The latest list of the 100 Swiss Digital Shapers from Bilanz, Handelszeitung, PME and Digitalswitzerland includes well-known people as well as new discoveries. Founders make up a large part of the selected people.

Gleich bei zwei jüngeren Berner KMU gibt es Änderungen in der Chefetage. Für die bereits Cleverclip zusammen gehörenden Digitalagenturen Cleverclip, Comvation und cubetech wurde neu die Tasty Group als Holding gegründet. Gleichzeitig gab es mehrere Wechsel auf Leitungsebene. Und der Gründer von Solarify gibt die operative Geschäftsleitung gleich an vier Nachfolger weiter.

Der Technologiefonds hat seinen Jahresbericht für 2022 veröffentlicht. Daraus wird ersichtlich, warum Bürgschafts-Gesuche abgelehnt werden, wie sich das Gesamtrisiko entwickelt und wie sich das Investoren-Netzwerk des Fonds präsentiert.

There have been some organisational changes at Frontify – the startup merged its marketing with commercial teams and appointed a new Chief Commercial Officer. Promotions also took place at other startups for the positions CEO.

SamanTree Medical, Salutacoach, and Betterview have appointed new leaders to occupy the role of Chief Executive Officer. The newly Deputy CEO at Klarpay wears different hats in the company. There have been changes at Bloom Biorenewables: the two co-founders will become CO-CEOs while two team leads have been promoted to CTO and CIO.

Following its partnership with Ontoto, Astrocast SA, a leading global nanosatellite IoT network, is replacing legacy operators and providing efficient solutions for the mining sector in Australia. Similarly, Nexxiot has also partnered with the Australian rail consultancy RSA to provide Asset Intelligence and essential digital services to Australian clients.

Matthew Reali, CEO and co-founder of the Ponera Group, is transforming the logistics industry with the world’s first fully flexible and modular packaging system. Since kicking off its production phase, the startup has seen a growing interest, securing projects with leading industrial partners from Switzerland and abroad.

Robotics startup AnyBotics has won two partners to expand its presence in the Middle East and Japan. While Tech5 supports the Ethiopian government in implementing a digital ID, Vivor is working with GameSquare to promote healthy gaming habits. A new partnership between RetinAI and America’s largest retina care further cements the startup’ss presence in the U.S.

Following its launch in 2021, Earkick, a US-Swiss startup, has continued to gain traction with its AI-based platform designed to make mental health measurable. The company has recently obtained funding from the US-based Duke Impact Investing Group.

Women undergo different phases during their menstrual cycle, and their energy levels will vary depending on the hormone fluctuations. Using a seed cycling approach, Moonchy has developed a line of products to help regulate energy levels for each menstrual phase. With the success of its test phase, the startup has entered the commercialisation phase.

LimmaTech Biologics, a clinical-stage biotech company developing vaccines for the prevention of life-threatening diseases, has in-licensed Shigella bioconjugate vaccine from GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals SA. The agreement enables the startup to further advance the vaccine into the Phase I/II study stage. Results are expected in 2023.

The 7th edition of Viva Technology, Europe’s largest tech event, which took place on Jun 14-17, 2023, in Paris (France), had 23 Swiss startups showcase their innovation in the Swisstech Pavilion – Innosuisse supported 13 startups. VivaTech united more than 150’000 visitors and 11’400 startups. This article gives a short recap of activities from the Swiss delegation.

The use of renewable energy is increasing, but there is still a lack of long-term energy storage solutions. Unbound Potential addresses this Challenge with its novel membrane-less flow redox battery technology. After winning almost one million Euros from SPRIN-D, the startup is now advancing the solution with its pilot customer.

Life sciences startups Engimmune Therapeutics, HI-D Imaging, Alentis Therapeutics and Versameb have appointed new members to their board of directors including a chair person. For MarTech startup, Neyoxa, the appointed member has been involved with the startup through its recent financing round.

Following the unfortunate passing of Ecorobotix’s CEO, Simon Aspinall, the company’s board has named Aurélien G. Demaurex as the ad interim CEO. The new CEOs at Antion Biosciences and obvioTec AG and the newly appointed chief commercial officer at Nanoive are also not new in the startup scene.

The annual European Innovation Scoreboard highlights the commitment of the EU and its Member States to fostering innovation. Switzerland has maintained its position as the most innovative European country, with a performance of 139.6% of the EU average. It has scored particularly highly in education-related indicators, scientific publications, and environment-related indicators. Also in the top 5 are Denmark, Sweden, Finland, and the Netherlands.

In their policy brief on cultivating the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Switzerland, Rico Baldegger, Raphaël Gaudart and Pascal Wild provide recommendation based on the results of the Global Entreprenereurship Monitor 2022 / 2023.

Startups brauchen in der Regel mehrere Jahre bis sie Gewinn erwirtschaften. Nun soll die Möglichkeit, frühere Verluste mit Gewinnen zu verrechnen von sieben auf zehn Jahre ausgedehnt werden. Der Bundesrat hat eine entsprechende Vorlage in die Vernehmlassung geschickt.

In the first half of 2023, 25'836 new companies were already recorded. This is a growth of 4.5% compared to the same period in 2022 and an increase of 0.4% compared to the record half year of 2021. This is shown by a new analysis of IFJ.

Switzerland ranked third in this year’s World Competitiveness Ranking. Although the country lost one spot the framework conditions are still excellent and the economy showed a strong performance. But the poor performance of important export markets such as Germany, France and the UK is a cause for concern.

From 19-21 June, 43 startups worldwide will present at the 14th edition of the TechTour Growth Health event in Lausanne. Thirteen Swiss startups are among the selected presenters in the category Digital Health and Medtech. They will get the change to present to investors and the audience.

Startups require individuals with varied experiences and backgrounds to execute different roles to drive the company forward. Seven startups have recently welcomed new executives, including CEOs with years of experience leading life science companies. The appointed CFO, COO and Heads of Sales and Revenue will ensure their startups build and sustain a healthy financial position.

The new direct-to-consumer online shop offers small Swiss producers and food artisans a platform to access a broader network of customers across Switzerland. Since its launch in 2022, the platform today counts over 50 producers that have delivered over 8,000 products.

Heute Montag wurde die Vorlage des Bundesrates zur erleichterten Arbeitsbewilligungen für Drittstaaten-Angehörige mit Schweizer Hochschulabschluss beraten. Die zuständige Kommission empfahl dem Rat gar nicht erst auf das Geschäft einzutreten, womit die Erleichterung definitiv nicht zustande gekommen wäre. Der Rat ist der Empfehlung nicht gefolgt. Nun liegt der Ball wieder bei der Ständerats-Kommission. Vor der Debatte hatten Wirtschaftsverbände, darunter die Swiss Startup Association, an den Ständerat appelliert, die Vorlage des Bundesrates zu behandeln. -Updated - 

The dynamism of the Swiss startup scene was evidenced at yesterday's Startup Days, bringing together over 1500 visitors, male and female alike, to learn and explore opportunities and measures to circumvent the current uncertainties. The event culminated in the Pitching Battle finale with four winners.

The year 2022 saw an unprecedented surge in venture capital fundraising, according to the latest report by Invest Europe. European VCs raised €23billion, a 13% increase from the €20bn seen in 2021. The results also showed that corporate investors are playing a key contribution to the funds.

Out of those alumni from Swiss universities who decide to work for a start-up, 42% leave the country. If more graduates were to stay in Switzerland, this could both lead to more start-ups and alleviate the skills shortage.

A new study by leading European business schools and universities based on responses of close to 900 European venture capital investors sheds light on their way of selecting startups, working with founder teams and determining the valuation of a startup. In addition the report provides results on exits, multiples and failures.

The inflow of capital in the biotech sector has slowed down. Investors mainly finance their portfolio companies and exits are rare. In addition to the difficulties in financing, however, the latest Swiss Biotech Report also includes some good news about the state of the sector.

Women in science and technology fields are fewer than men. With its study, Swiss Universities sought to find reasons and answers to the underlying problem. The resulting FemSpin report is the first study to scrutinise this topic. The report found that women accounted for only 17% of the founded spin-offs in 2021, and only 11.9% filed for a patent in 2022. The report suggests measures to boost female entrepreneurial activities.

With four executive roles, Invenda Group welcomed the largest number of executives to help drive its international growth. Similarly,  YmmunoBio, Kandou Bus and Nexxiot had a change of leadership with new leads for operations, business development and technical departments. 

SICTIC, the largest Swiss Angel Investors Club, presented its investment report yesterday. We asked SICTIC President Thomas Dübendorfer how the valuations have developed, where new investors are coming from and what makes start-ups VC-ready.

After a difficult year with a declining number of companies and stagnating employee levels in 2021, growth prevailed again in 2022. However, the companies are already facing tougher fundraising conditions.Insights into the dynamic financial technology market are provided by the results of this year's FinTech study by the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts.

In 2022, start-ups with a female CEO closed more financing rounds than ever before. The amount raised was also higher than in 2021, but female-led startups still only accounted for 9.4% of financing rounds and received only 3.1% of the total capital invested in Switzerland.

Cleantech company H55 has appointed Martin Larose as Chief Executive Officer. Marco Reber takes over as CEO at the blockchain start-up ecoo. And Ákos Maróy has joined the pioneering TradeTech company Nexxiot as their new Chief Data Officer.

Gäbe es sie nicht, müsste man sie erfinden: Die Gebert Rüf Stiftung gehört zu den tragenden Säulen des Schweizer Startup- und Innovationsökosystems. Am 27. Februar feierte sie ihr 25-jähriges Bestehen.

Die Zahl der Firmengründungen steigt – auch in der italienischsprachigen Schweiz. Dies motiviert das Institut für Jungunternehmen IFJ zu einer Expansion: Die St. Galler gehen eine strategische Partnerschaft mit dem Tessiner Beratungsunternehmen Gruppo Multi ein, eröffnen in Lugano einen Standort und bieten ihre Onlinekurse auch auf Italienisch an.

Alle Versuche, neues Eigenkapital einzusammeln, scheiterten. Vor zwei Jahren hatte evenito noch Geld für wenige Monate. Heute administrieren mehrere Kantonalbanken, AMAG, Swiss Life und 300 weitere Unternehmen ihre Veranstaltungen auf der SaaS-Plattform des 2016 gegründeten Scale-ups. Co-CEO Tobias Giger erzählt, wie die Wende gelang.

The global pandemic had a mixed effect on entrepreneurship across the world, according to the 2022/2023 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) Global Report: Adapting to a “New Normal” which was launched today at HEG-Fribourg. Switzerland is among the clear losers.

With the appointment of their new leaders, five startups offering solutions for the biotech, fintech, agriculture, and travel industries have acquired additional know-how to achieve their growth ambitions. The new executives are based in Switzerland, except for SEBA Bank’s APAC CEO, who is based in Asia, to oversee activities in the region.

Besides analysing the HSG spin-off landscape, the "HSG Spin-Off Barometer 2022" by the University of St. Gallen presents the results of a survey among founders. Among other things, the founders provide information about what distinguishes a good start-up location for them. The results are astonishing. Soft factors prevail, while access to capital and talent is seen as less important.

With its marketing analytics platform, Swiss startup Windsor has reached the USD 1 million revenue mark and set an even higher ambition: to reach USD 10 million. This growth comes after the company advanced its no-code platform with more connectors and grew its customer base.

As of this month, Maria Anselmi is succeeding Dominique Gruhl-Bégin as the new the ‘Head of Startups and the Next-Generation Innovators Division’ at the Swiss Innovation Agency, Innosuisse. The annual ecosystem event Startup Days has also strengthened its team ahead of its upcoming event.

The Venture Kick Annual Report 2022 reflects the foundation’s contribution to Switzerland’s leading position as an innovation hub. Since 2007, the startups supported by Venture Kick have attracted nearly CHF 7 billion in investment and created 12,000 jobs – even with the recent unstable economic backdrop, startups have continued to thrive. Last year, the initiative supported 89 projects with 6.11 million and for 2023, it is increasing the budget to CHF 6.3 million.

Last year was a tough year for the global blockchain ecosystem, and its consequences were felt in the Crypto Valley. Despite the challenges, the blockchain industry in Switzerland is thriving. According to the CV VC Top 50, this was due to the 2022 funding rounds and improved valuation for companies. The Top 50 companies have a total value of $185 billion.

Despite the growing number of growth-oriented female entrepreneurs worldwide, women entrepreneurs still face barriers to building and growing a sustainable startup business, according to the 2021/22 Women’s Entrepreneurship Report: From Crisis to Opportunity by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor. Switzerland received mid-range scores across most evaluated parameters.

The IFJ study "National Analysis of Incorporations in Switzerland 2022" shows that around 50'000 new companies will be entered in the Swiss Commercial Register in 2022. This is only a slight decrease of 1.4% compared to last year and clearly above the 10-year average.

Wenn Partner, Kunden und Lieferanten zu Aktionären werden: Neue Fintech-Plattformen machen es einfach so einfach wie noch nie, in der Community Eigenkapital zu beschaffen.

Der Bundesrat hat am 9. Dezember 2022 Sergio Ermotti, ehemaliger CEO der UBS, und Aude Pugin, CEO von APCO Technologies, und in den Verwaltungsrat von Innosuisse gewählt. Zudem will er Unternehmen administrativ entlasten und die Digitalisierung vorantreiben. Letzteres auch mit Blick auf die digitale Unternehmensgründung.

The world is becoming sustainable and Swiss start-ups are working on the requisite technology. In terms of population, no other country has more sustainability start-ups than Switzerland. This is shown by the fifth edition of Swiss Startup Radar published by the online news portal startupticker.ch and the University of Lausanne.