November 9, 2018
Focus on the classic strengths
Dear reader
Robots can be found today in many hospital operating theatres, but they are not yet a mass phenomenon. They are too complex, too expensive and lead to new workflows. DistalMotion wants to change this with a robot in which the long and complex surgical steps have been reduced and it is limited to the essentials. DistalMotion’s Dexter is thus significantly cheaper than previous robots and easier to integrate into everyday work. The team is currently preparing for market entry and a well-known distribution partner has been found for the UK.
Medtech is a classic strong industry in Switzerland and start-ups such as DistalMotion are building on these strengths. And they are not alone: two medtech start-ups, Aspivix and Seed Biosciences, each won CHF 130,000 in the Venture Kick final.
Security is also a topic traditionally associated with Switzerland and here too much is happening. Cybersecurity start-up Inpher closed a USD 10 million financing round this week; lead investor is JP Morgan. The Jura start-up NextDay.Vision offers a secure interface for Industry 4.0 applications, and Tornos and Stemys will test the solution in pilot trials.
And in fintech, another Swiss team was heading up at the CV Competition, with Ambrpay winning CHF 100,000. The start-up is working on a B2B solution that will allow subscription fees to be paid in a crypto currency. And the newly launched fintech company Sygnum not only enjoys prominent support – its advisors include Peter Wuffli and Philipp Hildebrand – it has also concluded a partnership with Swisscom and secured an investment from a group in Singapore.
Speaking of big companies, more than 40 collaborations are the result of this year’s Kickstart Accelerator. We will report on some of these next week. This week, we published an article on the Raiffeisen Innovation Laboratory, in which the team speaks openly about its experiences.
The Swiss Innovation Forum will take place on 22 November, and today the finalists of the Swiss Technology Awards were announced. We have a free ticket available for the event, with more than 1,000 participants from the Swiss innovation scene. Tell us why you absolutely have to be there in a short email to news@startupticker.ch.
The next IPO Day will take place in Technopark Zurich next Tuesday. In addition to start-ups, more than a dozen investment bankers will again be on stage and there is also the possibility of one-to-one meetings.
Finally, two important deadlines: you have until 12 November to sign up for the IMD Startup Competition, and the application deadline for the next start-up camp from swissnex San Francisco expires on 16 November.
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". 
