Looking ahead

Dear reader 

The bad news first: according to our update of Swiss Venture Capital Report for the first half of 2024, Swiss start-ups generated a total of CHF 1,082.4 million in venture capital over the six months, which represents a decline of 9.5% on 2023. The number of financing rounds also decreased, falling by 10.4% to 138. The good news is that the decline in investment appears to have bottomed out and the level remains high by historical standards. The two billion mark in invested capital is expected to be broken again this year, due mainly to deeptech start-ups from the biotech and cleantech sectors in particular, while ICT investment continues to weaken. The details can be found in our update, which is available to download as usual in our Assets section. Our articles in English, German and French provide a summary of the results.

That the trends from the first half of the year are continuing was demonstrated this week by a spectacular example: young Lausanne biotech company Asceneuron secured USD 100 million in a series C round. Asceneuron’s small molecule drug targets tau protein aggregation, a root cause of neurodegenerative diseases. This lead candidate in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease has delivered encouraging initial results in human trials and is expected to enter Phase II testing later this year.

Biotech start-up Vanarix, which develops mini-implants capable of self-integrating and then repairing cartilage lesions, has closed a financing round of CHF 4 million. Other financing rounds can be found on our Investment tag. In addition, cleantech start-up BTRY has secured CHF 150,000 from Venture Kick.

This year, the update also includes an analysis of valuations in the financing rounds. Valuations for seed and early stage investments remain at a high level, but have fallen sharply in the later stage. The analysis shows that many later stage rounds are bridge financing; for example, fintech Wefox, which is currently in the middle of restructuring, has secured about CHF 24 million.

One reason for the low valuations in the later stage segment is that exits are rare. In this respect, it is encouraging that we were able to report two acquisitions this week. AnaPico has been acquired by US company Keysight Technologies, and the Swiss Etops Group has taken over IT start-up Selli. In addition, two Swiss agritech start-ups – Gamaya and Terraview – have merged.

It is quite possible that the number of exits will increase in the second half of the year. The update gives the results of a broad-based survey of about 100 Swiss start-up investors, conducted by SECA. They are expecting an increase in investments and also in exit opportunities over the next 12 months.

The application deadlines for numerous awards, including the Swiss Technology Award, Venture Leaders Medtech, i4Challenge, Vesalius Innovation Award, Luxury Innovation Award and the Future of Health Grant, expire at the end of July. Don’t miss this opportunity.

Last but not least, I would like to draw your attention once again to the public voting for the Top 100 Swiss Startup Award. You have the chance to vote for your favourite start-up until 21 July.

Have a good weekend.
Stefan Kyora

Editor in Chief, Startupticker.ch