The Swiss Venture Capital Report 2013 is out

90 rounds of venture capital financing took place in Switzerland in 2013. According to figures published by the participants, companies received a total of CHF415.3 million. The comparison with the previous year is very positive: the number of financed companies increased by almost 50% and the invested funds increased by more than 30%. In 2012, a total of 61 start-ups announced investment of CHF 316 million.

It is gratifying that much of the increase in financing rounds is attributable to early-stage and seed funding. The number of financing rounds in the early phase increased by 50%, growing from 30 to 45, and the funding volume almost tripled, rising from CHF32.5 million to CHF121.8 million.

In addition, there was a significant increase in financing rounds of between CHF2 million and CHF10 million; the number doubled, rising from 15 in 2012 to a total of 30 transactions in 2013.

However, it should be noted that 2012 was a historically weak year for venture capital investments in terms of the number of financed companies as well as in terms of the overall invested amount. 2013 was not an exceptional good year for venture capital investments despite the clear improvement compared to 2012.

Life sciences start-ups saw the largest financing rounds. Basel-based Auris Medical, Covagen from Zurich and Lausanne-based Biocartis lead the list of the companies with the largest funding rounds. It is also noteworthy that several companies, including Geneva IT start-up Urturn, managed to generate large sums from well-known investors in the early stages or in the first round of financing.

In general, the amounts invested per financing round in 2013 were quite low by international standards. The median of funding overall in 2013 was CHF2.8 million (previous year: CHF1.9 million).

The volume of investment measured by sector has biotech in front, followed by ICT and medtech on an almost equal footing. Based on the number of financing rounds, the ICT sector stands top with 30 investments, but the cleantech and consumer products segments were also up significantly compared with 2012.

The canton rankings remain the same for the number of investments as for the amount invested, with Zurich, Geneva and Vaud taking the first three places. It’s interesting to note that of the cantons with significant start-up activities, Zurich is diversified by sector the most, while Basel (both parts) is focused almost exclusively on life sciences.

Programmes and prizes are central to the promotion of start-ups; they not only provide an important source of financing but are also an instrument for external validation of a product or a business model. In 2013, young companies with the CTI Start-up Label received more than CHF100 million.

The report collected and analysed publicly announced financing rounds of Swiss start-ups. In both 2012 and 2013, the level of funding of about two thirds of total transactions was made known, and only those 60 (of a total of 90 in 2013) rounds of financing, where the volume is known, were considered in the evaluation of the sums invested. The unpublished third comprises mainly seed and early stage financing rounds, which consist of comparatively small amounts of the total sum invested and thus do not dilute the validity of the study.