Risk-taking founders

Dear reader

EBAMed wants to enable non-invasive therapy for cardiac arrhythmia through external irradiation of the heart with a proton beam. The company was founded five years ago and has now secured CHF 14 million to conduct the first tests on humans.

Stories such as EBAmed’s always bring to mind the widespread belief that Swiss founders are risk-averse. However, at EBAMed, although the technical risks are great, the company is addressing a large existing market. Instead of risk aversion, I see risk appetite and very ambitious goals.

This also applies to DePoly, which is developing a universal chemical recycling process that converts plastics into raw material without affecting the quality. Thanks to CHF 12 million from a seed funding round, the start-up can now build a larger showcase plant to demonstrate the technology at a commercial scale.

Almer wants to conquer a crowded market. Its primary offering, Remote Assistance, provides on-site workers with expert guidance in real-time from anywhere in the world using AR glasses. Thanks to a financing round of CHF 4.5 million, Almer can now develop and produce a second version of its glasses.

However, risk-taking can also lead to difficult situations. Online supermarket Farmy has had to cut costs by 50% over the last six months and needed fresh capital. A financing round of CHF 10.5 million has now been completed – although the valuation was 75% lower than last autumn. With the cost-cutting measures, innovative offers and new capital, Farmy is now aiming to break even.

There was no sign of risk aversion among the winners of the week either. Biosimo secured Venture’s Grand Prize: read our article to discover which start-ups came out on top in the individual verticals. Biosimo, which provides processes for production of bio-based bulk chemicals, follows in the footsteps of EBAMed and DePoly, former winners of Venture’s first prize.

Biosimo itself won CHF 150,000 at Venture Kick a year ago and this week the latest winners of the programme were announced: compagOs will enable personalised medicine for bone cancer patients, and IsoSpec Analytics intends to make drug development and early disease diagnostics more efficient and effective with its molecular fingerprints.

In addition to this news about deeptech start-ups, I would like to share a piece of news from the fintech sector: the Green Fintech Network, launched this week, brings together start-ups and established players with the aim of boosting the green digital finance ecosystem in Switzerland.

Finally, the deadlines for a start-up boot camp and for a call for solutions for a more sustainable urban future, both conducted by Swissnex San Francisco, are fast approaching. And applications for the Watt d’Or are open until 16 July.

Have a good weekend
Stefan Kyora

Editor in Chief, Startupticker.ch