Light in the darkness

Dear reader

The treatment of spinal cord injuries and the resulting paralysis is one of the major challenges in medicine. The Swiss-Dutch EPFL spin-off Onward has now included a first patient in the approval study for a new treatment that helps to restore broken connections between intact neural networks and the brain through targeted spinal cord stimulation

A second piece of news that will give people more confidence in gloomy times comes from the Biel/Bienne-based cleantech start-up Gjosa. Luc-E. Amgwerd’s team has developed a shower head that uses five times less water than conventional products. The L’Oréal Water Saver was created in collaboration with the French cosmetics group, which has now announced that the sustainable haircare system for professionals will be in use in selected Parisian hairdressing salons from February. The global roll-out should be completed by the end of 2022.

Back to current news: two blockchain start-ups from Zug have raised new money over the last week. HQLAᵡ generated EUR 14.4 million from various banks and VCs, and Valour took the Canadian investment company Routemaster Capital on board.

LogicFlow from Zurich, founded in 2020, which makes tools that accelerate software development, has concluded a pre-seed round. And neobank Yapeal gained a strategic partner in Abacus: the St. Gallen software company will invest a seven-digit figure in developing payment transaction solutions with Yapeal.

From investments to exits: Aargau-based Dentalpoint, a specialist in ceramic dental implants, is going to the German CeramTec Group, and Zug-based fintech company Assentis has been taken over by the UK’s Smart Communications.

Innosuisse launched two new funding initiatives in a call-to-action shortly before the lockdown. As part of the Swiss Innovation Power programme, industrial partners no longer have to raise the standard 50% of the project financing, but only 30%, and in exceptional cases caused by corona, only 20%. And with the Flagship Initiative, Innosuisse aims to stimulate systemic innovation and transdisciplinary collaboration.

Finally, a piece of news from us: we will launch the Swiss Venture Capital Report on 26 January. The presentation will be streamed on our website. Registration is not required. If you would like a free print copy of the report, you may order it via your startupticker profile. You can also change your address in your profile if you would like the magazine sent to your home office.

Have a relaxing weekend.

Jost Dubacher
Editor startupticker.ch