Kickstart matches startups with corporates

Kickstart is one of Europe's largest zero equity, multi-corporate ecosystem innovation platforms that runs a scale-up program for high-growth startups with the goal to accelerate deep tech innovation in Switzerland. A key element of the program is to pave the way for collaborations between start-ups and corporates. Since 2015, over 200 such collaborations have been launched in the application areas of Circular Economy, EdTech & New Work, FinTech & InsurTech, Food & RetailTech, HealthTech, Smart City & Technology, with great success.

The Partnerships 2021 with Swiss start-ups at a glance
(Details on the Kickstart Website)              

Partnerships in the EdTech & New Work Focus Area:

La Mobilière and Evrlearn will explore the advantages of a digital platform for lifelong learning to support skill management and to enable employees in transformation processes.

Migros and Evrlearn will pilot an innovative learning solution that allows Klubschule Migros Ostschweiz to distribute its learning opportunities on a digital matchmaking platform for lifelong learning.

Partnerships in the FinTech & InsurTech Focus Area:

Acodis will have the opportunity to discuss their solutions and possible use cases with Coop.

PostFinance, SwissPost and alumnus decentriq (Kickstart alumnus) will work towards a prototype of a Secure Address Verification Ecosystem for financial institutions, leveraging the latest advancements of confidential computing.

Partnership in the Food & Retail Tech Focus Area:

Hitzberger clients can now preorder and pay from everywhere with the new Yoordi webshop. This enables the Migros daughter company to validate the digital sales channel.

Coop and #tide intend to jointly develop the first travel luggage and the first packaging for cosmetics and home care made from ocean-bound plastic

Partnerships in the HealthTech Focus Area:

Medbase is performing individual PoCs with Oto and Clever.Care to continue its effort to bring innovation into healthcare and to foster inter-professional cooperation.

AXA is in ongoing discussions regarding collaboration opportunities with this year's Kickstart cohort in the area of mental health after already having partnered with Kickstart alumni Klenico & HelloBetter to launch a mental health self-test last summer - with the aim to foster mental wellbeing and offer low threshold access to help.

Clever.Care and Stadt Zürich are committed to exploring a pioneering project to explore how to better support, empower and relieve family caregivers, in order to foster aging-in-place of the steadily growing oldest population group in the City of Zürich.

Partnerships in the Smart City Focus Area:

AXA and Soobr have initiated a project to implement demand-oriented facility cleaning. For more efficiency, transparency and flexibility of facility services.

Coop and Soobr are testing Smart Cleaning in a retail store in Winterthur to achieve better efficiency, transparency and flexibility in facility services.

City of Zurich and Soobr intend to start a pilot project at the Stadtspital Triemli. For more transparency, efficiency and sustainability in building cleaning.

"We naturally hope that among the new partnerships there will be just as successful ones as we have seen, for example, with Planted, Coop and Migros, Axa and Veezoo or PostFinance and decentriq in the past years," explains Katka Letzing, co-founder and CEO of Kickstart Innovation.. "On the one hand, digitalization and sustainability are drivers in innovation; on the other hand, it shows that the early transformation of processes through digital and other innovative solutions provides a competitive advantage for this. Large companies are increasingly interested in cooperating with high-growth start-ups and developing together here," Katka Letzing continues.

(Press release / SK)