October 30, 2015
Fintech as a role model
Dear reader
Fintech start-up Knip has raised about CHF 15 million in its Series A round. It’s not only the level of financing that is noteworthy but also the investors, which include investment firms from the US. The financing round has been noticed worldwide.
In Switzerland fintech start-ups stand out not only for their achievements, but also because the sector is not embarrassed at the attention it generates. This self-confident appearance is still unfamiliar in Switzerland, but it should be a role model for start-ups from other sectors – in particular, the ambition behind the appearance, as a new study by Roland Berger in collaboration with Swiss Finance Startups shows. Fintech start-ups are pioneers in this respect. According to the latest Swiss Software Industry Survey, Swiss ICT companies are generally still small and operate only in Switzerland.
The 55 Swiss start-ups at the Web Summit in Dublin will need this confident appearance to win the attention of the 30,000 visitors. With the help of one of the participants – Daniel Baur of eMonitor.ch – our two articles cover all Swiss start-ups in Dublin (Part 1, Part 2).
The four winners of the Swiss Startups Awards were in the spotlight this week, and they can look forward to prize money of more than CHF 50,000 each. And the names of the nine finalists of the Swiss Technology Awards, which will be awarded on 19 November at the Swiss Innovation Forum, were announced.
The Innovation Forum is one of the events that will take place as part of the Global Entrepreneurship Week. We give an insight into what else is happening this week in our French and German articles.
Next Monday, a Technopark event on the expansion strategies of start-ups will take place in Zurich. The 5th Investors Forum will take place in St. Gallen on Tuesday, and the first Energy Startup Day is scheduled for Wednesday. We will be present at all these events.
Finally, a piece of news concerning us. This morning it was announced that startupticker is to be funded by the CTI for another four years. We are delighted with this decision, especially since we are now able to work long term on further development and expansion, and contribute to ensuring that Swiss start-ups receive the attention they deserve.
Have a relaxing weekend.
Stefan Kyora
Managing Editor, startupticker.ch