Big names rely on Swiss start-ups

Dear reader

The backbone of the Swiss economy comprises highly innovative Swiss SMEs that are globally successful in the B2B business and enjoy an excellent reputation. More and more Swiss start-ups are pursuing them and can attract well-known partners, customers and investors. For example, Olympus has entered into a co-marketing and development partnership with Cytosurge. BePooler, the carpooling specialist from Ticino, has won the city of Milan’s public call; well-known companies from Milan were on the short list. Beekeeper has also prevailed in an international selection process: now the employee app is being tested by Heineken International. And start-ups are also in demand at home; Axa has invested in Silenccio, having worked together for a year.

The designated new board of directors of crypto start-up Sygnum includes a big name – the former Group CEO of UBS, Peter Wuffli. Apart from the mandate, he is also involved as an investor in Sygnum.

Trade shows are an ideal place to initiate B2B partnerships. So it’s not surprising that the new Innosuisse programme, which supports start-ups at trade fair appearances and visits, has been well received. The Gebert Rüf Foundation’s new programme Innobooster ensures that start-ups get up to the necessary level of development in order to be interesting to well-known partners. Four start-up projects have now been selected and each benefits from CHF 150,000.

The brand new support programme for spin-offs from Zurich University of the Arts offers university members of staff with entrepreneurial project ideas up to CHF 20,000 in subsidies, mentoring, infrastructure and network access. And in French-speaking Switzerland, the Foundation for Technological Innovation (FIT) and Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne (EHL) have joined forces to jointly support start-ups in the food and hospitality sectors.

Speaking of support, those who want to apply for the next edition of the SBB Sandbox in Zurich main station have until Sunday. The application deadline for the current issue of the Climate-KIC Accelerator ends on 22 July.

CNN Money launches a multi-week series of interviews with 24 start-up founders on Monday, and we have provided the TV station with some of the required company information. I would like to recommend the series, which will be broadcast on weekdays at 7 pm.

Have a good weekend
Stefan Kyora

Editor in Chief, Startupticker.ch