Majority of cleantech start-ups needed support due to the pandemic

In May 2021 the Swiss Environment and Energy Innovation Monitor carried out an online survey amongst 640 Swiss startups from the Energy and Environment sectors. 126 responded to questions focusing on issues in 2020 including COVID-19 effects, their work organisation, financing challenges and internationalization plans. While 58% of the startups experienced negative effects of the COVID-19 situation, only 15% were affected very negatively, 18% even saw positive effects.

A third of the start-ups obtained loans with no interest, a quarter received partial unemployment coverage and 5% reported a reduced rent. The Swiss support system seems to have supported effectively. For 75% of the support Was “ok” or “worked well”. 25% regarded the support as insufficient.

Regionally the picture is diverse. In Ticino and Western Switzerland more startups felt a negative COVID-19 impact (67% and 61% respectively, compared to 58% overall) Also the satisfaction with the support differed, as not all startups felt sufficiently supported to manage the crisis. While in the German speaking part of Switzerland almost 60% of the startups felt well supported this was only the case for about 30% in the rest of Switzerland.

Access to customers was a challenge in 2020. Startups who target private individuals as customers appear less affected by COVID-19 compared to startups who target energy providers or public authorities. This may be due to the possibility to shift sales online in the case of private individuals, whereas energy providers were less easy to reach and public authorities were occupied with managing the crisis.

Two-thirds of the 126 responding startups are already internationalizing, COVID-19 slowed down or stopped these steps for about one third of the startups. Two-thirs kept their international expansion plans. The impact on financing was more serious. Almost 60% of the respondents said that COVID-19 led to a longer fundraising phase.

The most relevant results of the survey have been published as a factsheet, also comparing the results to similar previous surveys, on the Innovation Monitor website.

(Press release / SK)