A good choice

Each year, the presentation of the Swiss Economic Award is one of the highlights of the Swiss Economic Forum in Interlaken. In each of the categories Deeptech/Life Sciences, Industry/Production and Services, a winner is chosen from three finalists. Since the first edition in 1999, a total of 180 start-ups have made it to the finals. 

Ahead of the 25th award ceremony on 9 June, the organisers have analysed data about the finalists. The 180 start-ups have created a total of around 15,000 jobs, on average more than 80 jobs per company. This is significantly above the level usually achieved by Swiss start-ups.

What sets the award apart from other prizes is that it does not focus solely on young technology companies. With good reason, as the analysis shows – finalists from all three categories contribute to job growth to a similar extent. The service companies that have particularly grown strongly include the Competec Group, Digitec, Tibits and Yokoy. The deep-tech companies include Sensirion, Medacta and Anybotics. And in the production category, Thömus, Planted, Viu and On, among others, have grown strongly.

Venture capital investments provided the fuel for growth. A good CHF 1.5 billion has flowed into the finalists of the Swiss Economic Award so far, and the amount has risen sharply in recent years. The finalists of 2021 alone were able to generate CHF 300 million.

In addition to the deep-tech companies, service providers and production companies have also been able to attract investors. A good 40 % of the total amount invested went to finalists from the deeptech category. Service providers received around 33 % and 25 % was invested in start-ups from the Industry / Production category.

Attractive Investments

The interest of the VCs is no coincidence because fast-growing companies often arouse the interest of corporations, making them attractive investment opportunities. Of the 180 finalists, 45 have been acquired. Buyers include global technology groups such as Bruker and SAP as well as large Swiss companies such as Migros, Swiss Post and Novartis. In addition, eight finalists ventured to the stock exchange. This means that the share of start-ups that were able to realise an exit is over a quarter. This ratio is also above average.

Broad mix of sectors

The Swiss Economic Award aims to honour outstanding entrepreneurial achievements from all sectors, and it can live up to this claim. The successes in job growth, investments and exits were achieved by start-ups from a wide range of sectors. With 35 % of the finalists, the ICT sector has most companies, followed by startups that offer products for consumers (18 %), medtech startups and microtechnology companies (13 % each). 10 % come from the cleantech sector, 6 % from the biotech sector.

Comprehensive support

The finalists and winners of the Swiss Economic Awards receive comprehensive support. Even their appearance at the Swiss Economic Forum in Interlaken raises their profile. Added to this is access to the SEF.Growth programme, which is supported by 20 partners, including UBS, Helbling, Innosuisse and the Institute of Intellectual Property. The support aims to provide the selected companies with targeted and effective assistance in their growth steps.

(Stefan Kyora)
Picture: Award Ceremony 2022 with Carvolution