About CFHJ

Meaningful inventions will not only change our life, they will become a core component of our traditions and our culture. Our company, Compagnie Financière de Haute Joux, is committed at supporting culture, traditions and heritage while fostering true innovation.
We invest in impactful technology companies through our investment firm Jolt Capital for growth stage companies, or directly through our balance sheet in early stage companies.
We are also committed to support heritage in multiple forms through our schools and education companies, traditional hotels and restaurants, and through philanthropic contributions.

Meet The Team

Jean Schmitt

Chairman of the Board

Jean is the founder of CFHJ, Jolt Capital. Jean was also Chairman and co-founder of Alma Learning Group, sold in 2017 to Providence Private Equity. Prior to CFHJ, Jean was Managing Partner at Sofinnova Partners, running the IT practice with a focus on telecom and wireless markets.
Preceding his career as an investor, Jean was the CEO and founder SLP InfoWare, which he sold to Gemplus (now Gemalto, XPAR:GTO) in 2000 for €60m and then became VP Telecom Solutions & Applications for the larger group.
Jean graduated from Telecom ParisTech and has a post-graduate degree in Artificial Intelligence. He is senior lecturer at Mines ParisTech and HEC Paris. Jean used to be Chairman of the International Venture Club and Board Member of French trade association of Private Schools.
Jean is currently a board member of NIL Technology,  Interel , Blackwood Seven, Softonic, INSIDE Secure (EURONEXT:INSD), and FOGALE Nanotech. Previously, Jean was a board member of; Esmertec/Myriad (SIX:MYRN),  Authentec  (NASDAQ:AUTH) before its
acquisition by Apple in 2012, Heptagon before its acquisition by AMS (SIX:AMS) in 2016, and most recently Skill & You before its sale to Andera Partners.