February 12, 2016
Effective pragmatism
Dear reader
Large companies are increasingly involved in the start-up environment, but the type of collaboration can vary considerably, ranging from investment to the joint development of a product. This week we published several interesting articles on this topic.
- Swisscom has taken a stake in Swiss cloud hosting provider Exoscale. The infusion of capital will be used to fuel Exoscale’s expansion in Europe and bolster its position as a serious alternative to US rivals.
- Ubique and SBB have jointly devised a preview version of the next generation of SBB app. The future SBB app will use elements that Ubique developed originally for its own travel plan app Viadi.
- As Knowledge Partner of the Swiss Fintech Award, Accenture is also involved. In our interview, George H. Schmidt, Managing Director Financial Services at Accenture Switzerland, talks about collaboration between large companies and start-ups.
What stands out in the reports is the typical Swiss pragmatism. If a start-up has a good idea for a product, a large company such as SBB may take it over. The fintech scene is neither over-hyped nor dismissed as a bubble. This level-headed view is a strength of Switzerland and forms a good basis for cooperation between unequal partners and, although this country started relatively late, may contribute to collaboration between corporates and young firms quickly developing an impact. This not only benefits corporates and start-ups, but also the national economy.
It is therefore encouraging that more and more Swiss multinationals are engaged in start-up initiatives. Mass Challenge Switzerland is now supported by Givaudan in addition to Bühler and Nestlé. Applications for the Mass Challenge are now open to start-ups and the launch was celebrated with a well-attended event in Geneva on Wednesday.
You can now also apply for the Jungunternehmerpreis Nordwestschweiz and the Prix Isabelle Musy, which features high-tech entrepreneurs from western Switzerland and Ticino.
The venture kick programme, which is permanently open, this week presented an impressive performance record and announced that more money would be made available for start-ups this year.
In conclusion, this week three successful start-ups not only showed the dynamism but also the diversity of Swiss start-ups: Faveeo completed a financing round of €350,000, crowdfunding platform wemakeit reported a doubling of sales, and young watch brand HYT opened a boutique in Kuala Lumpur.
Have a good 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". 
