Collaborations with tangible results

Dear reader

This year’s Global Entrepreneurship Index (GEI) was released recently. In the global ranking of start-up ecosystems, Switzerland is once again in second place behind the US. An important reason for the positive performance of Switzerland is that the GEI does not focus on unicorns, but rather values economies that have a large number of high-tech companies in niche markets. This is precisely the case in Switzerland.

However, the GEI also addresses weaknesses in the Swiss start-up scene: networking is difficult because the Swiss scene has no real centre. This is indeed the case and makes it difficult to initiate partnerships between start-ups and established companies. But at least the openness towards start-ups seems to be improving slowly. This week, BDO announced a partnership with fintech start-up Addfin. PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and law firm Meyerlustenberger Lachenal sell automated contracts via the legaltech platform PartnerVine. And the Helvetia Venture Fund, together with Swisscom Ventures and Swiss Life, has invested in the proptech company PriceHubble.

If one looks more closely, it’s clear that good contacts already existed between the start-ups and the established companies. PartnerVine was founded by a former PwC man, and even before its investment in PriceHubble, Helvetia had taken over a fintech company led by PriceHubble co-founder Stefan Heitmann as CEO. If more opportunities were available for start-ups and large companies to get to know each other in depth, the number of collaborations and investments would certainly be significantly higher.

And given the interest of large companies in Swiss start-ups, success is also apparent abroad. For example, BASF is collaborating with the Aargau-based company leadXpro, and Volkswagen has included ETH spin-off Embotech in its incubator programme.

Every year the list of winners of the IMD Startup Competition gives a good idea of how many ambitious and technologically advanced young start-ups there are in Switzerland. This week the institute in Lausanne announced the 27 winners of the current edition.

Speaking of awards, applications are now open for the new Swiss Medtech Award – more information can be found in our articles in German and French. The Fashion Innovation Award is also a new launch, and registration for the Student Global Entrepreneur Award is open until 22 December. In addition, the registration deadlines for a series of other important prizes, including the WA de Vigier Prize and the Swiss Economic Award, are now running. Our awards list provides the best overview, with an alert for news and deadlines.

Have a stress-free weekend.
Stefan Kyora

Editor in Chief Startupticker.ch