August 12, 2016
Digitisation: 25 years of Swiss innovation
Dear reader
The internet is 25 years old: on 6 August 1991, info.cern.ch, the first website in the world was launched in Switzerland. Since then, innovative entrepreneurs have been looking for new business ideas based on the technology – and they are still finding them today. This week provided a number of examples of Swiss start-ups that are driving digitisation and thus celebrating remarkable achievements.
The grocery shopping app Bring! closed a seven-digit financing round and will soon start implementation of new revenue streams and expansion into new markets.
Also expanding is PapayaPods with its platform aimed at simplifying management tasks for property owners in the mid-term rental housing space – three to 12-plus months. Just a few months after the launch, the first successes can be found not only in Switzerland but also in London and Barcelona.
Just like the Lausanne start-up, SKUANI is also targeting European expansion from the outset. On skuani.com, individuals and businesses can search for law, tax, fiduciary and accounting expertise. The portal also offers experts the opportunity to publish articles. With its European orientation, the Zurich start-up is alone in its field.
Zulu5 has developed a unique technology to monitor digital played-out advertising and thus to increase the transparency and quality in the digital advertising market. The start-up, founded in 2014, has attracted the attention of the NZZ Group, which has now taken a stake in Zulu5.
Nine-member Anivo has found a big partner: the insurance start-up launched an online platform with insurance products exclusively for employees of companies and members of associations. The first customer is SBB, a second large company will soon follow.
Speaking of insurtech, the Competence Center Sourcing in the Financial Industry, a joint project between the universities of Leipzig and St. Gallen, is this year for the first time also awarding an Insurance IT Innovation Award in addition to its Banking IT Innovation Award.
Another new feature in the support for fintech start-ups – a fintech Startup Weekend will take place in Geneva in early October for the first time.
The event season is slowly starting up again. I would like highlight the star-studded Journée de l’Innovation at EPFL on 23 August, and Talk Plus 2016 with Relish Guitars, smolsys and forensity at Lucerne Technopark on 25 August. In addition, in early September a Sales Hacker event takes place in Zurich at which sales experts will provide creative answers to some of the most commonly asked sales questions. Registration runs until 19 August.
Have a sunny summer weekend.
Stefan Kyora
Managing Editor, startupticker.ch