Kickstart Accelerator: Which startups made the greatest progress?

Before the startups pitch, they will attend a series of investor presentations at ewz Unterwerk Selnau, an old transformer station, that will consist of a fireside chat, titled ‘International Investment Global Tech Trends,’ and a panel discussion, titled ‘Local Investors: Venture Arms of Corporations’. The participating startups, from across the programme’s four verticals; Fintech, Smart & Connected Machines, Future & Emerging Technologies and Food, will learn about the trends that excite investors, the factors they consider when choosing to invest in startups and the different opportunities for investment in Zurich. The session will include presentations from Gina Domanig, managing partner at Emerald Technology Ventures and David Brear, founder and CEO of banking and fintech service designers, 11 FS, among others.

Pitching session with investors, corporates and three awards
The second session, which will be held at the University of Zurich, will provide the startups with an opportunity to pitch their products and demonstrate their progress to a panel of international investors, corporates and mentors. The startups will compete for three awards: Best Startup Pitch (for each of the four verticals – Fintech, Smart & Connect Machines, Future & Emerging Technologies, and Food), Social Media Award and Audience Award. The best startups from each category will win a series of experience- based prizes, as well as having the opportunity to pitch to a wider audience of investors and to win additional funding of up to 1000 CHF at the Swiss StartUp Day in Bern, 24 – 25 October. The participating startups will also receive the remainder of their grant funding (5,000 CHF).

“We are excited to see how the startups and their products have developed since the beginning of Kickstart Accelerator. The startups benefitted from the close relationships with major corporate players and the startup ecosystem of Switzerland in this short amount of time,” commented Roger Wüthrich-Hasenböhler, Chief Digital Officer of Swisscom.

“Funding of Fintech startups has more than doubled in the last few years. Thus, the investors will be keen to see those startups building the base for the financial centre of tomorrow,” added Holger Greif, Leader Digital Transformation, PwC Switzerland.

The entire demo day will be live streamed on Kickstart Accelerators’ Facebook page and will be available to rewatch after the event via the following link: https://www.facebook.com/KickstartAccelerator .

Later this month, the Kickstart Accelerator team will also be attending Sibos and holding Office Hours in collaboration with Innotribe at the event. This will provide an opportunity for the Innotribe team and the programme’s cohort of startups to receive key insights from Eric Van der Kleij, fintech and special advisor to Kickstart Accelerator, and some of the fintech vertical’s corporate partners, as well as connecting for one-to-one feedback sessions with some of the world’s most experienced executives in the financial services industry and speakers at Sibos.