MassChallenge Switzerland Announces 2018 Class of Startups

Last week, over 200 startups from 31 countries pitched their ideas to more than 150 experts during MassChallenge Switzerland’s final judging round at Campus Biotech in Geneva. Out of these, 66 high potential startups have been selected to join the Switzerland MassChallenge Acceleration Program and 40 startups for the global EIT-FAN Track, cumulating to 106 finalists for both programs. The accelerator program will start in June and culminate on October 30th at the MassChallenge Switzerland Awards Ceremony

The 66 selected startups invited to join the Masschallenge Switzerland accelerator represent 3 continents, 18 countries, with an even gender distribution, and are active in five major industries:

• 31.7% Healthcare and Life Sciences
• 30.0% High Tech
• 23.3% General
• 8.3% Social Impact
• 6.7% Energy/Clean Tech

“After an outstanding application drive, with about 75% of applicants coming from outside Switzerland, this year’s edition clearly shows the global impact and drive that our program has” – said Thierry Duvanel, MassChallenge Switzerland Managing Director

Swiss startups in the 2018 MassChallenge Switzerland Cohort

Energy/Clean Tech

• hiLyte (Switzerland): We bring clean, safe and affordable on-demand energy to the poorest.
• EnerSeer (Switzerland): Developed a flexibility management tool that virtually extends the technical capabilities of ESSs boosting their economic value.

General

• Brave Foods SA (Switzerland): Snacking without compromise: delicious & balanced, 100% natural & organic, always at your side wherever life takes you.
• AVAtronics Sarl (Switzerland): Our groundbreaking Active Noise Cancellation technology is a wide-band solution outperforming all available techniques in the market.
• Rideshaper (Switzerland): A communal workshop for motorcycle enthusiasts who want to wrench on their bike while socialising with the community.
• Brightbites AG (Switzerland): A marketing and market research platform for food brands and producers.
• La Garde-Robe (Switzerland)

Healthcare/ Life Sciences

• Kejako (Switzerland): Addressing presbyopia in the field of ophthalmology, with an anti-aging mindset in order to treat the gradual loss of visual accommodation.
• Nagi Bioscience (Switzerland): We aim to set a new standard for testing toxicity and efficacy of drugs, cosmetics and chemicals: the first “Organism-on-Chip” technology
• Rapid Graft (Switzerland): Rapid Graft's TED drastically reduces the time needed for taking skin grafts and allows quick and easy in-office skin grafting.
• Aesyra SA (Switzerland): Aesyra's mission is to develop and commercialize a complete wearable solution that will help clinicians and patients in better managing bruxism diagnosis, monitoring and therapy.
• Biospectal SA (Switzerland): The company has developed a breakthrough smartphone application and platform that allow instant, ubiquitous, and accurate blood pressure monitoring and management. 
• EBA-Med (External Beam Ablation Medical Devices) (Switzerland): The company develops innovative solutions for non-invasive and automated treatment of heart arrhythmias by using ion beams (external beam ablation)
• Resistell (Switzerland): The world’s fastest antibiotic resistance test. It saves lives by determining the right antibiotic for the patient on time.
• Velox Therapeutics (Switzerland): Developed a novel anticoagulant that does not increase the bleeding risk, thus overcoming the safety issues related to current drugs\
• Leitwert (Switzerland): Enabling continuous patient monitoring in clinics with infrastructure for automated data capture from wearables using wireless technologies.
• Aspivix (Switzerland): In genecology, uterus access requires traumatic forceps. Aspivix, a new forceps gen using vacuum suction, eliminates pain, bleeding & lesion
• Scailyte AG (Switzerland): Uses AI technology to unlock single-cell data for biomedical research, pharmaceutical discovery and precision diagnostics
• AQrion Medical (Switzerland): Medical device to improve minimally invasive surgeries
• ALAnostics (Switzerland): Develop controlled release nanomedicines for Fluorescent Guided Resection and Photodynamic Therapy of Solid Tumours

High Tech

• GenLots (Switzerland)
• Feeltronix (Switzerland)
• Prodibi (Switzerland): A unique professional image solution that solves all issues of displaying pictures online for any image of any size on any device.
• ROVENSO SA (Switzerland): Makes agile robots for challenging terrains and harsh environments
• Foldaway Haptics (Switzerland): Interfaces render forces under your finger. Users can “touch” VR objects thanks to the new generation of portable joysticks
• CREAL3D (Switzerland): A startup company developing a near-eye light-field display for Virtual and Mixed Reality glasses bringing depth immersion in 3D.
• SkAD Labs (Switzerland): we are building the future standard of engineering software

Social Impact

• Bloom Biorenewables (Switzerland): Makes industrial biomaterials from plants.
• Association Mobsya (Switzerland): We create and distribute products to help children understand and master digital technologies and sciences thanks to programmable robots.
• Oxygen at Work GmbH (Switzerland): We help companies reduce health care and energy costs by using data analytics and specific plants to improve office indoor air quality.

For its third edition, MassChallenge Switzerland is organizing and running the EIT-FAN, a selective track dedicated solely to Agri- and Food-tech startups. This program, launched by the consortium EIT-Food fosters efforts to identify and support high-impact Agri- and Food-tech startups, making Europe the go-to innovation hub for this emerging industry.

The 40 startups of the EIT-FAN Track with MassChallenge will be spread across 3 program locations running in parallel in Germany, Israel, and Switzerland.  In Switzerland, 16  startups will be invited onsite in Renens, in June, for 4 months of acceleration.

Swiss startups in the 2018 EIT Food Accelerator Network with MassChallenge Cohort

• Alver Golden Chlorella (Switzerland): We are addressing the growing demand for tasty low impact, high protein foods with a range of healthy foods made with Golden Chlorella.
• CocoA Switzerland GmbH (Switzerland): We are fighting food waste and increase the income of small-scale cocoa farmers by carrying the exotic taste of cocoa pulp into the world.
• Embion Technologies (Switzerland): Customized extraction of novel functional ingredients starting from low-value natural plant resources.
• AgroSustain (Switzerland): Aims to develop and bring to market efficient organic treatments against broad ranges of plant fungal pathogens.
• FlavorWiki (Switzerland): A digital consumer insights platform specifically designed for food and beverage products.
• xFarm (CH): Offers an intuitive, map-based Farm Management Platform coupled with the Plug and Play IoT field sensors xSense.
• GreenhouCity (Switzerland): Thanks to sophisticated climate control and the use of alternative ways of growing plants, the venture inserts agriculture in cities, to grow fruits and vegetables of your everyday consumption.
• Lironix (Switzerland): Lironix is an EPFL spin-out with patented technology to monitor the safe transit and stocking for food and medicine in the supply chain. With a smart-tag technology compatible with production labeling processes,

Discover the full startup list  here

(Press release)