Mar 18, 2025

Firm – Mar 18, 2025 SaaS veteran and long-time Nexthink C-level executive Yassine Zaied joins Swiss VC Vi Partners as Operating Partner to accelerate scaleups Altendorf, Switzerland, January 20, 2025 - Yassine Zaied, a veteran of SaaS scaleups and former Chief Marketing & Strategy Officer at Nexthink - the leader in digital employee experience (DEX) management software - will join Vi Partners as Operating Partner starting April 2025. Since joining Nexthink in 2008, Yassine played a pivotal role in establishing Digital Employee Experience (DEX) management as a distinct market category, a strategy that contributed to Nexthink's current leadership position in Gartner’s rankings. An EPFL spin-off, Nexthink’s first institutional investor was VI Partners, whose then Managing Partner, Alain Nicod, served on the company’s board until 2019. Since its early days, Nexthink has grown from a pioneering startup in digital employee experience (DEX) analytics to a global leader in the field, securing multiple funding rounds from top-tier investors. Nexthink counts among its investors and board members legendary names like Neil Rimer at Index Ventures, Fergal Mullen at Highland Europe, and Bruce Chizen at Permira. Prior to Nexthink, Yassine held senior business development positions focused on growth and partnerships across the Middle East and emerging markets. He holds an MBA from IMD and is fluent in four languages. “The most effective go-to-market strategy involves creating your own product category,” said Yassine Zaied. “I am eager to help Vi Partners’ portfolio companies become leaders in their respective categories. This is also a way for me to give back to Vi Partners and the Swiss ecosystem, as Vi Partners was the first investor in Nexthink and an unwavering supporter over the years.” “Yassine's approach centers on redefining market boundaries by focusing on customer challenges and creating entirely new market categories,” said Gaetano Zanon, Managing Partner at Vi Partners. “We want him to inspire our founders with the mindset of, ‘So what if we don’t fit into a market? Let’s create our own!’” “Having Yassine onboard to support our portfolio companies will be an immense asset,” added Olivier Laplace, Managing Partner at Vi Partners. “His expertise in go-to-market strategies and market positioning will greatly accelerate the success of our scaleups.” “Seeing a portfolio company veteran like Yassine - who collaborated closely with Vi Partners during his executive tenure - join us to support the next generation of startups is a testament to the quality of support Vi Partners provides,” said Marco Meyrat, Chairman of the Board of Venture Incubator AG, Vi Partners’ historical evergreen fund, which was the first investor in Nexthink. Meyrat is also a member of the board of Hilti AG and a Trustee of the Martin Hilti Family Trust.