November 29, 2024
Entrepreneurship as a career option
Dear reader
This week, several more financing rounds came together: Everyman Health, a platform for men’s health, secured CHF 2.4 million. Following an investment, KITRO will be able to continue its global expansion through its AI-based food waste solution for restaurants. Kyan Health, which helps companies monitor and improve the mental health of their employees, received almost CHF 15 million. Fintech Splint Invest, which focuses on tokenised alternative investments, attracted CHF 2.5 million. Schuman Financial exited stealth mode with the announcement of a seed investment of just over CHF 6 million, and Dutch-Swiss start-up Cradle raised CHF 60 million in order to accelerate adoption of AI-powered protein engineering.
All these start-ups are already successful on the market, but they have something else in common: they were launched by founders who either have many years of industry experience, or who have worked at large companies such as Google or leading consulting firms such as McKinsey and PwC. Founding a start-up has now become a viable career option in Switzerland.
This is also reflected in the awards: at the Powher Awards, both the prize for the best young entrepreneur and the prize for the best female entrepreneur went to two experienced female bosses: Parisa Fallahi from Basel Precision Instruments and Marina Udier from Nouscom. And at *zünder, Kiyo, a start-up founded by two typical career changers, was on top of the podium.
In addition to the founders who consciously choose entrepreneurship, there are of course also those who have been driving their entrepreneurial projects since their schooldays. These include Yohan Hadji, who has now joined drone scale-up Meteomatics with his R2Home. Numerous other young people with the entrepreneurial gene can be discovered on the current Forbes 30 under 30 list.
We mention Venture Kick three times this week. First, two biotech start-ups BLEEDnFIRE and CALDRE each secured CHF 150,000, and, second, the Lichtsteiner Foundation has joined Venture Kick’s circle of partners.
The application phase is currently underway for numerous awards, including the IMD Startup Challenge, the WA de Vigier Foundation Prize and the Swiss Economic Award. As of this week, applications can also be made for Venture Leaders Technology and a new programme from the Migros Pioneer Fund for climate protection early stage start-ups.
Next week you can meet my colleague Ritah Nyakato at the Boldbrain Challenge award ceremony. The finalists have now been selected. I would also like to point out that the new edition of Swiss Startup Radar will be published next week. A personal copy can be ordered in your profile. The magazine offers data-based insights into the current financing crisis, cross-border investments and the failure rate of Swiss start-ups.
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". 
