120 female CEOs

The number of Swiss start-ups with a female CEO is growing. The first list we published a year ago included about 80 companies. The current list contains 135 companies. The map shows the usual picture of Swiss start-ups regarding the fields of activity. Focus areas are life sciences, B2B IT solutions and hardware / micro technology.

Click on the pic to open the PDF. The logos on the map are clickable.

A glance at the year of foundation of the start-ups confirms the growth trend we already noted last year. While our list for the years prior to 2015 contains only ten or fewer start-ups, we have 23 companies founded in 2016 and 21 companies established a year later. The list even includes 31 start-ups that started in 2018. This means that the share of female led companies slowly approaches the ten percent mark. At the moment, the list shows only nine companies founded in 2019, but more companies will certainly appear in the future. Reports are always welcome. Just write to news@startupticker.ch

Women for the growth phase

Not all CEOs are founders or co-founders. In biotech companies, for example, several women have recently been appointed CEOs relatively long after the company was founded. These include Marina Udier from Nouscom, Anna Sumeray from Virometix, Helge Lubenow from Proteomedix and Melanie Rolli from PIQUR Therapeutics.

We limit ourselves to female CEOs because this is a clear demarcation criterion. In addition, the CEOs shape the image of the start-ups. In addition, we only include in the list start-ups that are registered in the commercial register and offer scalable products or services. Companies that cease operations or are acquired are removed from the list.