IT companies: from the shadows to the light

Dear reader

The Swiss IT industry was barely visible a few years ago, consisting mainly of small service providers that developed business software and were active only locally. This has changed fundamentally. Swiss IT start-ups now attract customers and investors worldwide; for example Teralytics. The venture capital arms of Bosch, Deutsche Bahn and German energy company innogy, Lakestar from Zurich and the UK’s Atomico took part in the most recent financing round. Teralytics is growing strongly in more than 10 countries, and with the support of investors is set to become the global marketplace for mobility analysis.

Deepcode, which specialises in AI-based analysis of software code, was also able to bring on board well-known investors, such as Earlybird and btov, which invested nearly CHF 4 million in the current financing round. The money will be used to expand the product range.

However, Swiss start-ups are also becoming visible because they are bringing products to the market that can change our daily lives. The experienced founders of moebelscout.ch are venturing into a platform for furniture and home accessories: what they have achieved already, only shortly after the start, is remarkable. On the other hand, RealbotEngineering and Yoordi rely on B2B business models. RealbotEngineering has developed a visitor robot for apartments – potential renters can make their first visit to an apartment via the internet without going to the location. Yoordi allows restaurant guests to order and pay by mobile phone – without downloading an app.

And, finally, rumours are again circulating that Apple has taken over a Swiss start-up. After Faceshift, this time Fashwell seems to have aroused the interest of the Californian concern.

The second Swiss Pavilion at CES in Las Vegas should also cause a stir in the US: start-ups can apply until 14 August. For the last few days, nine start-ups supported by Innosuisse and EPFL have been in San Francisco, taking part in the swissnex Startup Bootcamp – find out which companies in our article. Start-ups that want to be at the cutting edge of the media industry for two weeks can now apply for the first edition of swissnex Labs New York, which will take place in October.

Don’t miss the application deadline for the Swiss Technology Award: it expires on 23 August.

Have a good weekend
Stefan Kyora

Editor in Chief, Startupticker.ch