Consumers in focus

Dear reader 

Carvolution already has about 100 employees and in addition to its car subscription service, the Bern start-up is working with its subsidiary Farie to digitise the second-hand car trade. The rapidly growing company is stepping on the gas: it has closed a Series D funding round of CHF 16 million and has generated CHF 50 million in total so far.

Carvolution is far from the only B2C start-up we reported on this week; indeed, they are the focus of the TV show Höhle der Löwen. This week, the founders of an online shop for dance shoes definitely secured an investment. However, furniture start-up Livom and the investors did not reach an understanding, despite an initial funding commitment from the lions on the show.

A new type of private bank has launched its services: Alpian combines a digital offer with personal expertise. Traditional private banks are interested only in customers with assets of CHF 5 million or even CHF 10 million; Alpian addresses those who are wealthy, but do not reach this threshold.

Splint Invest has also set up a service for private investors: it provides access to alternative investments in real-world assets such as rare whisky, fine wine and luxury watches. Splint Invest has now secured CHF 150,000 from Venture Kick.

Although Swiss deeptech start-ups may still dominate the Swiss scene, the climate is slowly changing as more and more ambitious B2C start-ups emerge. And the wind is slowly turning on another topic. An increasing number of founders are speaking openly about failure, among them Thomas Estier from Rovenso, who in our article describes the reasons for the robotics start-up’s demise.

Talent Kick supports teams at the very beginning of the journey, and 15 have now received the Spark Kick Award as part of the programme. Twelve companies made it to the final of this year’s MassChallenge Switzerland accelerator programme, of which four come from Switzerland. And the Swiss Technology Award has also announced this year’s finalists.

Speaking of competitions, start-ups have been able to apply for the WA de Vigier Foundation since the beginning of October, and the deadlines for Prix Strategis and the IMD Startup Competition are also running. Our Award Directory provides an overview as always.

Have a good weekend.
Stefan Kyora 

Editor in Chief, Startupticker.ch