Swiss Venture Day: Innovations well received

The first redesigned Swiss Venture Day took place this week in Zurich and the new concept was very well received. Almost 250 people gathered for the event among them a high number of top-class investors plus representatives of large corporations. Many of the participants stayed the whole day to listen to the pitches and to talk to start-up founders during the one to one meetings. In total, more than 300 meetings were held. "All our expectations have been exceeded, regarding the number of participants, the pitch quality of the startups and the discipline at the one to one meetings", comments Jean-Pierre Vuilleumier, Managing Director Swiss Startup Invest.

The organisation implemented several new elements for the first “Swiss Venture Day reloaded”:

• With 22 companies in total, a higher number of start-ups pitched
• Start-ups pitched on two stages, one focusing on ICT and Clean-tech, and one focusing on Life Sciences
• A session with one to one meetings took place
• Two keynote speakers enlightened the audience about digitalswitzerland and IBM’s cognitive system Watson

Although the number of presenting companies more than doubled compared to the traditional Swiss Venture Days the quality of the pitches and the start-ups was very high. A clear indication for the evolving Swiss startup scene but also a result of the selection process. “Despite all the innovations and record-breaking numbers, our focus must be on the quality of the presenting start-ups - we want to have the best Swiss companies - and the smooth running of the event”, says Jean-Pierre Vuilleumier.

News about Swiss Startup Invest and Swiss Startup Day
In the morning of the day, the General Assembly of Swiss Startup Invest was held. Swiss Startup Invest President Christian Wenger informed the members that the organisation is in talks with digitalswitzerland with the goal to collaborate more closely.

In addition, Jean-Pierre Vuilleumier gave some information about the events of Swiss Startup Invest in 2017. The Swiss Venture Day will become a full two days event taking place on 24 and 25 October. On the first day there will be again best practice sessions for start-ups but also keynote speeches by experts and start-ups will have the opportunity to discuss concrete challenges with experts in one to one meetings.