March 13, 2020
Starting in hard times
Dear reader
We don’t yet know how the coronavirus epidemic will evolve and the consequences this health crisis will have on the economy. However, based on our data for Swiss Startup Radar, we can say how the last major crisis – the financial crisis of 2008 – affected investments, exits, start-ups and the failure rate of Swiss start-ups. The effects were severe with one exception: the number of start-ups did not decrease during that time.
Figures released by Venture Kick today confirm that it is generally not a bad idea to start up in difficult times. Venture Kick’s review was triggered by its achievement of the threshold of CHF 30 million in investment in Swiss start-ups.
Incidentally, Venture Kick was founded in 2007 and despite the difficult conditions developed into a success story even in the early years. In this respect, the timing of the foundation of the new Swiss Entrepreneurs & Startup Association may not be so daunting. The association wants to improve the general conditions for start-ups through political work, and the aim is to work closely with the new parliamentary group on start-ups and entrepreneurship started by national councillors Judith Bellaiche and Andri Silberschmidt. Personalities including Lea von Bidder (Ava), Déborah Heintze (Lunaphore), Marc Maurer (On) and Karim Maizar (Kellerhals Carrard) sit on the association’s board.
Alpha Associates’ new growth fund saw the light of day this week. Fundraising is ongoing, with support coming from Stiftung Pro Zukunftsfonds Schweiz.
Wädenswil-based biotech company Numab received growth capital this week, and travel start-up Fair Voyage, IOT company Astrocast, off-grid energy start-up Mpower, and fintech company Expense Robot all secured support from investors.
Those companies that made it into the top 16 of the WA de Vigier Awards are fighting for the top five positions with a prize of CHF 100,000 each. As every year, the start-ups form a very interesting selection of deep-tech companies.
Speaking of an interesting field, we have received new input for our female CEO map and have updated it. It now comprises about 140 companies.
Finally, I would like to point out the deadlines for the first F10 scale-up programme on 23 March and the >> venture >> competition on 26 March. Applicants can also currently apply for two scale-up boot camps on the themes of enterprisetech and fintech & cybersecurity organised by digitalswitzerland, Gebert Rüf Stiftung and Venturelab.
Stay healthy this weekend!
Stefan Kyora
Editor in Chief, Startupticker.ch