The coronavirus has upset the agenda of the start-up ecosystem. But the most important issues – from digitisation to combating climate change – are still there.
Dear reader
Air traffic came to a virtual standstill in recent weeks. Now it is slowly starting up again and the climate-damaging emissions of the industry will increase once more. ETH Zurich and the Lufthansa Group have now signed a Letter of Intent incorporating ETH’s two spin-offs Climeworks and Synhelion. The partners aim to prepare technology developed by the university and the start-ups to use at an industrial level. CO2 extracted from the atmosphere will be synthesised with water and sunlight to form an aviation fuel.
Cleantech was also very popular with the jury of the WA de Vigier Top 10 award. Six of the 10 finalists develop solutions for waste prevention, recycling and energy efficiency. “It is evident that our generation has urgent environmental problems to solve,” says Regula Buob, managing director of the WA de Vigier Foundation.
Climate change may have dropped out of sight recently, but not so digitalisation. The need for social distancing has brought much new technology to our attention. For example, Lausanne-based start-up Technis can double production of its fully automatic access control system for shops and public spaces every week.
‘Smart space’ technology also has a lot of potential in advertising: last week St. Gallen start-up Advertima, together with SPAR Schweiz and a real estate service provider, launched a platform that provides digital out-of-home advertising space.
In other reports from the ecosystem, start-up Kylane Laboratoires is dedicated to the eternal themes of ageing and beauty. The Innosuisse Certificate confirms that the Geneva company is ready for international growth with its innovative dermal filler.
ETH spin-off PXL Vision is developing an AI-based platform for automated identity verification. The company has now raised CHF 4.6 million in the course of a seed round.
Helio is currently looking for financing. The cloud start-up is the first company to be introduced in our start-up pitch series. Start-ups will have a hard time for a long time to come, which is why we are introducing a start-up every week until the summer in collaboration with the private initiative Swisspreneurs.
Have a relaxing weekend
Jost Dubacher
Editor startupticker.ch
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