February 10, 2017
Let’s talk about money
Dear reader
In the past week, CHF35 million flowed into Swiss start-ups, with the lion’s share going to Prexton Therapeutics, a spin-off of Merck Serono. The CHF31 million received by the biotech company will be used to fund tests for a drug for Parkinson’s disease.
Glycemicon also attracted investors: the start-up develops a type of nutraceutical, the active ingredient of which is found in humans, to manage diabetes and obesity. In addition to the two biotech start-ups, blockchain start-up 20|30 announced the completion of a seed round.
A look at the investors shows the usual picture: numerous private and institutional investors from abroad, but few institutional investors from Switzerland. This situation could be significantly improved by increasing pension funds’ commitment – and they are slowly showing an interest in Swiss start-ups. The Nest Collective Foundation has entered into a partnership with the investor platform investiere.ch and will invest in Swiss start-ups together with the platform’s business angels.
The investor scene in Switzerland is becoming more mature and pioneers such as Swiss Startup Invest are taking this development into account. Swiss Venture Days has been completely redesigned: it now offers three stages, at which up to 30 start-ups from different sectors can pitch at the same time. There will also be one-to-one meetings and keynote presentations. Applications are open for the first Swiss Venture Day in Zurich on 5 April.
That there are enough Swiss start-ups for events such as the new Swiss Venture Days was demonstrated impressively this week. With Pomocup, a wearable for ski tourers, Gait Up won two international prizes – an ISPO Gold Award and the Wearable Technologies Innovation World Cup. Medtech company Abionic also won two awards, and last but not least the four finalists of the Swiss Fintech Awards show not only how strong, but also how diverse this area is in Switzerland.
In addition, Switzerland also attracts ambitious entrepreneurs from abroad, including MassChallenge Switzerland. The tender for this year’s Accelerator programme was launched this week.
Next week, the venture competition will launch with two kick-off events in Lausanne and Zurich, and you can also apply for Central Switzerland’s new entrepreneur prize. An overview of all awards can be found in our awards list.
Have an enjoyable weekend.
Stefan Kyora
Editor in Chief, startupticker.ch