CHF 300'000 for three Western Switzerland startups

The FIT seed loan is granted to promising young companies of Western Switzerland in phase of prototyping and commercial development. Since 1994, the FIT has financed innovative technological projects and startups with a total of 33 million Swiss francs of loans and grants. These companies have created more than 1000 jobs in Switzerland so far. The three new supported companies include:

Quantum Integrity: Detect falsification in digital images
Technology today makes it easy for anyone with basic knowledge of programs like Photoshop to falsify digital images or scanned copies of official documents, e.g. birth certificates, bank statements or business contracts. In fact, the simplicity with which images can be modified has become a threat in many industries; think of the media for example.

To help businesses tackle image falsification (or image forgery, in the jargon) and re-build trust, the Geneva based startup Quantum Integrity developed a set of software modules that detect, quantify and qualify manipulations made to digital images. The tools are easily available in the cloud for Swiss and international companies, whose daily businesses and operations rely on digital imaging. Quantum is currently running a pilot project with EPFL. Now the FIT loan will help them develop new detection tools and prepare for future growth.

MagneSys: Make food safer
In the food industry, risks of contamination by foreign bodies (e.g. glass, plastic or metal particles) can occur during production or transport. In fact, the presence of foreign bodies in food is a major problem in this field. If not eliminated properly, food contamination can cause health damages to consumers and alter companies’ image.

To tackle this issue, the HEIG-VD spinoff MagneSys developed an innovative technology capable of filtering out iron particles in food powder or grains, such as flour. The resulting product is a patented magnetic filtering machine, whose magnetic field is more powerful than the ones used in the food industry today. The system also allows self-cleaning to continuously filter out and evacuate the wastes in the machine. The startup has already started collaboration with one of the leading manufacturer of bread flour in Switzerland, the Groupe Minoteries. The filtering technology can also serve other applications such as ceramic, pharmaceutical powders or plastics. MagneSys will now use the FIT funds to further develop its product before market entry.

Avalia Systems: Optimize software development  
There are many situations where software development organizations need to be evaluated. For ex. when a company invests in another (e.g. M&A, PE and VC investments), when a CTO wants to evaluate the organization, or when a significant digital transformation effort takes place. In most cases, experts do this complex, time consuming and costly assessment based on interviews, while overlooking data from millions of lines of code and years of development activities.

Avalia Systems, a start-up with R&D collaboration with the HEIG-VD, has it all to disrupt the market. It developed a solution that leverages existing data and delivers a thorough assessment of company software in real-time and in 2 weeks, instead of 6 months. Avalia’s technology can evaluate the code, processes and teams using a smart combination of AI, software analytics and data visualization. This allows developers, managers and executives to gain transparency, prioritize actions and measure results in software development activities to detect project risks and improve their company's software development investments.

The CHF 100’000 loan given by the FIT will now help Avalia Systems further develop its product and acquire new clients. The young company already counts customers and partners in Switzerland, Germany, the US and Brazil. Learn more about Avalia in video.

(Press release)