LeadiNNg to Scale-up announces first cohort

IMD and Innovaud have been supporting startups for many years, through initiatives such as the IMD Startup Competition and the NNexus and Scale Up Vaud programs. The new program focusses on startup founders who, after getting their business off the ground and completing their all-important first funding round, need targeted aid to kick-start the scale-up process, recruit talent and get their company ready to grow fast. “CEOs are often left alone to make all the decisions when their company starts to gain traction,” said Patrick Barbey, the director of Innovaud. “With this new program, IMD and Innovaud are aiming to propel startups to scale with even better support.” 

Founding a startup can be a lonely process, and it can be helpful for founders to know that their peers are facing the same challenges. This is why one of the most important aspects of the program is building trust among participants. “Though we’ve had quite a bit of experience with startups and scale-ups, we did quite a bit of research and interviewed every candidate, to design this program to focus on the essentials for them”, said Jim Pulcrano, Adjunct Professor of Entrepreneurship and Management at IMD. The program covers three key topics – leadership, organizational design and strategic scaling. Ten sessions spread over six months combine practical case studies with in-person experience-sharing from other entrepreneurs.

the selected startups receive coaching from leading entrepreneurship professors at IMD, gain access to a network of successful scale-ups and entrepreneurs, become part of a community of ambitious founders facing similar challenges and receive a certificate of completion recognized by IMD and Innovaud.

The 14 members of the first cohort are:

• CashSentinel – Payment and contracting systems for marketplaces (ICT)
• CYSEC – Data security in confidential computing (cybersecurity)
• DRINKOTEC Beverage Technologies – Complete management and productivity platform for beverage operations (IoT)
• Droople – IoT solution for monitoring water treatment systems, sanitary ware and appliances (ICT)
• INVOLI – Air traffic detection and management solutions for drones and air traffic (drones)
• Iprova – Bringing digital transformation to inventions using ML and NLP (AI)
• Ligentec – Custom-designed photonic integrated circuits (PICs) for LiDAR, quantum computing, biosensing and new space applications (engineering)
• Lookmove – Dynamic and autonomous real-estate search engine and B2B SaaS tools for agents (ICT)
• Novigenix – Data-driven precision medicine (biotechnology)
• Swibeco – Digital one-stop-shop for managing all employee benefit programs in one place (ICT)
• Tayo – Property management platform for simpler interactions between property managers, tenants, co-owners and suppliers (ICT)
• Veertly – Platform for hybrid and online events and digital interactions (ICT)
• Visium – Services and products for companies’ AI transformation journey (AI)
• Zaphiro Technologies – Smart grid solutions for the energy transition (ICT/engineering)