The CHF3.06 billion ($3.29 billion) invested last year marked a 44% increase on 2020, according to the annual Swiss Venture Capital ReportExternal link, published on Thursday by startupticker.ch and investor association SECA.
After a slight dip last year, startups in the ICT sector were again particularly favoured, while fintech, cleantech (i.e. sustainable energy related) and the digital healthcare sector also continued their strong rise.
The single biggest investor success by a startup was the CHF584.5 million haul by the digital insurance firm Wefox. ICT startup Nexthink – involved in gauging employees’ digital experience – got CHF162 million, and Biotech company Anaveon CHF110 million.
The high overall number of investment rounds – 355 – throughout the year was due to an uptick in seed rounds, which are used to raise money to launch businesses; these climbed to 131. That said, the most money was still invested during later-phase financing rounds (CHF2.3 billion).
Regionally, cantons Zurich and Vaud – home to the two Swiss federal technology institutes (ETH Zurich and EPFL), hotbeds of innovation and startups – enjoyed considerable rises in funding, and accounted for some CHF1.9 billion between the two of them.
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Swiss start-ups thrive despite pandemic
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Start-ups delivering cutting-edge healthy food, skin tech and engineering solutions dominated the top three places in the 100 Swiss Startup Award ceremony held late Wednesday.
Planted Foods – a company making vegan meat alternatives without chemical additives – nabbed first place. CUTISS, a biotech company making customized human skin grafts, came second; engineering startup 9T Labs, which manufactures hardware and software solutions from carbon composites was picked third by jurors.
“The last year has not been easy, but the Swiss startup ecosystem has shown that it is resilient and thrives under pressure. Celebrating the TOP 100 is celebrating all entrepreneurs in these turbulent times,” said Jordi Montserrat, managing partner at Venturelab, which organized the 11th edition of the award ceremony along with partners Credit Suisse and Swiss Venture Club.
The winning start-ups are on average, three years old, have created over 140 new jobs, and have raised CHF 80 million in investment. They are all based in canton Zurich.
Switzerland’s start-up scene has been on the upswing despite the coronavirus pandemic. In 2019 and 2020, just over CHF2 billion ($2.2 billion) were invested in Swiss startups on an annual basis for the first time, Swiss startups raised this amount by July 2021 and are heading for an impressive record high, according to a media statement on Wednesday's event.
Swiss venture capital funding breaks CHF2 billion barrier
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New ventures in the ICT and fintech sectors received the largest slice of funding (CHF1.2 billion), but financial support for early stage biotech firms also received a significant boost (CHF625 million), according to the annual reportExternal link from online news portal startupticker.chExternal link and the investor association SECAExternal link. Four Swiss companies – ADC Therapeutics,…
Funding for start-ups barely dented by coronavirus
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Investors poured more money into fledging cleantech and biotech projects in 2020 at the expense of ICT and particularly fintech companies. These are the findings of the annual Swiss Venture Capital reportExternal link released on Tuesday by startupticker.ch and the investor association SECA. Despite a wobble last March, and to a lesser extent in October,…
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If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.