June 5, 2015
Keep calm and share
Dear reader
On Thursday, the consulting firm Deloitte published a study on the sharing economy in Switzerland, which shows vehicle-sharing or the use of platforms such as HouseTrip are already part of everyday life in this country. About half of Swiss consumers will make use of sharing deals in the next twelve months – more than in the US – benefiting a number of start-ups. The authors see the reason for the positive development in the general framework: “Whereas other countries have responded with additional regulation, and even prohibitions, Switzerland has mostly avoided taking quick government action.” A course that is supported by the population: according to the study, only 20% support tighter regulation of the sharing economy, while 36% are against more rules.
Conversely, the study confirms the typical weaknesses of the Swiss start-up scene, particularly the difficult search for capital. This week once again has shown how Swiss start-ups make a virtue of necessity. Dacadoo was able to get Samsung Venture Investment on board; WealthArc completed a seed financing round with a well-known US venture capitalist; Innomedica appealed to the general public and attracted 50 new investors, and Equippo closed a financing round with b-to-v.
At the same time, there was positive news in terms of financing. Polyneuron and CellSpring won the third stage of venture kick and can look forward to support of CHF130,000 each. Designergy has received a guarantee from the Technology Fund, and the initiative SEF4KMU, under which so far CHF55 million in growth capital has been provided, will be further expanded.
Apropos the Swiss Economic Forum, at noon today in Interlaken the winners of the SEF Awards were named: LUMA Beef, PIQUR and iNovitas.
With the SEF still running, many other events are imminent. Investor Day from venture and CTI Invest will take place in Zurich on 15 June in the afternoon, and the award ceremony of venture competition will follow in the evening.
Investor Day and award ceremony mark the start of an intense week with start-up events in all regions of Switzerland. Our event calendar, which can be filtered according to venue and location since the redesign, gives you an overview.
Have an enjoyable summer’s 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". 
