October 24, 2014
Peak period for events, financing and awards
Last Wednesday, CEO Day took place for the 11th time. The event has established itself as a must-attend date on the Swiss start-up scene. However, the latest CEO Day took a significant step forward in the number of innovations, with more intensive contacts and more insights for young entrepreneurs. And in terms of visitor numbers, a new record of more than 600 participants was set, which included 313 start-ups and 106 investors. Our report gives an overview of the day.
The event season is in full swing and startupticker is in the middle of the action. On 6 November, Mobicamp takes place in Bern and will provide authoritative insights into emerging trends in mobile areas, such as the Internet of Things, automotive, mHealth, mobile payments and wearable computing. At this point, we can announce a big Mobicamp promotion: Swisscom is sponsoring 10 tickets for CHF199. To get the promotional code, start-ups simply have to email info@mobicamp.ch with their name and Swisscom mobile number. Tickets are offered on a first come, first served basis.
We still have some tickets for the Swiss ICT Award 2014 in Lucerne. The event with several hundred participants provides start-ups with extensive networking opportunities. If you are interested, send an email to news@startupticker.ch. Registration is open until Sunday.
A whole series of exciting events will be taking place in the first and second weeks of November – take a look at our event calendar.
But it’s not only events that are generating excitement: no less than three rounds of financing were announced this week. Netguardians collected CHF5 million, iMuscian, with the help of investiere, generated about CHF1 million and a little more flowed into Geosatis.
One of the investors in Geosatis is Swisscom: the investment was announced at the end of the Swisscom Venture Challenge, during which five companies, including Geosatis, attended a week-long mentoring programme in Silicon Valley. Our reports tells you how the company was able to benefit from the week.
The award season is also underway. Medtech start-up 1DropDiagnostics won the BCN Innovation prize from Banque Cantonale Neuchâteloise, worth CHF300,000. The nine finalists of the Swiss Technology Award were made known this week, of which six are start-ups. And the application deadline for the Pioneer Award expires on 30 October – an opportunity that start-ups should not miss.
Have a sunny weekend.
Stefan Kyora
Managing Editor, startupticker.ch