An ex-Credit Suisse banker's luxury fintech is hiring a prominent former Uber executive to run its operations. The move comes ahead of a planned coin offering to raise as much as 30 million Swiss francs to fund development.
Marco Abele, who launched luxury firm Tend after leaving Credit Suisse last year, is hiring Rasoul Jalali as the firm's operating chief, according to a statement. Jalali is a Swiss engineer who ran Uber in Germany, where it was banned two years ago, as well as Switzerland and Austria until earlier this year.
In August, he invested in Pegasus Digital, a Swiss firm which promotes digital startups, and joined its board.
«Rasoul Jalali will be responsible for providing Tend with an effective, scalable growth model, allowing the platform to continuously expand its customer base and global network of investors,» Tend said in a statement.
Brand Evangelist
The startup also said that branding expert Erich Joachimsthaler will be a strategic advisor. Joachimsthaler founded consulting firm Vivaldi 18 years ago, and is a sought-after speaker on brands and technology.
Tend plans is to sell tokens entitling clients to experience luxuries such as driving a 1973 Porsche Carrera or accompanying a concert pianist from rehearsal to concert hall. The firm, which also plans to sell coins to raise as much as 30 million Swiss francs, said it completed test rounds of its product with a group of initial users.
