Young Entrepreneur Award fuels Irmos drive

With a solution just out of the lab, Irmos Technologies' team is pulling out all the stops. The startup has been actively monitoring reference buildings and infrastructures in Switzerland. The startup is also currently preparing the instrumentation for a highway bridge that belongs to the federal office for roads (ASTRA). The goal: to enable its online monitoring for 8 years.  At the same time, Irmos is forging partnerships with leading engineering firms and has launched pilot projects with key asset owners such as Swiss Prime Site and Armasuisse.

The Zurich startup has also won competitive innovation grants, offered by the Swiss National Science Foundation and the Gebert Rüf foundation and received valuable support from the main actors of the Swiss startup ecosystem. Today its biggest challenge is to grow its team, to validate further markets and ultimately to maximize the impact of its solution. 

Irmos Technologies is the organic outcome of over 10 years of research at ETH and EPFL, focusing on the development of intelligent diagnostic tools for existing structures. The startup offers an end-to-end solution that enables engineers to maximize the safe life of our aging infrastructure. Based on a limited number of low-cost sensors, its software monitors the global integrity of buildings and bridges, independent from the construction material, which can be concrete, steel, masonry or timber.  Over the past 2 years the team of Panagiotis Martakis systematically prepared the ground for its research to reach the market. The company incorporated in February 2023 and has already significant market traction. 

A far reaching victory

Last Thursday, Irmos Technologies won over the jury of the Young Entrepreneur Award, cashing the CHF 8’000 first prize. The startup was in competition with 7 other projects coming from the best Swiss universities. Second price was awarded to Alter Ego, a solution to allow shoppers to have a virtual fitting room experience by uploading one full body picture and get their measurements. Third price went to Flappie, a start-up developing AI enabled cat doors to avoid cats bringing rodents or prays inside.

Winning the Young Entrepreneur award offered Irmos way more than the prize money says CEO Panagiotis Martakis. The visibility of Irmos’ solution drastically increased and the startup got the chance to expand its network with high-level executives and market experts active in France. To maximize the gains of this opportunity, the team is currently adapting its strategy to expand its operations in France. To achieve this, having advisors on its side that can introduce Irmos to key partners and clients, is extremely important. 

Commercial launch in a few months

With its MVP ready, Irmos is currently developing the first commercial version of its software, which will be released in the next few months. In the same time, the startup is set to grow its team of four Post-Docs from ETH and EPFL to further validate its product market fit. In Q4 2023, Irmos will start its first investing round to fuel its international growth. The startup is hosted by the Büro Züri Innovation space in Dübendorf.

(ES)