April 11, 2025
Encouraging production flexibility
Dear reader
The aim of the erratic US tariff policy is to strengthen the country’s weakening industrial base. But is production in America an option for start-ups? Absolutely, as INVOLI and Swisspod demonstrate. INVOLI, which provides solutions for air traffic detection and visualisation and drone tracking, has a production partner in the US, its most important market. CEO Manu Lubrano explains the background in our article and offers tips on selecting outsourcing partners. Hyperloop start-up Swisspod is building a new manufacturing and assembly facility with 100 jobs in the US state of Colorado.
The Trump administration’s policies will reinforce the trend toward decentralisation of the global economy. This also creates new opportunities in Switzerland and Europe; for example, for start-ups that contribute to European energy security. Libattion has opened Europe’s largest battery upcycling facility in Biberist, canton Solothurn. Also on the site of the former paper mill in Biberist, LIBREC has established Switzerland’s first industrial facility for recycling large lithium-ion traction batteries from electric vehicles.
BlueVelvet Ecoponics’ vertical farming facility, on the other hand, is expanding in other European countries. The infrastructure fits into a discarded refrigerated container and two of these converted containers are already in operation in the Netherlands and Taiwan, with a third soon to be deployed in Switzerland.
The flexibility of Swiss start-ups in terms of production is encouraging despite the challenging economic outlook. In addition, some start-ups are so attractive that they have been able to secure contracts with US companies: Loft Dynamics has gained Alaska Airlines as an investor and partner in order to support the Swiss start-up in development of a new type of simulator for the Boeing 737.
I would also like to draw your attention to Innosuisse’s new annual magazine Discover: some of the figures are summarised in our article. The ZKB Pionierpreis Technopark and the Prix Entreprendre Lausanne Région (PERL) have announced their finalists, and find out what happened at yesterday’s Startup Champions Seed Night at EPFL in our article by Eugène Schön, our correspondent in western Switzerland.
You can meet me next week at the Swiss Startup Association’s Founders Day. A newsletter will not appear on Good Friday, but of course we will keep you updated on our website.
Have a good weekend.
Stefan Kyora
Editor in Chief, 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". 
