New funds from old hands

Dear reader

Three new venture capital companies were launched this week: Spicehaus, Übermorgen Ventures and Swiss Immo Lab. Admittedly, they are all still collecting money, but they have already achieved something in terms of fundraising: about CHF 50 million is currently expected to be available for investment and well over CHF 100 million when the funds reach their goals.

The intensive activities may remind some readers of the hype in 2000, but there are significant differences. The founders of the funds have a lot of experience as entrepreneurs, financiers and industry insiders, and with external expertise. Thus, Übermorgen Ventures has a well-appointed advisory board, and at Swiss Immo Lab investiere.ch acts as investment manager. The new companies also have a clear focus: Übermorgen Ventures will invest in start-ups that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, while the other funds focus on digitalisation.

In fact, major investment opportunities exist in Switzerland in terms of digitalisation. Several start-ups involved in the digitalisation of various industries completed financing rounds this week, including coffee trading platform Algrano, fintech company Sonect and agritech start-up xfarm.

Medtech company Artidis which has developed a healthtech platform around a nanomechanical sensor for cancer diagnosis and treatment optimization closed a financing round, too.

Digitalisation start-ups are able to attract not only investors but also customers. Onedot has gained an important customer for the DACH market with electronics retailer Conrad, and Orchestra, winner of this year’s Boldbrain Startup Challenge, already has paying customers: it has developed an innovative communication platform for rescue and security forces. The good development of the start-up scene in Ticino was shown by the awards ceremony in Lugano with the pitches of the five finalists and Venture Day, which took place earlier.

Speaking of competitions, the 10 winners of Venture Leader Mobile have been announced. They will present themselves at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona and attend a promising support programme, including the 4YFN start-up conference and the SwissNight at the Royal Club Nautica.

Applications are open for two interesting offers until 15 December: Smart Emma gives start-ups the opportunity to use a pop-up store in Zurich main station free of charge, and the Circular Economy Incubator is looking for at least 25 start-ups who want to develop a minimal viable product as part of its programme.

Have a relaxing weekend.
Stefan Kyora

Editor in Chief, Startupticker.ch