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SAFE for Swiss Startups

Simon Roth
Simon Roth
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In 2013, Y Combinator introduced the Simple Agreement for Future Equity (SAFE) that has become the de facto standard for early-stage fundrasing in the US. Responding to market demand, we have adapted Y Combinator's template to Swiss law and used it in a recent funding round with US investors. You can download the template here for free.

We have previously explained how to match a SAFE to Swiss law. Leveraging on this analysis, we have adapted Y Combinator's template (with a valuation cap) to work for Swiss stock corporations. As explained in our earlier post, our approach is to make the SAFE a convertible loan under Swiss law. The loan converts into equity at the occasion of the next equity financing round. Our template also provides for subordination of the loan, which is junior to other debts of the startup.

The template has been tested in practice. We successfuly implemented an equity financing round for our client with US investors based on such a SAFE.

You can download our template for free for use in your financing rounds. It is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. We do not we make any representation or warranty of any kind regarding the accuracy, adequacy, validity, reliability, availability or completeness of the document in your case. 

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