April 19, 2013
Experience gets CHF47 million
Dear reader
The human ear is a sensitive organ – loud noise can cause permanent damage with hearing loss or tinnitus the result. Auris Medical’s new drugs have been developed exactly for such cases. A first active ingredient has already demonstrated its effectiveness in acute hearing loss on a small group of patients in the Phase II tests, and the results from this phase of a second active ingredient against acute tinnitus are expected in the summer. Now the Basel start-up company has received the necessary resources to push the development further, with an investment by Sofinnova Ventures and Sofinnova Partners of CHF47 million.
Behind the success is Thomas Meyer, a founder with many years’ experience. Before he moved to this business position, he served, inter alia, as CEO of Disetronic. Other founders have recognised the value of experience too, and this week the young Covagen team took on an experienced Chief Business Officer.
Recruitment is a central issue for any young company. Two events taking place in the near future may help: Hub Zurich is organising a matchmaking event for social enterprises and student organisations a speed dating event at ETH Zurich.
But even if one finds experienced staff, entrepreneurs still have to go through many experiences themselves – not all of them pleasant. The first FailCon to take place in Switzerland addressed the issue of gaining experience through failure; the speakers talked candidly and so helped to weaken the taboo of failure. You can read what the entrepreneurs learned from their failures in our conference report.
However, there are plenty of success stories again on our website this week. Swisslitho has won the ZKB Pionierpreis Technopark and Sensile Medical, park it and SuitArt have begun promising partnerships with leading companies.
Finally, a success message of our own: with the Institute for Young Entrepreneurs (IFJ), we welcome another new supporter on board.
Have a relaxing weekend.
Stefan Kyora
Managing Editor, startupticker.ch
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The new Swiss Venture Capital Report was published on 26 January. It analyses 304 financing rounds closed in 2020 and includes further article such as an interview with Michael Hengartner, President of the ETH Board, and a list of Swiss "soonicorns". 
