Altendorf, Switzerland, October 27, 2025. Vi Partners, Switzerland’s longest-established venture capital firm, is proud to have been the first institutional investor in Nexthink, the EPFL spin-off recently acquired by Vista Equity Partners, who took a majority stake in a in a transaction valuing the company at $3 billion. This marks one of the largest technology exits in Swiss history and positions Nexthink as one of Europe’s most successful enterprise software companies. 

Founded in 2001 by ETH Zurich and McKinsey Switzerland, Vi Partners backs visionary founders building global companies in technology and healthcare. 

“The Nexthink story perfectly illustrates what long-term partnerships between entrepreneurs and investors can achieve,” says Olivier Laplace, Managing Partner at Vi Partners. “As we fundraise for our new fund, we are excited to continue this mission and help shape the next generation of Swiss and European technology and healthcare leaders.” 

Long-term conviction, early-stage support 

Vi Partners first met Pedro Bados, co-founder and CEO of Nexthink, when the company was still at the prototype stage. The investment was led by Alain Nicod, who served on the company’s board for over a decade. He followed the founders closely for over a year before leading the company’s first institutional funding round. 

At the time, Nexthink had just spun out of EPFL and faced all the uncertainties typical of early deep tech ventures. What Vi Partners saw was a product with unique technical foundations and a team with a strong international mindset. Over the years, Vi Partners helped shape the foundation of Nexthink’s success by: 

• Introducing strategic early hires, including Yassine Zaied, who became the company’s first commercial leader and later Chief Marketing and Strategy Officer. He played a central role in building Nexthink’s global sales engine and is now an Operating Partner at Vi Partners, supporting the firm’s most recent portfolio companies. 

• Facilitating connections with strategic customers, including large Swiss corporates that also back Vi Partners’ funds, which validated the product for enterprise use. 

• Advising the founders to rethink early acquisition offers when it looked like an easy path. Vi Partners supported the founders with trust, but also challenged them to think bigger. 

• Introducing and syndicating several of the future lead investors who were instrumental in scaling the business in subsequent financing rounds. 
  
  “The most effective go-to-market strategy is to create your own category,” says Yassine Zaied, Operating Partner at Vi Partners. “That was our mindset at Nexthink, and I want to bring that same mindset to Vi Partners’ new generation of founders.” 

  “Our early conviction in visionary founders like Pedro Bados reflects our long-standing focus on deep tech and Swiss-born global innovation,” says Diego Braguglia, Managing Partner at Vi Partners. 

  
  A new chapter for Swiss and European venture capital 

  The acquisition of Nexthink comes as the latest milestone in a series of high-profile outcomes for Vi Partners-backed companies. Over the past two years: 

  • Araris Biotech, a spin-off from ETH Zurich, was acquired in a deal worth up to USD 1.14 billion. 

  • JenaValve was acquired by Edwards Lifesciences. 

  • Oculis, a Lausanne-based biotech company, went public on NASDAQ and has doubled in value since its IPO, recently surpassing a USD 1 billion market capitalization. 

  • Kuros Biosciences continues to deliver strong public market performance and has crossed the CHF 1 billion market capitalization threshold. 

  Meanwhile, SumUp, another Vi-backed company, was recently reported by the Financial Times to be exploring an IPO in the range of USD 10 to 15 billion. 

  “As we open the next chapter with a new fund now in fundraising, we are excited to continue our mission of backing exceptional founders from Switzerland and Europe,” adds Gaetano Zanon, Managing Partner at Vi Partners. “The momentum we are seeing across our portfolio confirms that the European innovation ecosystem is reaching new levels of global relevance.” 

   

  About Nexthink 

  Nexthink is the leader in digital employee experience management software. The company provides IT leaders with unprecedented insight allowing them to see, diagnose and fix issues at scale impacting employees anywhere, with any application or network, before employees notice the issue. Through agentic AI and cutting-edge solutions, Nexthink enables thousands of customers to provide better digital experiences and enhanced employee productivity to millions of employees. Dual headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland and Boston, Massachusetts, Nexthink has 9 offices worldwide. Learn more on: www.nexthink.com  
   

  About Vi Partners 

  Vi Partners is the longest-established Swiss Venture Capital firm. Since 2001, Vi Partners has been supporting innovative Technology and Healthcare companies, investing CHF 400m in 73 startups. Vi Partners-managed funds are backed by Switzerland’s most visible companies and institutions, including ETH Zurich, ABB, Bühler, UBS, Hilti, McKinsey, Nestlé, Schindler, Sulzer, Suva and ZKB as well as the European Investment Fund and many other institutional investors. Learn more on: www.vipartners.ch