No fear of big numbers

Dear reader

Yokoy has raised about CHF 74 million in its Series B round and the investors are at least as sensational as the sum involved. The lead investor is Sequoia Capital, one of the most renowned names in the global VC business. Remarkably, not only Yokoy made an impressive buzz this week. Dental start-up bestsmile has been taken over by Migros. No figures on the transaction were communicated, but the growth of the start-up was: four years after it was founded, it achieved sales of CHF 50 million with an EBITDA margin in the double-digit percentage range.

Switzerland is not considered a country of founders and investors with great vision. This has its advantages: there is less risk of overheating, the failure rate is lower and products are better tested too much rather than too little. Admittedly, down-to-earthness can go hand in hand with risk aversion, but it doesn’t have to, as Yokoy and bestsmile show.

In terms of support, we also reported impressive figures for the transitional measures in connection with Horizon Europe this week. Since Switzerland is now classified as a third country in the European innovation program, start-ups can no longer participate in the EIC Accelerator. Those start-ups that had successfully applied before the exclusion last year have received funding from SERI, with CHF 58 million going to 24 start-ups. Innosuisse launched a follow-up solution today: similar to the EIC Accelerator, the Swiss Accelerator will support start-ups and SMEs with disruptive innovations with up to CHF 2.5 million per project. A webinar on 8 April will offer detailed information for interested start-ups.

The Swiss Accelerator is a very competitive programme, but the number of promising technology start-ups is shown by the winners of various funding programmes. Ten companies have been selected for the Venture Leaders Medtech program in Boston and Cambridge. Cleantech start-ups Luya and Groam have each secured CHF 150,000 from Venture Kick, and at last week’s Start Summit another cleantech start-up, Exnaton, won the Start Summiteer Award. Six femtech companies will participate in the next Tech4Eva programme, and well-known US organisations have also selected Swiss start-ups: SmartHelio and Enlightra are part of the next batch of YCombinator.

The DayOne accelerator for healthcare and medtech start-ups has been significantly expanded – applications are open now.

The content highlights of the Startup Days taking place in May were also announced this week. Participants will be able to put together their own programme of keynotes and numerous workshops and panel discussions. Registration for the Pitching Battle is open until 22 April.

Finally, I would like to point out Tag des Gründens in Zug next Tuesday. Demand should be high, as the number of company start-ups remained at a high level in the first quarter of 2022.

Have a cozy weekend.
Stefan Kyora

Editor in Chief, Startupticker.ch