Impact through growth

Dear reader

At the beginning of the year, Qumea’s fall prevention system was in use by 30 institutions; now 70 in the DACH region and Scandinavia use it. Sales have tripled over the past nine months and an end to the growth is not in sight, particularly since Qumea can also show good current test results.

Things are also running smoothly at betterview, which offers laser eye surgery at a fixed price. In its first year of operation, the company achieved a double-digit million turnover. This year, a flagship clinic will be opened at Zurich’s main railway station and betterview has also founded a British subsidiary for expansion into the UK.

Three sustainable start-ups are moving forward in terms of foreign expansion: Zaphiro has opened an office in Italy, and H55, which focuses on certified electric propulsion and battery management systems tailored to a diverse range of aircraft, is building a factory in Canada. And the construction of Noida International Airport, which will be India’s largest airport when it is completed, is using Nanogence’s smart catalysts, which significantly reduce the CO₂ impact of concrete.

Sleepiz is set to grow strongly in the US after obtaining FDA clearance. Sleepiz’ device measures movements originating from heart contractions, breathing patterns and body motions in a contact-free manner to extract vital signs. Swiss start-ups seems to be on an expansion course even in economically uncertain times, thus underlining their importance to the national economy.

Venture Kick has also achieved economic importance. The programme, which has supported most of the deeptech start-ups just mentioned, has just awarded its 1000th start-up. Thanks to financial support, coaching and investor networking, 783 start-ups have been established and 13,305 jobs created. In addition to the CHF 50 million in seed capital provided by Venture Kick, start-ups have been financed with a further CHF 7.8 billion from investors. Venture Kick has become the leading European accelerator programme and is among the top 10 worldwide.

Venture Kick, as a philanthropic initiative from a private consortium, illustrates the strength of the Swiss private sector in supporting start-ups. But an understanding of start-ups is also slowly increasing in the Council of States and the National Council, as debates on residence permits for university graduates and a new initiative for an innovation fund have shown. The elections in just over a week are an opportunity to reinforce this trend. We have compiled a short list of candidates who have campaigned for start-ups over the past four years.

Applications are now open for three traditional start-up awards: the IMD Startup Competition, the WA de Vigier Foundation’s award and >> venture >>. Start-ups with a space connection should lose no time in applying to ESA BIC. The 10 winners of the Venture Leaders Fintech programme were selected this week.

I would also like to mention a series of events to mark the 20th anniversary of Swissnex in San Francisco: three events in Basel, Lausanne and Zurich will focus on innovation for sustainable urban futures. Next week, Startup Forum St. Gallen will take place at the Olma and StartUpForum Aargau in Brugg.

Have a good weekend
Stefan Kyora

Editor in Chief, Startupticker.ch