The 10th edition of the Swisscom Startup Challenge will support five startups worldwide that contribute to climate protection with their innovations and technologies. Application to the competition is open until May 31, 2022.
By 2025, Swisscom wants to save 1 million tonnes of CO2 per year in addition to its net-zero targets. The company has launched the next chapter of the Swisscom Startup Challenge in search of early and extension-stage tech startups worldwide that contribute to climate protection with their innovations and technologies to support this ambition.
Recently launched startups with sustainability solutions or sustainability-related research projects from universities can apply to enter the competition. Upon closing the submission window on May 31, the jury will evaluate the applications to select the ten finalists that will undergo pitching training to prepare for the finale on September 1.
Only the five best startups will win the award prize, which is endowed with a week-long Exploration Programme with sustainability and ICT experts from Swisscom and access to the Swisscom ecosystem. The exploration week runs from November 7-11, 2022.
The winners will also benefit from mentoring by Swisscom experts and partners, workshops and coaching to gain marketing, sales and pitching skills. They will get the chance to exchange with climate protection and energy efficiency entrepreneurs and venture capitalists, access to a network of potential customers and business partners, and the chance to secure a business partnership with Swisscom, an investment from Swisscom Ventures and a ticket to the NOAJH conference.
A successful century
Swisscom has tailored its startup competition to address a different focus topic during the past years. So far, around 2,000 startups have applied for the Challenge, and 45 have completed the funding programme. Almost 100 young entrepreneurs travelled to the Swisscom Outpost and pitched their business cases to large venture capitalists and internet giants. Among them were startups such as Ava (2015), Creal (2019), Ecorobotix (2017), Geosatis (2014), Gmelius (2019) and Nanolive (2016). Swisscom Ventures, the venture capital subsidiary of Swisscom, also invested in them. Six of the winning startups have since sold their companies: For example, the regtech startup Qumram (2016) to Dynatrade or the intelligent image recognition company Fashwell (2016) to Apple.
(Press release/RAN)
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