An end to modesty

Dear reader

This week, Lausanne digital health company Sophia Genetics announced the completion of a $30 million financing round – and it was read in publications around the world.

On Tuesday, Apple presented its new flagship iPhone X. Several big US online portals have pointed out that some of the new functionalities were developed by the Swiss start-up FaceShift, which Apple took over two years ago. No wonder the US magazine The Next Web tells its readers why one should pay attention to Switzerland as a start-up nation.

Swiss start-ups are learning how to communicate. More young companies link their reports with much-discussed events; for example, Carbon Delta reported this week on its project funded by the CTI to develop a tool that assesses the risks of tropical cyclones, such as Harvey and Irma. And Antavi reported that its solution to improve security is being used at the Munich Oktoberfest.

It is also a good sign that the four younger companies that have made it into the final of the Entrepreneur of the Year Award have been made known: alongside Sophia Genetics are L.E.S.S., Climeworks and Webrepublic.

There is already much interest in the 16 start-ups that will pitch on Swiss Venture Day in Lausanne next week. Swiss Startup Invest expects about 150 participants.

About 400 participants have already registered for the Swiss Startup Days on 24 and 25 October in Berne, and one-to-one meetings can now be booked. An important date for start-ups: the registration deadline for the Elevator Pitches, where qualification takes place for the Pitching Battle, is on 25 September.

The Swiss Startup Days are also a stopover for Indian experts and investors, who are travelling through Switzerland in October in order to make contact with Swiss start-ups, among other things.

You can apply now for the Swiss Fintech Awards, the accelerator programme from the fintech incubator and accelerator F10, and START JLM, a five-day start-up programme in Israel.

Next week, there will be a whole series of interesting events. On 19 September, the new life sciences incubator StartLab will be presented at the Biopôle in Lausanne. On 20 September, the Innovation World Cup Conference on the topic of IoT will take place in Neuchâtel, and in Lausanne there will be an opening event for Kickstart Accelerator’s Edtech Vertical. The Swiss Energy and Climate Summit will be held in Bern on 20 and 21 September. Finally, on Saturday, Impact Hub Zurich will host the first market at which the centre’s start-ups will sell their products.

Have a good weekend.
Stefan Kyora

Editor in Chief, Startupticker.ch