Blockchain Valley Ventures (BVV), a new accelerator and venture capital firm offering investment, financing, and advisory services for blockchain-enabled businesses, has launched today. The firm boasts Oliver Bussmann, President of the Crypto Valley Association and former UBS and SAP Group CIO; Heinrich Zetlmayer, former Vice President and Country Leader of IBM Global Business Services in Switzerland; and Lykke Corp. as Partners.

The insurance company Baloise is taking a step towards digital transformation. The company has entered a partnership with startup Veezoo, to develop artificial intelligence solution based on Veezoo’s software to boost its sales.

The Zurich based startup Sonect is enrolled in a 12-week program of the VC FinTech Accelerator in the United States. The support package will support the startup to accelerate its development-

The Swiss biotech industry has reached record figures for 2017 in financing and exports. Infrastructure investments show that confidence in its ability to create value and innovate remains unshaken. New trends such as digitisation are fuelling the growth.

Agilent Technologies Inc., a global leader in life sciences, diagnostics, and applied chemical markets, will acquire the Swiss company Genohm. Genohm has developed a laboratory software automation suite. The acquisition will enable Agilent to provide a single informatics solution across laboratory and operational domains.

The third round of Kickstart Accelerator is open until the end of May. We talked to Christoph Birkholz, Program Lead at Kickstart, about the programme’s special approach, the start-ups it wants and CEOs’ interest in start-ups.

With a net worth of $1.56 billion the self-made billionaire Marius Nacht, is investing a proportion of his money in Numbrs, a European banking app. Nacht joins Numbrs' circle of investors, bringing its total funding raised to CHF150m.

Startups must meet Red Herring’s 20 criteria points to win the award. Two Swiss technologies impressed the jury most: the first laser-based bone cutting device and oral therapy for chronic diseases.

Swissto12 and Thales Alenia Space, a space company with revenues of about 2.4 billion euros in 2016, have entered into agreement to setup a digitalised and highly effective spacecraft waveguide supply chain.