burden on health-care systems is already high and still rising. Moreover, “the outlook is not encouraging, as recent estimates suggest that globally the number of people with diabetes between the ages 20 and 79 years will increase from 415 million in 2015 (1 in 11 adults) to 642 million in 2040 (1 in 10 adults)”2.
As obesity is the result of a multitude of factors, no single solution is likely to be effective in tackling it. Society’s approach to addressing obesity is by making sure information is available through labelling practices and public health campaigns, weight management plans with explicit goal setting, and material incentives in workplace wellness schemes. One specific example to combat obesity is urban cycling, which improves cardiovascular and mental health and reduces carbon emissions. Some measures are also present in the food industry. In the food and beverage sector, we are increasingly seeing restricted access to high-calorie foods, reduction of portion sizes, reformulation of foods to reduce sugar and fat content, and reduction of promotional activities in expandable categories.
Morgan Stanley research estimates that obesity treatment could quickly become a top-12 global therapy growing from a USD 2.4 billion category in 2022 to a USD 54 billion by 2030. Weight management is also set to become a focus of treatment and Morgan Stanley compares it with the treatment for high blood pressure, which went from a nascent category in the 1980s to a USD 30 billion market in the 1990s. As the market for anti-obesity and weight management drugs develops, investors should look at established large-cap pharmaceutical companies that have new medicines in trials, as well as other large-cap pharma companies with approved treatments for cardiometabolic diseases, as these companies may seek to develop their own weight-management drugs.
The market size for weight management is expected to grow. Lately, the obesity market has received a huge amount of attention due to Wegovy’s success, a drug from Novo Nordisk. Ozempic (diabetes) and Wegovy (obesity), however, face increasing competition from Eli Lilly’s Mounjaro. According to Reuters, Novo, Lilly, and other big drugmakers including Pfizer have said they are working on a second generation of weight loss drugs that improve on Wegovy and Mounjaro by offering pills instead of injections or by potentially leading to greater weight loss. However, not only the availability of new medicines but also policies to make them more affordable should contribute to both, the number of people seeking treatment and the number of prescribers. In the U.S., for example, policy efforts have included a bipartisan effort to expand Medicare coverage to the screening and treatment of obesity with FDA-approved medicines from a diverse range of healthcare providers who specialize in obesity care.
2 Global Economic Burden of Diabetes in Adults: Projections From 2015 to 2030
Source: Morgan Stanley, McKinsey, Reuters, WHO, International Diabetes Federation, Eli Lilly
This publication is for information and marketing purposes only. The provided information is not legally binding and neither constitutes a financial analysis, nor a sales prospectus, an offer for investment-transactions, an asset management mandate or an investment idea and does not substitute any legal, tax or financial advice. Bergos AG (hereinafter “Bergos”) reserves the right to amend the range of services, products and prices at any time without notice. Bergos does not accept any liability for the accuracy, correctness or completeness of the information. Bergos excludes any liability whatsoever with regard to future-related statements mentioned in this publication or any other statements pertaining to returns, capital gains or any other asset increases. This publication has not been prepared in accordance with legal requirements designed to promote the independence of investment research, and is not subject to any prohibition on dealing ahead of the dissemination of investment research. The investment proposals and investment ideas mentioned in this publication have not been adapted to your personal circumstances. Investment decisions should only be made based on your portfolio and should consider your personal situation, as well as the risk appetite and risk tolerance. Since investment proposals and investment ideas show different risk characteristics, we are asking you to read the brochure “Special Risk in Securities Trading” and to contact your relationship manager for further questions. It is possible that Bergos itself or its directors or employees had invested in the past, are investing or plan to invest in the future in those instruments, on which this document contains information or opinions. It is also possible that Bergos performed services for issuers of such investment instruments in the past, still provides them or will provide them in the future. It cannot be ruled out that employees or directors of Bergos worked for example as directors for the issuers of such investment instruments, still work there or will work there in the future. Bergos itself or its directors or employees could therefore have an interest in the future performance of investment instruments. The information is intended solely for the use of the recipient and shall not be passed on to any third party. The reproduction in part or in full without prior written permission of Bergos is not permitted.
© Copyright Bergos AG. All rights reserved.
SEPTEMBER
HOOPING FROM FILM TO FOOD & FROM ART TO DESIGN!
ZURICH DESIGN WEEKS
31 AUGUST – 19 SEPTEMBER 2023
The Zurich Design Weeks offer three weeks packed with creative diversity. Designers, showrooms and brands open their doors and showcase their works.
Highlights for the general public are the Design Biennale Zurich in the Old Botanical Garden, the Circular Circuit and the Poster Safari at various locations in the heart of the city.
Find more here
LATE NIGHT AT THE MUSEUMS
02 SEPTEMBER 2023
On the “Late Night at Zurich’s Museums”, numerous institutions show themselves in a different light and give visitors the opportunity to experience the exhibitions from a completely new perspective. For example, at Zurich Zoo many animals are only active at night – and a visit to the cemetery or the Moulage Museum is all the more creepy at this late hour. The Urania Observatory is particularly spectacular in the dark, and playing football at the FIFA Museum at this time in the evening makes an exciting change.
Find more here
FOOD ZURICH
07 – 17 SEPTEMBER 2023
For 11 indulgent days, Zurich will host more than 100 events on different focus themes. The topics are highlighted at unforgettable dinners in out-of-the-ordinary locations, at professional cooking courses, at tastings or kitchen battles, in urban gardening, or during city tours through Zurich’s gastronomic landscape.
Find more here
ZURICH FILM FESTIVAL
28 SEPTEMBER – 08 OCTOBER 2023
Every fall, thousands of movie enthusiasts and media and film professionals attend the Zurich Film Festival (ZFF) to see one of around 160 movies that are screened over a period of 11 days. The aim of the Zurich Film Festival is to offer larger audiences an insight into the work of young, emerging filmmakers from all over the world and to promote the exchange of ideas between established filmmakers, creative new talent, and the public.
Find more here
“Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall.”
-F. Scott Fitzgerald