September 10, 2021
Start-ups with a broad impact
Dear reader
Last Wednesday, the Award Night of the Top 100 Swiss Startup Awards took place in Zurich, with Planted taking first place. The start-up no longer has to explain to the general public what it does: its products, such as the vegan ‘Planted Chicken’, can be bought everywhere. And it keeps making headlines, even in high-circulation newspapers – most recently, for example, with an entry in the Guinness World Records for the world’s longest schnitzel.
The Top 100 has also made a name for itself among the general public. At the same time as the awards ceremony, Swiss television broadcast an interview with Venturelab co-managing director Stefan Steiner. In addition, the TOP 100 also generates international attention: this year, more than 100 investors from 12 countries were represented at the Investor Summit before the awards ceremony. Incidentally, the Planted team met a German and a US investor at the previous Investor Summit, both of which then also participated in the financing.
Another start-up in the Top 100 hit the headlines this week due to a prominent US investor. Fintech start-up Ledgy attracted Sequoia Capital as lead investor for a financing round of more than CHF 10 million. And Batmaid received a CHF 25 million investment from Aevis Victoria. Swiss start-ups are also having a broader impact among investors , with no longer only interest from traditional VCs. For example, health insurance company Sanitas has invested in digital health start-up TOM Medications.
Energy Vault and Chronext want to address an even wider field of investors: both companies have announced their IPO. Ticino cleantech company Energy Vault will go public in New York via SPAC, and Zug-based luxury watch platform Chronext has selected the Swiss stock exchange for its IPO.
There was also good news for start-ups at the very beginning of their financing journey. The new Biopole Start-up Fund has selected its first start-ups – Novostia and Genknowme. In addition, AMF Medical, Bearmind and Capture were also able to secure grants in the six-figure range.
The >> venture >> award ceremony will take place on Monday next week. Startup Invest’s Venture Day follows on Wednesday, and the Digital Health Lab day on Thursday at ZHAW in Winterthur. In addition, the Innosuisse Roadshow will stop for three days in Zurich, Lausanne and Basel. Finally, I would like to point out the deadline for the ZKB Pionierpreis Technopark on 27 September.
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". 
