Second chance at success

Dear reader

Samuel Welten’s initial business idea for measuring UV light came to a standstill when he failed to complete a financing round. He abandoned the start-up route and joined the corporate world. A second chance from an American investor allowed him to give his idea another try, leading to the launch of his new start-up Ink-U-Beta with its flagship product sun-a-wear. The product is now on the market via the company’s online store and digitec.

Voltiris has had a more steady road to becoming operational. Following years of research and testing, the start-up has attracted its first commercial customer for which it will install its photovoltaic panels designed to maximise sunlight for crop growing and produce renewable energy. Meanwhile, two EPFL start-ups, Swistor and IsoSpec Analytics, are still in their initial stages of developing high-energy and ultra-fast charging energy storage devices and analytical tools to reduce the failure rate in drug development, respectively. EPFL’s Innogrant will enable them to reach the next stage.

Five start-ups also received funding, with Coachbetter attracting Robert Blum on to its board as an investor and strategic advisor. Blum is an experienced entrepreneur and technology expert and founder of Switzerland’s leading loyalty platform Poinz. Several renowned venture capital firms, including TX Group, have invested in peer-to-peer crypto lending platform CLST,  Swisscom Ventures led xFarm Technologies’ series B round, and Agora Care obtained funds for its clinical development. Corintis, which develops cooling solutions for chips, has received CHF 150,000 from Venture Kick.

A US study by ETH spin-off Auterion showed that more than 64% of respondents would consider drones as a delivery channel, thus demonstrating the potential of its partnership with Walmart. The start-up will enable the retail giant to use drone transport with 34 drone centres in the US. Digital health platform heyPatient and fintech company Amnis are also doing business in new countries.

Southern Switzerland gets a new programme to support start-ups in the region. Ten teams developing impact-driven businesses have been selected by Impact Hub Ticino to join its new five-month Impact Cub incubator.

For Swiss start-ups seeking funding for their innovation projects from the EU, European support programme Eurostars has launched the second call for applications. It was unaffected by the third country status of Switzerland in relation to Horizon Europe and thus Swiss start-ups can benefit. The deadline expires on 15 September.

The application window for further programmes, including the Social Impact Accelerator, Swiss Technology Awards and Cyber Start-up Challenge Award, closes in the coming weeks. And check out our events calendar and sign-up for some of Switzerland’s start-up and ecosystem gatherings.

Have a relaxing summer break.

Ritah Ayebare Nyakato
Duty Editor, Startupticker