The whole year in a week

Dear reader

This year has brought challenges and surprises for everyone, and this week many of them were repeated all over again; for example, with the tightening again of measures by the Federal Council to combat the corona crisis. However, positive surprises in the start-up scene continued, with a high number of financing rounds – we reported on 11 investments this week.

The security specialists from NetGuardians secured the largest amount with CHF 17 million, EUR 7 million went to Flyability and CHF 5.5 million went to OnlineDoctors. The digital health start-up’s financing round is an example of how corporates have not withdrawn from the market, as was feared at the beginning of the pandemic. OnlineDoctor’s lead investor is SwissHealth Ventures, the venture arm of health insurer CSS.

Other corporates also provided positive news. Nestlé is an investor in the new bioeconomy venture fund ECBF. F10 has also created a new funding vehicle for the best graduates of its F10 Incubation programme in Zurich, with F10, SIX and Generali Switzerland as investors. The first four investments were announced this week and included two Swiss fintech start-ups, Aequitec and Mitra.

The year also presented major challenges for the Swisscom Startup Challenge team. However, it overcame them and now the five winners have been determined. With the help of Swisscom and partners Ericsson and Qualcomm, they will continue to drive their 5G-related projects forward.

IMD has also named the winners of this year’s Startup Challenge, with a total of 38 very promising Swiss start-ups selected. Miraex prevailed at Venture Kick and thus received CHF 150,000.

Speaking of awards, in addition to Venture Kick, to which founders can apply at any time, application deadlines for numerous important awards are running – our Awards Directory provides an overview. Registration is already open for participation in Startup Days next May, and our article explains what the new team is planning.

Swiss Venture Capital Report will be published in collaboration with Seca at the end of January. If you would like to order a free printed copy, you can do so in your profile on startupticker. The presentation will be streamed, with details to follow in January.

This is the last newsletter of this year. I wish you a happy Christmas, a few relaxing days and all the best for 2021.

Stefan Kyora

Editor in Chief, Startupticker.ch