Mapping supporters in the Swiss Startup Ecosystem

Startups and aspiring entrepreneurs are always on the search for relevant information to guide them on the journey to becoming independent or after they have established their companies. Whether it is coaching, consulting, training, mentoring, networking or gaining visibility, all these offers are plenty in Switzerland and each organization strives to support founders to their best.

Several existing maps have projected startups in designated fields such as Fintech, Crypto, Insurtech, Healthtech. Now two new have been published to give the stage to supporters in the Swiss startup ecosystem. The goal is to enable startup- and aspiring-founders to orient themselves during their startup journey – from the idea stage to scaling.

SICTIC and digitalswitzerland provide an overview of 132 players in the Swiss Tech Startup Ecosystem (scroll down to the bottom of the page). Each player falls in one of the eight categories: Events and Networking: Information platforms and Associations; Co-working and Accelerators; Investors; Awards and Support; Consulting and Coaching; Training; and Science Teaching and Transfer. Further information is available by clicking on the logo of the desired supporter. Background information can be found in a blog post by digitalswitzerland.

The Startup-Map, launched at the Zentralschweizer Startup-Tag by six organisations provides a comprehensive information graphic illustrating the startup journey and presents opportunities and obstacles the startup may face along the journey. Therefore, each stage highlights the required support and a corresponding supporter. According to Patrick Link, Co-Head of Smart-up, University Lucerne, the objective is to help startups pose relevant questions, master the challenges but also helps them to tackle the right topics at the right stage. Startup-Map is available for download.

The Canton of Ticino has also published a map of the Regional Innovation System. It covers support offerings in six competence areas. Most of them are adressing start-ups too.

Besides maps, the Startupticker team has put together diverse directories, which not only list but also provide information about the most active players in the Startup scene who provide entrepreneurs with financial and non-financial support. The registers include «Awards», «Grants and loans», and «Investors». Supporters are also linked to a news item in which they have been mentioned. To access the directors, visit the Startupticker Assets page.

Startup Maps become more diverse
Every month a new map is published to reveal the startups which are engaged in the ecosystem to make it more vibrant. These include the Fintech Map by Swisscom, Crypto Valley Map, Energy Startup Map, the Artificial Intelligence Map, the Swiss Lifesciences Map and the  Swiss Environment and Energy Innovation Monitor.