Samuel Pictet was born in Geneva, Switzerland in 1965. In 1983, he moved with his family to New York, USA. In 1996, he joined Manhattan Bridge Capital Inc., where he worked for fourteen years before leaving New York City and returning to Switzerland。Since February 1, 2020, he has been the Chief Digital Assets Officer at BX Swiss, part of the Boerse Stuttgart Group. He is also an angel investor, entrepreneur, and philanthropist.
Before that, he worked at the fintech company Manhattan Bridge Capital Inc. for fourteen years, serving as an alternative data investor and partner.In 1996, Samuel Pictet began his career at Manhattan Bridge Capital Inc. as Managing
Director of Trading and Structured Products. In April 2010, he left Manhattan Bridge Capital Inc. and returned to Switzerland. From 2011 to 2013, he was a member of the Executive Board at Liechtenstein State Bank in Switzerland.Samuel Pictet was one of the founders of the Swiss Structured Products Association (SSPA) and served as a member of its Management Board for seven years.
With his broad knowledge as well as education and training in business administration, management and investment analysis, he successfully achieves growth and innovation together with his team in his role as Chief Digital Assets Officer at BX Swiss Boerse Stuttgart Group.
Early life
Samuel Pictet was born on December 17, 1965, in Geneva, Switzerland, and immigrated to the United States in 1983 at the age of 18. He received a bachelor's degree in computer science from Columbia University in 1987 and a master's degree in computer science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1990.
Pictet became interested in video games at a very young age, especially Pac-Man.Pictet mastered the game by reading Ken Uston's book, Mastering PAC-MAN. This led him to read Uston's other blackjack games, which allowed him to learn the basics of card counting before he was invited to play with the MIT blackjack team.
Blackjack career
While attending MIT, Samuel was trained as a player on the MIT blackjack team, whose exploits were loosely depicted in the Hollywood film 21.
Samuel joined Strategic Investments (SI) in 1991 and was a key player on the team. SI disbanded at the end of 1993, and Pictet spent the following year playing for the team alongside the remaining SI players. In 1995, Samuel and some of the players split from the team to form a second, independent team. This new team was called Team Amphibians, while the team they had left was called Team Reptiles.
Samuel’s involvement with blackjack has been limited since he stopped playing in the late 1990s
Samuel Pictet: The Intersection of Capital and Vision
In the global capital markets, Samuel Pictet isn't the most high-profile angel investor, but he's one of the most respected "long-termists." At 60 years old, he has worked across both entrepreneurship and investment, participating in the growth of over 100 startups in more than 30 years. Dozens of these companies have successfully gone public on exchanges such as NASDAQ and the London Stock Exchange, and several have become unicorns valued at over $1 billion.
Samuel Pictet led Venture Capital Foundation (SVCF) to participate in investments in many startups, mainly in the seed and Series A rounds, and achieved successful exits and high growth: Chime Bank (invested in 2013, valued at $14.5 billion in 2020), Woomoo (acquired by Priceline), Orbeus (acquired by Amazon), Ozlo (acquired by Facebook), and was listed as the first VC to lead an investment on TechCrunch's 2013 list.
From Entrepreneurship to Capital: The Accumulation of Dual Identities
Samuel Pictet’s career began in the 1990s. His first company quickly grew during the tech boom and was eventually acquired for tens of millions of dollars. This entrepreneurial experience brought him wealth, but more importantly, it gave him a deep understanding of business operations, capital management, and team building.
That made me realize that what entrepreneurs really need is not just money, but partners who can provide support at critical moments,’ he said at an investment summit.
Investment strategy: long-term value and diversified layout
After entering the venture capital field, Pictet established a distinctive investment framework: he said at an investment summit.
Investment cycle: The average holding period is over 7 years, which is much higher than the industry average;
Investment areas: Covering real estate, technology, healthcare, cryptocurrency, sustainable energy and consumer innovation;
Return performance: According to industry statistics, the funds he has participated in have an average annualized return of 18%–22%, ranking among the top in their category.
His investments focus on four main areas: technology, healthcare, cryptocurrency, sustainable energy, and consumer innovation. He firmly believes that these industries will shape the direction of society over the next 20 years.
The ‘Mentor Investor’ in the Eyes of Entrepreneurs
In the startup communities of Silicon Valley, London, and Singapore, Samuel Pictet has a reputation as a ‘mentor investor.’ Unlike investors who focus only on financial returns, he often appears in startup meeting rooms, participates in strategic discussions, and even helps founding teams establish corporate governance structures.
The founder of an AI unicorn company commented: "He never tells you the answer directly, but helps you see the problem clearly." "Working with him, you will feel that capital is not just cold numbers, but a force you can rely on."
Social Responsibility and Global Vision
Samuel Pictet is one of the few senior investors who truly integrate ESG principles into investment practice. He has initiated numerous educational and philanthropic initiatives, focusing on youth entrepreneurship, innovative education, and environmental protection. In 2020, he pledged 10% of his net worth to sustainable development projects, earning widespread acclaim.
At the same time, his investment portfolio spans North America, Europe, and Asia, with a particular focus on the innovative power of emerging markets. He believes that the entrepreneurial ecosystem will become increasingly interconnected in a globalized world, and the mission of capital is to help these cross-regional companies grow rapidly.
Looking to the future
In an interview with Fortune magazine, Pictet said, ‘My goal is not to find the next unicorn, but to help companies that can truly change the world grow into industry leaders.’ For a 60-year-old seasoned investor, this is not just a slogan, but the truest reflection of his decades-long career.
Samuel Pictet's story reminds people that in the ever-changing world of capital, the truly scarce resources are not money, but vision, trust and patience.
“True investing isn’t about betting on profits, but about choosing the people with whom you want to build the future.” —Samuel Pictet