November 26, 2021
Many investors – much financing
Dear reader
Although the Swiss start-up scene still has room for improvement in some areas by international standards, one strength is undisputed: the number of start-ups that manage to attract capital from investors is very high in relation to the size of the country. This week we reported on 10 funding rounds, with very different companies and financiers.
CareerFairy was able to secure CHF 1.7 million francs from, inter alia, the venture arm of Swiss Post and Backbone Ventures. Kido Dynamics closed a round of CHF 2 million with Spicehaus Ventures and strategic investors, and another firm has received support from Venture Kick: ICT start-up Versics received CHF 150,000.
Two start-ups from the crypto sector secured investments from international consortia: Genius Yield generated USD 4.2 million and Staking Rewards USD 3.2 million. Both companies enable crypto investors to generate income from their digital assets. Innomedica has raised CHF 15 million this year: unusually for a biotech company, it relies on a kind of self-organised crowd investing and now has 950 shareholders.
Offers from two other start-ups that reported financing rounds improve the professional and financial situation of women. In addition to information, the elleXX platform offers women-friendly financial products in collaboration with partners. Witty Works has just launched a browser plug-in to ensure inclusive language in marketing, communication and internal daily communications.
These intensive investment activities are fairly commonplace, but there was further positive financing news from an unfamiliar corner. A new study commissioned by Seco finds that the proportion of young companies receiving bank loans has increased significantly over the past five years.
The fact that investors and now apparently also banks have more confidence in start-ups is not least thanks to the in-depth support, and more support programmes are being launched all the time. This week we reported on two new programmes in Bern: the university’s Innovation Office and the medtech hub at the Swiss Institute for Translational and Entrepreneurial Medicine (sitem-insel).
Numerous events are planned before the winter break, most of which can be followed as hybrid events via the internet. Venture Day and then the awards ceremony of the Boldbrain Accelerator Program will take place in Lugano on 2 December. On the same day, the F10 Global Summit is on the programme in Zurich. I would also like to point out the online kick-off event of the venture competition on 30 November. The first Swiss Noah Conference will be held on 6 and 7 December at Zurich airport. The Tech4Eva Conference and the Swiss Accelerator Showcase will also take place on 7 December in Lausanne. You can meet us at all these events.
Have a cozy 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". 
