Success carries on

Dear reader

Almost all start-ups are currently struggling, albeit for different reasons, and in particular in Ticino – the canton most affected by the corona crisis – as our Ticino correspondent Dimitri Loringett describes. It will be remarkable if start-ups succeed in pursuing their growth targets under these circumstances, but examples were provided this week by proptech start-up Neho, fintech company Evolute and game start-up Airconsole, which entered into a partnership with British telecommunications provider 02. Everyone is benefiting from the comprehensive boost to digitalisation brought about by the crisis.

The good news is that corporate collaboration with start-ups and investment activities are continuing, as our interview with Roger Wüthrich-Hasenböhler, Swisscom’s Chief Digital Officer, illustrates. He is optimistic that the digitalisation wave triggered by the crisis will not ebb away and that other groups will invest in this area again from the end of 2020, thus offering opportunities for start-ups.

Wüthrich-Hasenböhler mentions a financing round in which Swisscom Venture has stepped in for a foreign investor who cancelled at short notice. Foreign donors have cut back significantly on their investment in Switzerland, and start-ups that require venture capital from abroad are therefore in difficulties, as are those companies that need new investors for a financing round. The support measures currently in place do not cover such situations, but a national bridging loan pool is set to change this. The concept has been well received by the Federal Department of Finance, says Peter Stähli, CEO of the Swiss Entrepreneurs Foundation. More on this in our article (in German and French).

In addition, our articles on the support measures already implemented at federal level and in the German-speaking and French-speaking cantons are continuously updated. This week, for example, the cantonal government in St. Gallen, together with Startfeld and St. Galler Kantonalbank, developed a package of measures for start-ups that also includes a special bridging loan of up to CHF 150,000.

In addition to the news about the corona crisis, we also reported on three financing rounds this week: Datapred, Amnis and Annaida. Datapred has attracted an investor from Berlin, with funders for the other two start-ups coming from Switzerland.

Finally, I would like to point out the deadline for this year‘s Entrepreneur of the Year Award: applications are open until 15 April. Food start-ups that want to benefit from a free booth at the 'Brennpunkt Nahrung' conference can apply until 17 April.

Have a peaceful Easter.
Stefan Kyora