Venture Kick celebrates its 15th anniversary this year. Initially started by just three donors, Venture Kick rapidly gained recognition from entrepreneurs, academic partners, and investors as one of the most impactful startup support programs and convinced additional donors to join. Over the past 15 years, Venture Kick has tripled the funding for startup projects and has evolved its support model to keep its pioneering role in bringing Swiss innovation to global markets.
Launched in 2007 and exclusively financed by private donors, Venture Kick addresses the crucial funding gap experienced by early-stage entrepreneurs launching from Swiss universities. Venture Kick invested CHF 44.85 million in 917 startup projects through 540 jury sessions. This led to the incorporation of 718 companies with 11,362 jobs and CHF 6.7 billion raised from investors. “We knew that our mission was essential when we launched the initiative,” says Pascale Vonmont, president of the strategy board. “Yet the achievements went far beyond our expectations: with a leverage of 150x from investors for every CHF 1 given by Venture Kick, alumni who have become world leaders of their category, and an impact spanning across so many aspects of our life and environment, we feel privileged to have been able to make it happen.”
Pioneering fast funding for startups
Venture Kick has continued to evolve its financing model as well as extend the resources it offers to entrepreneurs. As of 2018, the available funding support grew from CHF 130,000 to 150,000 and the stage one winners were able to apply for an additional CHF 150,000 InnoBooster grant offered by the Gebert Rüf Stiftung. In 2022, the Kickfund was launched as a new independent venture capital fund offering an additional investment of up to CHF 850,000 to all stage three winners. With a potential CHF 1,150,000 made available through integrated support funding, Venture Kick has pioneered a faster and more efficient funding path for Swiss startups.
In addition to financial support, Venture Kick has become a strong assurance of credibility for investors and gives Swiss startups a visibility boost at national and international levels. “Bringing innovation to market requires entrepreneurs to build strong business cases to convince future customers, partners, and investors,” says Beat Schillig. “Founders have been able to transform our financial and coaching kicks into fantastic results that exceed our wildest dreams, like Climeworks, which raised CHF 750 million to become world leader in direct air capture of CO2.”
Kicking forward
Looking ahead, Venture Kick aims to advance the ambitious goal of leveraging the expertise, network, and credibility of the community it has been building over the past 15 years. The team envisions growing a strong pool of 1,000 high-tech companies by 2027 representing 20,000 high-quality and sustainable jobs. The innovative startups will continue to develop solutions to tackle global challenges. To get there, Venture Kick is looking for entrepreneurial donors to further grow its philanthropic mission. “The number of talented researchers from Swiss universities that want to launch a startup and apply for Venture Kick support keeps rising every year. That is why we need more resources to carry on our mission,” concludes Beat Schillig.
More information can be found in Venture Kick's special anniversary publication and on venturekick.ch, where you can read about all startup projects supported by Venture Kick and watch short videos of alumni tackling global challenges.
(Press release / SK)
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