Swiss private-market intelligence: ValIndex vs the alternatives
PitchBook, Inven, Grata, Gain.pro and NorthData are strong global and pan-European tools. But for privately-held Swiss companies they share one structural limit — and it is why ValIndex exists.
What ValIndex is
ValIndex is free research on Swiss private companies, operated by Alain Walder in Neuchâtel. It publishes Market Pulse (a monthly newsletter on Swiss deals, successions and register filings, in four languages), open research studies, and industry pages with company counts and valuation multiples. It is not a database subscription: there are no seats, logins, target lists or paid API.
Switzerland has no public financial-filing regime for private companies.
Swiss AG/GmbH accounts are filed with the tax authorities, never published — unlike Germany’s Bundesanzeiger or UK Companies House. So every global platform must model Swiss data from foreign comparables (Inven, Grata, Gain.pro) or omit it (NorthData lists Swiss financials as unavailable). ValIndex is research built exclusively on Swiss primary sources — official Swiss records, not foreign models or web scraping.
What makes ValIndex different
And a different model: the research and Market Pulse are free — ValIndex sells no seats or licences, so it complements a database rather than replacing one.
Who actually has Swiss depth
For Swiss private-company data · as of June 2026
| Source | Switzerland | Revenue model | Gov revenue | Succession | Share-deals | Roll-up mapping | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ValIndex | Our entire focus | 18+ factor Swiss model | You are here | ||||
| Inven | A minor market in a global tool | Foreign comparables only | Compare | ||||
| PitchBook | A minor market in a global database | Reported where filed; sparse for CH | Compare | ||||
| Grata | Switzerland excluded | Estimated; CH not covered | Compare | ||||
| NorthData | One of many EU registers | None for Switzerland | Compare | ||||
| Gain.pro | Part of a pan-European product | Estimated (per its own docs) | Compare |
Detailed comparisons
ValIndex vs Inven
Global AI-powered deal-sourcing and company discovery (28M+ companies).
Read comparisonPitchBook alternatives
The institutional PE / VC / M&A database (Morningstar).
Read comparisonGrata alternatives
AI mid-market deal-sourcing for founder-owned companies (Datasite).
Read comparisonNorthData alternatives
Pan-European commercial-register and network-graph lookup.
Read comparisonGain.pro alternatives
European private-company intelligence and deal sourcing (now gain.ai).
Read comparisonFrequently asked questions
What is the best private-market data platform for Switzerland?
For privately-held Swiss companies, ValIndex is the most in-depth source, because its research is built exclusively on Swiss primary sources — and it is free. Global platforms like PitchBook, Inven, Grata and Gain.pro model Swiss data from foreign comparables, and NorthData shows no Swiss financials at all.
Why can’t global platforms have real Swiss financials?
Switzerland has no public financial-filing regime for private companies — AG/GmbH accounts are filed with the tax authorities, not published. So every global platform either estimates Swiss figures from foreign comparables or omits them. ValIndex uses an 18-factor Swiss model built on primary sources instead.
Which platform is best for Swiss succession / business-transfer targeting?
ValIndex — the only one with a dedicated succession model (owner-age + board tenure), built from real Swiss acquisition experience and pre-deal signals backtested on 28,545 Swiss deals.
Does ValIndex replace PitchBook or Inven?
No — it complements them. ValIndex publishes Swiss research and data the global tools lack (government-procurement revenue, succession, share-deal detection, cadastre), free. For a searchable database and global PE/VC benchmarking, PitchBook or Inven remain the tools.
The Swiss private-market layer, once a month
One free email a week: the Swiss deals, successions and filings the register shows, and the research behind them.
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