IMD reveals the 29 winners of the 2024 Startup Challenge

The annual IMD Startup Competition curates a list of promising Swiss ventures and selects those that receive support from IMD’s Executive MBA and MBA participants for their entrepreneurial projects. The 26 edition will support 29 startups offering solutions that involve artificial intelligence in advertising campaigns or new fermentation techniques to produce eco-friendly food. The ideas are a rich showcase of proposed solutions in technology, sustainability, and healthcare. 

The 11 startups that will receive support from the IMD EMBA participants are:

4QT – is committed to a vision where advanced electric drive technology propels both environmental sustainability and economic efficiency, serving the needs of industry partners. 

Apheros – provides innovative, high-surface-area metal foams for thermal, catalysis, and battery applications. 

Ascento – develops advanced robots and AI technology for security applications. 

Clee Medical – develops elevating brain solutions by enabling the future of stereotactic neurosurgery. 

Impossible Materials – provides high-performance, plant-based ingredient solutions to enable safe and sustainable products for a circular economy, bringing natural colors and texture to food, cosmetics, inks, and coatings. 

qCella – its easily shape-customizable, flexible, paper-thin, and homogeneously heated mats make heat production more energy-efficient and easier to integrate into the end product. 

RECOAL – develops a cutting-edge carbon removal technology that transforms waste biomass into negative-emission coal, providing a reliable, permanent, and easy-to-scale solution that securely stores CO2 underground. 

Testmate Health – is developing the first true at-home disposable test for STIs. It is a low-cost and easy-to-use urine self-test that delivers PCR-quality results in minutes directly at home. 

Tune Insight – enables sensitive data collaborations and valorization through its encrypted computing platform for collective analytics and AI. 

WattAnyWhere – provides a high-power, pollutant-free, and CO2-neutral generator that converts renewable ethanol into clean electricity, boosting e-mobility and energy autonomy. 

Yumame Foods – produces delicious, minimally processed, and locally sourced plant-based products by combining fungi and plants through innovative fermentation techniques and culinary science. 

The 18 startups who will work with the full-time MBA classes in 2024 are: 

Beyond Scroll – The hydrogen transition is easier and cheaper with Beyond Scroll, the low-pressure compressor solution for optimal infrastructure. 

Breathe Medical – aims to transform emergency care in underserved communities by providing people with easy-to-use, affordable ventilators tailored to local needs, providing medical and technical digital training, and supporting local production and maintenance of the equipment. 

Cudios – intuitive and easy-to-use software that drastically simplifies operational workflows by bringing suppliers into tender processes, creating spending visibility, streamlining projects, and enhancing cost-effectiveness for marketing and project management professionals. 

Emissium – provides reliable and actionable electricity emissions data, enabling companies to track, monitor, and reduce their electrical footprint. 

FERRONATO – is the world’s first brand to create luxury accessories dedicated to protecting privacy and shielding well-being from radiation exposure. 

FiberLab – Mastering the art of wine with on-the-spot analysis. 

Houston & Kokare – is a boutique freelance platform that connects organizations with hand-picked freelancers ready to make an immediate impact. 

InStep (London) – is sequencing the fingerprint of every individual’s day-to-day movement – their proprietary ML processing transforms the human movement data collected by everyday wearables into actionable insights for businesses and individuals. 

Irmos technologies – maximizes the safe lifespan of bridges and buildings by optimizing maintenance to the condition of aging assets based on sensor data and AI. 

KIDEMIS – is developing sustainable solutions for the aquafeed industry with upcycled agricultural side streams. 

Leadzai – its generative AI technology automates the process of creating and managing advertising campaigns. 

Nuniq – is a Swiss brand leading the beauty industry with its sustainable, plastic-free, customizable products and a novel biodegradable refill bag, boasting a 47% repeat order rate. 

Pi Imaging Technology  – is changing the way we count photons. 

Simon & Josef (S&J) – Individual room cleaning, which lets the guest decide. 

Skribble – is a ready-to-be-used e-signature SaaS solution offering all three signature standards defined by Swiss and European law combined with intuitive UX and best-in-class security. 

SolidWatts –  Industrial process heating fit for the 21st century: Efficient. Limitless. Clean. 

Splint Invest – enables private investors in Europe to diversify their portfolio with alternative investments, like art, handbags, cars, watches, wine, and more. 

Time Designers – Time Designers, the “Craftsmen of Physics”.  

(RAN)
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