December 5, 2014
Swiss founders think big
Dear reader
Swiss founders are often considered to lack ambition, but this judgment may be based on a misunderstanding. They may not like to talk about the tremendous growth prospects for their company, but they still have ambitious goals – you just have to look a little closer. The problems for which Swiss founders develop solutions are often worldwide problems. Thus, the start-ups are targeting multibillion markets, even if they prefer to talk about problems and solutions than future financial success.
This week has demonstrated how many ambitious start-ups there are and how, step by step, they are achieving their ambitious goals. The first example is Xeltis, which develops synthetic biodegradable heart valves and blood vessels (‘matrices’), enabling a completely new therapeutic category. “We believe Xeltis has the potential to bring a complete paradigm shift in cardiac and vascular surgery,” says Clemens van Blitterswijk, partner at LSP, one of the investors that is supporting Xeltis with CHF32 million.
Anergis has received CHF14.5 million from investors: the company develops allergy vaccines that need to be administered for only two months in order to achieve long-lasting desensitisation. GeNeuro and Servier have signed a $450 million agreement to develop the first drug to address a causal factor of multiple sclerosis. And in another collaboration, BioVersys, the University of Lille and GlaxoSmithKline have reached the first milestone in the development of an effective treatment for tuberculosis.
Ambitious start-ups can be seen not only in the life sciences. Ampard has developed an energy management system that significantly reduces the total cost of battery storage for renewable energy. Now BKW and Zürcher Kantonalbank have taken a stake in the Zurich start-up with a CHF2.5 million investment.
The large financing rounds and lucrative partnerships are just the tip of the iceberg. Eight start-ups presented their innovative services and products at Swiss Venture Day in Zurich this week. Nine noteworthy start-ups made it to the semi-finals of the Prix Strategis and 15 young companies have been nominated for the Zurich Pionierpreis. ScanTrust and UrbanAlps are winners already: both companies secured CHF130,000 in the final of venture kick.
Have a visionary weekend.
Stefan Kyora
Managing Editor, Startupticker.ch
News
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". 
