This shift is not ideological. It is structural. Private market capital is held longer, governance is closer, and exit environments are more exacting than they were even a decade ago. In that context, environmental exposure, social practices and governance quality do not remain theoretical considerations. They surface as operational realities.
CapiWell was created with this in mind. As a Swiss multi-asset private market capital platform, it connects investors and capital seekers across real estate shares, startup shares, SME lending, consumer lending and academic spin-offs. What unites these very different asset classes is not a label, but a shared requirement for trust, transparency and comparability. ESG, in this sense, is not a theme. It is part of the platform’s architecture. It informs how opportunities are presented, how risks are assessed and how credibility is signalled across the private capital market.
Who this playbook is for
This playbook is written for investors who want private capital exposure without relying on superficial ESG signalling, and who care about governance quality, risk clarity and long-term value. It is equally for founders and borrowers who understand that access to capital increasingly depends on credibility and structure, not just vision. It is also for market participants who recognise that in Switzerland’s private capital market, ESG expectations are no longer implicit. They are increasingly explicit, measurable and priced into funding decisions. And it is for anyone navigating Switzerland’s evolving sustainable finance landscape, where expectations are rising and vague claims are losing ground.
ESG in Switzerland today: solid foundations, higher expectations
Switzerland approaches ESG with a distinctive sensibility. The conversation is typically less emotive and more technical, shaped by a long tradition of fiduciary responsibility and governance discipline. Sustainable finance in Switzerland has evolved less as a values debate and more as an extension of risk management and capital stewardship.
According to Swiss Sustainable Finance, sustainability-related investments in Switzerland reached approximately CHF 1.66 trillion in 2023. What matters is not only the scale, but the direction. Growth has become more measured as methodologies tighten and classifications become more rigorous. The market is consolidating around credibility.
Policy direction reinforces this shift. The Federal Council’s sustainable finance programme for 2022 to 2025 focuses explicitly on data quality, transparency and integrity. At supervisory level, FINMA has made it clear that climate-related and sustainability risks belong in mainstream risk management. Postponement is no longer a defensible position. Even actors outside direct supervision increasingly feel these expectations through financing relationships, investor requirements and counterparties.
For private capital markets, this creates a clear challenge. Private capital has greater influence over outcomes than public markets, yet often operates with less standardised disclosure. The opportunity lies in building systems that translate judgement into repeatable, comparable decisions.
Why ESG matters more in the private capital market
Private capital magnifies consequences. Longer holding periods mean risks compound rather than dissipate. Governance failures are felt more acutely when investors sit closer to decision-making. Exit environments increasingly reward resilience and penalise opacity. What appears manageable in year one can materially affect valuation, refinancing and exit optionality by year five or seven.
This matters at scale. The World Economic Forum estimates that private markets assets under management have grown from roughly USD 4.5 trillion in 2015 to well over USD 13 trillion in recent years. Private capital is no longer peripheral. It is central to economic financing.
At the same time, ESG expectations are hardening internationally. In the European Union, close to half of assets under management now fall under SFDR Article 8 or 9 classifications. Switzerland is not bound by EU regulation, but Swiss companies and investors are exposed through customers, financing partners and exit routes. In practice, this means ESG increasingly shapes access to capital even when it is not formally labelled as such.
One platform, five asset classes, one logic
CapiWell’s defining feature is its multi-asset structure. Real estate shares, startup shares, SME lending, consumer lending and academic spin-offs differ widely in risk profile, time horizon and data maturity. What unites them is the need for trust and decision clarity.
In real estate, ESG is tangible. Energy performance affects operating costs, regulatory compliance and long-term value. Environmental considerations translate directly into pricing and financing conditions.
In startups, ESG is forward-looking. Early-stage companies rarely have long data histories, but they reveal quality through governance discipline, transparency, product responsibility and workforce practices. These signals often predict resilience better than polished sustainability narratives.
In SME lending, ESG strengthens credit assessment. Environmental exposure influences cost stability, social practices affect operational continuity, and governance quality determines reporting reliability. This aligns closely with the risk-based due diligence logic promoted by OECD, where identifying non-financial risks reduces financial surprises.
Consumer lending is often underestimated in ESG discussions. Transparent pricing, responsible lending practices, data protection and complaint handling sit at the heart of regulatory and reputational risk.
Academic spin-offs operate at the intersection of innovation and execution. Their societal relevance is often clear. What determines success is whether governance evolves quickly enough to support commercial scale and investor-grade reporting.
TrustBridge: structuring trust in the private capital market
A recurring challenge in private markets is comparability. Investors are asked to assess very different opportunities across asset classes, often with uneven disclosure.
This is where TrustBridge plays a central role. TrustBridge is CapiWell’s structured scoring and evaluation framework. It assesses both projects and investors across governance quality, transparency, risk disclosure and ESG-relevant factors. It does not reduce decisions to a single number. It provides a common language. By structuring how credibility is assessed, TrustBridge allows ESG considerations to function as decision input rather than narrative overlay.
For investors, this reduces friction and improves consistency. For founders and borrowers, it clarifies expectations. For the platform, it embeds ESG into system design rather than leaving it to interpretation.
The ESG playbook
In practice, ESG only becomes meaningful when it influences decisions. In the private capital market, those decisions look different depending on whether capital is being allocated or sought. The same principles apply, but the responsibilities are not symmetrical.
For investors
For investors, ESG is not primarily about values alignment. It is about reducing avoidable risk, sharpening diligence and creating exit readiness earlier in the investment lifecycle.
Investor move: define a materiality map for each asset class and sector.
Not every ESG factor matters equally. In real estate, climate and energy exposure influence operating costs and future capital expenditure. In SME lending, workforce stability and governance discipline often predict credit risk more accurately than sustainability labels. In startups and academic spin-offs, data governance and decision rights frequently determine whether growth is sustainable or fragile. A clear materiality map helps investors focus attention where it has real financial impact.
Investor move: treat governance as the master variable.
Environmental and social ambitions only become actionable when decision-making structures are clear. Who decides, who reports, who escalates and how incentives are aligned determine whether ESG risks can be managed at all. This is why governance sits at the centre of TrustBridge evaluation rather than being treated as a secondary concern.
Investor move: privilege evidence over volume.
As ESG standards tighten in Switzerland and across Europe, investors are not rewarded for collecting more data, but for relying on data that can be defended. A small number of reliable, auditable indicators tracked consistently over time is more valuable than extensive but unverifiable reporting. Selectivity is discipline.
For founders and borrowers
For founders and borrowers, ESG is not a compliance exercise. It is increasingly the fastest way to become fundable, negotiate better terms and build durable trust with capital providers.
Founder move: build a one-page ESG reality sheet.
This is not a marketing document. It should state clearly what you measure today, what you can realistically measure in the next quarter, where the gaps are and who is accountable for closing them. Investors are generally more comfortable with transparent gaps than with overstated maturity.
Founder move: integrate ESG into how the business is actually run.
ESG becomes credible when it influences reporting routines, decision-making and governance, not when it sits in a separate sustainability document.
Founder move: think about exits earlier than feels necessary.
Buyers, refinancing partners and co-investors increasingly expect governance quality and sustainability risks to be visible and explainable. Businesses that build ESG discipline early preserve optionality later.
This is the logic embedded in the CapiWell platform. TrustBridge does not replace judgement. It structures it. ESG becomes the connective tissue between trust and capital allocation.
What this means in practice
For investors, ESG becomes a tool for pricing discipline and downside protection. Governance clarity, transparency and credible risk management increasingly separate resilient portfolios from fragile ones. Well-structured ESG analysis reduces the likelihood of unpleasant surprises later in the investment lifecycle.
For founders and borrowers, fundability depends less on perfection and more on credibility. Clear baselines, honest disclosure of gaps and realistic improvement paths unlock serious conversations. In many cases, they also improve negotiating position and access to a broader investor base.
Where this leaves Swiss private capital
Switzerland does not lack ESG principles. What it needs are scalable systems that translate judgement into consistent decisions across private markets.
Platforms like CapiWell address this by standardising how opportunities are presented, evaluated and compared, and by embedding governance and ESG considerations through tools such as TrustBridge. Capital becomes easier to allocate well and harder to allocate carelessly. In this sense, ESG is less about changing what good capital is, and more about making expectations explicit.
Q & A: ESG and private capital in Switzerland
Q: What does ESG mean in private capital markets?
A: In private capital markets, ESG refers to how environmental, social and governance factors influence risk, value creation and exit potential over longer holding periods. It is less about ratings and more about governance quality, resilience and transparency.
Q: Is ESG mandatory for private investments in Switzerland?
A: ESG is not formally mandatory for all private investments, but regulatory expectations, investor requirements and market norms increasingly make credible ESG practices essential, particularly for financing and exits.
Q: How is ESG different in private markets compared to public markets?
A: Private markets allow direct influence through governance rights and covenants. ESG therefore shapes decisions and operations, not just disclosures.
Q: What is TrustBridge and how does it evaluate ESG?
A: TrustBridge is CapiWell’s scoring and evaluation framework. It assesses projects and investors across governance, transparency, risk and ESG-relevant factors, making ESG comparable and decision-useful.
Q: How much ESG is required to raise funding in Switzerland?
A: Founders do not need perfect systems. They need a clear baseline, honest disclosure of gaps, defined responsibility and a credible plan to improve.
Q: Why does ESG affect valuations and exits in private capital?
A: Buyers increasingly factor governance quality, sustainability risks and reputational exposure into due diligence. Weak ESG discipline often results in valuation discounts or delayed exits.
References (APA)
Swiss Sustainable Finance. (2023). Swiss sustainable investment market study 2023.
Swiss Federal Council. (2022). Sustainable finance in Switzerland: Areas for action 2022–2025. https://www.sustainablefinance.ch/en/our-activities/platforms-focus-groups.html
FINMA. (2023). Climate risks as financial risks. https://www.finma.ch/en/
World Economic Forum. (2023). Global private markets report. https://www.weforum.org/publications/markets-of-tomorrow-report-2023-turning-technologies-into-new-sources-of-global-growth/
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. (2020). ESG investing: Practices, progress and challenges.https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/esg-investing-practices-progress-and-challenges_b4f71091-en.html
European Central Bank. (2022). Climate-related risks and financial stability. https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/financial-stability-publications/fsr/special/html/ecb.fsrart202205_01~9d4ae00a92.en.html
Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures. (2017). Final report: Recommendations of the TCFD. https://assets.bbhub.io/company/sites/60/2021/10/FINAL-2017-TCFD-Report.pdf
