October 18, 2013
Good news and bad news
Dear Reader
At well-run industry meetings, visitors like to have something to celebrate. No news is bad news. Not so at the SECA event last Wednesday. Several speakers pointed to a fatal trend: the steady decrease in the willingness of Swiss investors to become involved in domestic start-ups. The CHF 65 million that the Renaissance PME investment foundation has collected through Swiss pension funds is little more than a drop in the ocean against this background.
In 2012, for the first time, more money came from abroad than from the domestic arena. How the planned Swissfund intends to remedy this situation, you can read here shortly on startupticker.
When financial investors drop out, strategic partners are needed. MedImmune, the R&D arm of UK firm AstraZeneca, has contributed $20 million to the Lausanne biotech start-up ADC Therapeutics.
But an industry shareholding is not necessarily a cure, as Index Ventures founder Neil Reimer pointed out in an article for the Wall Street Journal it can restrict the strategic freedom of action of a company.
But finally the good news of the week: EMPA spinoff Monolitix, producer of an innovative robot gripper, is on a growth path and has found several partners. And tortilla baker Flatev is among the finalists at MassChallenge, a global start-up competition.
Distinguished only in Switzerland but on a good path are the six winners of the Swisscom Start-up Challenge. The teams arrive back tomorrow from Silicon Valley. You can read what they did there in the travel diary of delegation leader Urs Stender.
Two more tips: the next season of Startup Weekend begins next Friday in Neuchâtel and St. Gallen. And for the very spontaneous, the deadline for CEO Day expires today at midnight – and where, incidentally, the startupticker team will be represented.
Good luck and have a nice weekend.
Jost Dubacher
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". 
