July 12, 2013
Investors need a holiday too
Dear reader
This week, donors clearly wanted to complete still pending rounds of financing in time for the summer holidays. Four young Swiss companies with a focus on life sciences announced new investors this week. Drug development company OncoEthix completed a Series B round of CHF18 million. EPFL spin-off Sensimed, which has developed a solution for the early detection of glaucoma, gained CHF8 million from its new investor, Singaporean company Vertix. Léman Micro Devices, active in the promising area of mobile health, successfully completed a Series A financing round, and DAHU, which has developed a new ski boot, is the fourth company with new investors on board.
Investors were not the only ones who filled the coffers of young companies this week. Seven games won prizes in Neuchâtel, and the Volkswirtschaftsstiftung awarded three interest-free loans to start-ups with large potential: 3db Technologies makes vehicle smart keys more secure, Amal Therapeutics develops new cancer vaccines, and L.E.S.S.’s technology allows the design of more energy-efficient screens.
But it is not only entrepreneurs with the good ideas – start-up supporters have them too. At Lucerne University of Applied Sciences, as part of a degree course all students must complete a compulsory module on entrepreneurship. Thus, young people are able to discover whether they have an entrepreneurial heart. The module is now being extended throughout the university.
A new and interesting form of support is the Swisscom Start-up Challenge, which will take five companies on a one-week business trip to Silicon Valley. Note: the application deadline is 15 July.
In addition to Swisscom, ABB is also collaborating with Swiss start-ups – you can read the background to the story in our interview.
Have a sunny 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". 
