Alex Fries
Co-Founder & Partner @ Alpana Ventures
Saratoga, United States
Alex Fries is a seed investor at Alpana Ventures in Saratoga focused on Software and FinTech. Mr. Fries founded Ecosystem Ventures in December of 2005 to address the pending need for investment and support in European technologies and pre-seed-stage companies. Mr. Fries began his career as a telecommunications analyst for Credit Suisse, and went on to build and prepare MCI WorldCom in Switzerland for the European telecommunications liberalization. Mr. Fries then moved on to work as Executive Vice President of sales and marketing for Advance Visual Communications, a Boston-based venture-backed content company sold to USWeb, and as a senior market manager for Europe and Latin America at the Lucent Technologies Wireless Broadband Division. Mr. Fries brings over 20 years of progressive experience in founding, funding, and managing global businesses that provide technology, products, and services to telecommunication operators, enterprises, and consumers. His most recent entrepreneurial experiences include the co-founding of Playspan Inc (e-commerce & mirco-payment platform for online gaming) and sold to VISA International in 2011 , SDK Biotechnologies Inc. (Diagnostics) and PURE SWISS AG (Beverage brand). In 2001 Mr. Fries also co-founded the ETH spin-off SVOX AG, a venture-backed company in Switzerland, where he led the marketing, business development, and strategic partnerships teams and sold to Nuance Communications Inc in 2011. Mr. Fries is founder of the European-American Angels Club, a Silicon Valley-based organization that actively invests in European Start-ups. He also heads the Club Entrepreneur, a sub-chapter of the Swiss-American Chamber of Commerce in Northern California, where he is also a member of the Board of Directors. In 2010, Mr. Fries was also appointed to the Board of the Social Entrepreneurship Initiative, the first of its kind in Switzerland. Mr. Fries received a BA in finance and an M.B.A. in telecommunications and international marketing from the University of San Francisco. Prior to moving to the United States, Mr. Fries accomplished a Swiss Banking Diploma at UBS. He has lived in Hong-Kong, Switzerland, Chile, and the USA, and speaks fluent German, Spanish, French, and English. This background allows Mr. Fries to interact professionally in a multilingual, multicultural business environment.
- Total investments:
- 12
- Last investment:
- Lead investor:
- 25%
Last updated:
For AI agents: llms.txt
Industries Alex Fries invests in
Stages Alex Fries invests in
Countries Alex Fries invests in
Contacts
| Type | Contact | Validation |
|---|---|---|
| Work email | ||
| Personal email | ||
| Work phone | ||
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Investment Focus
Industry
- Software 3 (25%)
- FinTech 2 (17%)
- Health Care 2 (17%)
- Financial Services 2 (17%)
- Apps 1 (8%)
Stage
- Seed 5 (42%)
- Series A 3 (25%)
- Angel 1 (8%)
- Convertible Note 1 (8%)
Country
- United States 5 (42%)
- Switzerland 2 (17%)
Investments
| Company | Description | Round | Links |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tinamu Labs has developed a technology that converts commercially available drones into camera equipment reaching professional standards. | $1.2M / Seed / Aug 25, 2020 | ||
| GYANT is a digital front door solution for health systems that uses AI to navigate patients to the right care setting and relevant in-network resources. GYANT helps health systems implement digital patient journeys to effectively capture new patients, efficiently serve existing ones, and drive process automation across the enterprise. | $13.6M / Series A / Jul 15, 2020 | ||
| GYANT is a digital front door solution for health systems that uses AI to navigate patients to the right care setting and relevant in-network resources. GYANT helps health systems implement digital patient journeys to effectively capture new patients, efficiently serve existing ones, and drive process automation across the enterprise. | $2.4M / Seed / Jun 14, 2019 | ||
| Stoovo's mission is to redefine how delivery companies operate, focusing on the crucial "last meter" that traditional systems ignore. | Seed / Jun 01, 2019 | ||
| Altoida is creating a new gold standard in brain health with Precision Neurology. We're radically transforming the method for measuring brain function and diagnosing neurological disease, using just your smartphone or tablet.Our products are backed by more than 20 years of innovative research in digital biomarkers, augmented reality (AR),and artificial intelligence (AI).Altoida received FDA Breakthrough Device Designation in July 2021. Our first device is a Computerized Cognitive Assessment Aid that is classified as Class II, 510(k) exempt. | $6.3M / Series A / May 23, 2019 | ||
| GYANT is a digital front door solution for health systems that uses AI to navigate patients to the right care setting and relevant in-network resources. GYANT helps health systems implement digital patient journeys to effectively capture new patients, efficiently serve existing ones, and drive process automation across the enterprise. | $6.2M / Seed / Jun 06, 2018 | ||
| Altoida is creating a new gold standard in brain health with Precision Neurology. We're radically transforming the method for measuring brain function and diagnosing neurological disease, using just your smartphone or tablet.Our products are backed by more than 20 years of innovative research in digital biomarkers, augmented reality (AR),and artificial intelligence (AI).Altoida received FDA Breakthrough Device Designation in July 2021. Our first device is a Computerized Cognitive Assessment Aid that is classified as Class II, 510(k) exempt. | $750K / Convertible Note / May 22, 2018 | ||
| Car IQ’s cutting-edge payments platform eliminates the credit card completely and connects your vehicle directly to merchants to make secure payments. Car IQ integrates with existing tech stacks and uses telematics and vehicle data to provide fleets with detailed vehicle insights, enabling them to monitor each transaction and prevent fraud. Car IQconsolidates all transactions into a single ledger, reducing reconciliation and enabling fleets to manage their spending more effectively. | $815K / Seed / Feb 01, 2018 | ||
| Altoida is creating a new gold standard in brain health with Precision Neurology. We're radically transforming the method for measuring brain function and diagnosing neurological disease, using just your smartphone or tablet.Our products are backed by more than 20 years of innovative research in digital biomarkers, augmented reality (AR),and artificial intelligence (AI).Altoida received FDA Breakthrough Device Designation in July 2021. Our first device is a Computerized Cognitive Assessment Aid that is classified as Class II, 510(k) exempt. | $1.2M / Seed / Dec 16, 2016 | ||
| Verve Ventures is a European startup investment platform for qualified and institutional investors. Their fully digital platform enables private investors to build a diversified portfolio with investments starting at CHF/EUR 10'000. Since its launch in 2010, Verve Ventures has invested more than EUR 130 million in over 100 startups. Their community consists of 5’000 registered qualified private investors, family offices, and pension funds. Several institutional investors such as a large Swiss pension fund and numerous corporates also rely on their expertise to invest in promising startups. Verve Ventures is backed by Switzerland's third-largest bank, Zürcher Kantonalbank. They have a dedicated investment team based in Zurich, Lausanne, Berlin, Paris, and Cambridge, that screens thousands of startups each year and selects the top 1% after a rigorous due diligence process. They are reshaping the European venture capital landscape and granting investors superior access to this traditionally intransparent asset class. They source the best deals, and structure rounds, and enable their investors to participate in competitive startup deals. | Series A / Jan 01, 2014 | ||
| See all 12 investments → | |||
Co-Investors
About Alpana Ventures
Alpana Ventures is a Swiss VC focusing on digital transformation.Since 2016 we backed 45 founder teams with 3 Funds, supporting them in their journey towards a positive impact.Committed to value creation, we discover deep tech solutions in Switzerland, Europe and the US.We invest to embed them into innovative business models and back them tobecome global market leaders.Applying ESG criteria, our portfolio companies help create a more sustainable future.
Alpana Ventures Contacts
| Name | Phone | Socials | |
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Christophe Chemtob
Co-Founder
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Guillaume Marit
Operations Manager
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Nathalie Chemtob
Co-Founder
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Pascal H. Widmer
Co-Founder
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FAQ
What does Alex Fries invest in?
Alex Fries invests primarily in Software, FinTech and Health Care startups, most often at Seed and Series A stage. Most of the 12 investments tracked by Shizune back companies in United States. The Investment Focus section breaks down every industry, stage and country in the portfolio.
How do I contact Alex Fries?
Public channels for Alex Fries include LinkedIn. For a verified work email and phone number, create a free Shizune account — contact data is searched across 20+ sources and validated before delivery, so your outreach lands in the right inbox.
When did Alex Fries last invest?
The most recent investment recorded for Alex Fries closed in Aug 2020. Shizune tracks 12 investments in total for this profile, including round sizes, stages and portfolio companies, all sourced from confirmed public funding rounds and refreshed monthly.
Is Shizune's investor data accurate?
Yes — every stat on this profile is calculated from confirmed public funding rounds monitored across hundreds of sources since 2020. This profile was last refreshed in Oct 2026 and is updated monthly. Spotted something off? Use the “Suggest an edit” link near the top of the page.
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