Venture Kick awards CHF 300’000 to medtech and hospitality start-ups

Treating foetuses during pregnancy risks triggering premature birth. Currently, the surgical instruments used in the womb often damage the foetal membrane, causing early births in many cases. Yannick Devaud, a University of Zurich BioEntrepreneur Fellow has patented a device that reduces this risk. With his startup Kove, he aims to promote safer foetal surgery will open the path for safer treatment of foetuses.

The startup and the University Hospital of Zurich successfully tested the feasibility of its device on pregnant sheep. The two are now planning long-term in vivo trials before a seed round next year. The startup has previously obtained grants funding and support from Gebert Rüf Stiftung InnoBooster and the Swiss National Science Foundation's BRIDGE programs.

The second winner is RoomPriceGenie
Revenue management for many small hotels merely means a high-season and a low-season. Such an old-fashioned approach does not make sense to co-founders Ari Andricopoulos, Marvin Speh, and Jörg Siegel. Their algorithm draws on publicly available data points to help small and medium-sized, independent hotels price dynamically to fill their rooms throughout the year while also increasing revenue by as much as 20 percent. RoomPriceGenie already serves more than 130 small- and medium-sized hotels around the world.

In the past months, the startup doubled its team to 19 in three countries and raised a 1-million-franc seed round from investors. As part of its next plans, the Zug based startup will use the pre-seed funds from Venture Kick to boost marketing and prepare to scale.

(Press release/RAN)