Milestones in all forms

Dear reader

SOPHiA GENETICS is valued at USD 1.14 billion, making it one of Europe’s largest unicorns. Established in 2014, the Lausanne and Boston-based genomics testing company went public on the Nasdaq with a successful IPO that raised USD 234 million. The company also received a further USD 20 million in a private placement.

Relief Therapeutics, with a pipeline that includes drugs for respiratory problems due to Covid-19, and AC immune, which specialises in therapeutics for Parkinson’s disease, both raised capital through private placements, with CHF 15 million and USD 25 million respectively.

Equity investment, which is the funding model of choice for most start-ups, particularly in their early stages, is an important milestone. The amount of AdHash’s and c.technology’s financing round remains undisclosed, but Transmutex announced a CHF 5.3 million round with two major US venture capital funds, and fintech start-up Tradeplus24 banked USD 25 million in equity and obtained a debt facility of USD 200 million in order to accelerate its growth and expansion.

Start-ups talk about their growth when highlighting their milestones. Fashion tech company EyeFitU is already in more than 100 stores since its shift from a B2C to a B2B business model. Similarly, FairTiq has sold a remarkable 30 million public transport tickets via its app. Still in the transport sector, SBB has integrated the smart ticketing and pricing solution from Smeetz to sell combined leisure and transport offers.

Other growth involves expansion abroad. Valais-based MobyFly is entering Portugal to build nine ships with a Portuguese operator, and Chimpy now provides its eco-friendly power banks in Italy. Medtech start-up VirtaMed impressed an American medical institute after the first use of its surgical training simulator.

Support organisations are also increasingly working with start-ups to help them pick up momentum. Venture Kick has awarded CHF 150,000 to Perovskia, which specialises in printed solar cells for consumer electronics and IoT devices. The Technology Fund granted new loan guarantees to seven start-ups, Innosuisse is funding the collaboration between Artiria Medical and the Wyss Center, and Kickstart announced its sixth cohort which includes 11 Swiss startups. Even the foodtech sector is receiving adequate support, as revealed in Accenture’s report with the Swiss Food & Nutrition Valley.

Seize the opportunity and apply for these support programmes before the deadlines expire: Contest UBS Start Business i4Challenge and Luxury Innovation Award (31 July), Sales Challenge 2021 (14 August) and Swissnex San Francisco start-up bootcamp (15 August).

Meet the Venture Leaders Medtech start-ups on 12 August, and learn about starting a company during a pandemic from experienced founders in a fireside talk on 26 August. XDAYS will host 30 top-class speakers specialising in technology and digitalisation projects at its two-day event on 24 and 25 August 2021.

Have an enjoyable 1 August.

Ritah Ayebare Nyakato
Duty Editor, Startupticker.ch