Global from the start

Dear reader 

ANYbotics has launched the ANYmal X for inspections in hazardous and potentially explosive environments, and has also signed a deal with Petronas ­– the Swiss robot will be used in dozens of Petronas facilities. Additionally, several global operators, including Shell and Petrobras, have signed up to the ANYmal X onboarding programme.

US chemical giant Dow has acquired a stake in Swiss cleantech start-up Plastogaz. The group, which has a turnover of USD 55 billion, and the two-year-old start-up will work together to scale advanced recycling solutions that enable major brands to use recycled content in their products.

A reason for the relatively slow growth of Swiss start-ups is the small home market with just a few large corporates: start-ups have to tackle foreign markets and find access to foreign global players from the start. However, our examples show that the best start-ups are now able to do this very quickly.

For example, Swiss fintech Clanq launched its app in Germany this week, and Teylor, another fintech that facilitates lending to SMEs, also launched its solution first in Germany and has now closed a financing round of CHF 6.5 million.

The eight-year-old adtech start-up 1plusX is already globally successful and has now been acquired by a New York company for USD 150 million. The lead investors in the two largest financing rounds of the week ­– Decentriq with USD 15 million and Neural Concept with USD 9 million – also come from the US.

No wonder interest in Swiss start-ups is also growing among international organisations. The Extreme Tech Challenge held a regional competition for the first time in this country, with the winners going to the global finals in San Francisco. Tech Tour and Vivatech have once again chosen start-ups with unicorn potential from across Europe, including seven Swiss companies. Connoisseurs of the local scene will not find the names surprising. Those looking for promising new start-ups will find them on the top 16 list of this year’s WA de Vigier Foundation awards.

I would also like to refer to an article on Covid-19 loans advanced to start-ups: our research shows that a deferral of amortisation payments is possible.

Applications are open for the SEIF Tech for Impact Awards until 31 March, the deadline for this year’s EY Entrepreneur of the Year Awards is 8 April and 10 April for the next UBS Start Business Contest. Next week, the opening event of the next Tech4Eva programme will take place on Thursday in Lausanne, and Cyber Security Days can be found in Fribourg on 6 and 7 April.

Have a sunny spring weekend.
Stefan Kyora

Editor in Chief, Startupticker.ch