December 13, 2024
Innovation is not enough
Dear reader
ANYbotics has raised CHF 53 million to conquer new markets with its four-legged, AI-based inspection robot ANYmal. The expansion is enabled by the innovation behind the robot, but perhaps more importantly it has already proven itself in everyday industrial use, which in turn has led to large orders from industry leaders such as BP, Novelis and Petrobras.
Embotech has secured growth financing of CHF 23.5 million in order to scale up worldwide, and practicality also plays an important role here. Embotech’s solution is used in BMW plants and ensures that the new cars are able to roll through the factory without a driver. Embotech is the only vendor in the market with a CE-certified solution for these applications and the only player with experience in a production environment.
The case is different with Relai, even though the fintech start-up has also received a growth investment of CHF 10.6 million. In addition to the importance of the team, the clear focus on a bitcoin-only app is likely to be a significant success factor here.
Biotech start-ups naturally have different success factors. Two made headlines this week: Noema Pharma secured an additional CHF 27 million as part of its series B funding, and Cimeio Therapeutics concluded a collaboration agreement with a Japanese pharmaceutical company that could bring the University of Basel spin-off up to CHF 260 million. Both companies are developing therapies for diseases that are currently difficult to treat. In the case of Noema Pharma, the portfolio breadth and the experienced CEO were also important reasons in the investment decision.
We all know the narrative about Switzerland being good at inventing but bad at commercialisation. Scaling up does indeed require different qualities than product development; however, the examples show clearly that Swiss founders have learned a lot about scaling. What is particularly encouraging is that start-ups are pursuing very different strategies depending on the target market and product.
Another proven strategy for scaling is to collaborate with established large companies. Here, too, many start-ups have the qualities required to enter into such collaborations: Auterion and Rheinmetall plan to create a military industry standard for control and operation of unmanned aerial, land and naval drones. And The Trip Boutique AI has entered into a global commercial partnership with Amadeus, which provides the company with access to a vast customer network in the travel seller segment. And Citrix has acquired Swiss cybersecurity start-up Strong Network: the secure access technology will be integrated into the Citrix platform.
There was more good news again this week from support organisations: the Deep Tech Nation Switzerland Foundation has joined Venture Kick as a partner, and Starlab Space – a joint venture between Airbus, Voyager Space, Mitsubishi Corporation and MDA Space – is Switzerland Innovation Park Zurich’s first major industrial partner.
Speaking of support: Four Geneva-based start-ups and projects have been selected to receive funding through the FONGIT Innovation Fund. Three companies secured funding from FIT and two start-ups were crowned winners at Genilem’s 5th PRÊT? PARTEZ, PITCH! competition.
Numerous application windows are currently open for awards. I would like to draw your attention to the IMD Startup Competition, the deadline of which is 23 December. The free-of-charge support from IMD’s MBA and EMBA students, which is up for grabs, has already helped many early stage start-ups take a decisive step forward.
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". 
