February 21, 2020
From Winterthur to Vanuatu
Dear reader
For fast growth, start-ups rely on partners that take the risk of working with innovative young companies. Swiss start-ups and their products and services have become very attractive to such partners worldwide, but sometimes they don’t have to look that far. Ticino start-up Hive Power, for example, enables electricity supply company AMB in Bellinzona to offer private individuals demand-dependent electricity tariffs. Valais deeptech start-up GRZ Technologies also found what it was looking for in Switzerland: Winterthur’s flagship technology company Burckhardt Compression will work with GRZ to develop a compressor for hydrogen filling stations and hydrogen energy storage.
However, the optimal partner is often found outside the country’s borders and sometimes on another continent. Two Swiss companies have acquired Japanese partners. A semiconductor company is licensing the technology of ETH Zurich spin-off 3db Access, with the goal of developing secure access solutions; for example, for smart homes, connected vehicles and IOT applications. And Kasko2Go has started a joint project with Hitachi High-Tech to improve traffic safety in Japan. Swiss start-ups are also involved in emerging markets: Power Blox reports a successful test of its smart power storage in the South Pacific state of Vanuatu.
With this in mind, the good news is that Innosuisse is launching an exchange programme with Israel and giving start-ups an opportunity to expand their network to another country. The selected participants for the first edition have now been announced.
But start-ups not only rely on support organisations for expansion abroad. Edtech company Taskbase has strengthened its board of directors in view of its international growth strategy, and Evenito, a provider of software for event management, closed a financing round of CHF 1.7 million in order to conquer international markets.
Start-ups’ international success has not gone unnoticed. Six companies founded in Switzerland made it into the TechTour Top 50, a list that includes European Unicorn aspirants. And Sonect received an award at the Finnovate conference in Berlin.
Finally, I would like to point out four deadlines: registration is open for Venture Leaders China and the Swiss Medtech Award until 1 March. The deadline for the next ESA-BIC Switzerland cohort expires on 29 February 29, and swissnex China will accept registrations for CES Asia until 10 March.
Have a good carnival weekend.
Stefan Kyora
Editor in Chief, Startupticker.ch