CHF 2.9 billion for Swiss startups in 2025
scroll south
Investment in Swiss hightech startups rose by 23.9% to CHF 2.9 billion in 2025, according to Swiss Venture Capital Report, published by the online news portal startupticker.ch and the industry association SECA in cooperation with startup.ch.
The global political situation is unstable, economic growth is sluggish and export-oriented industries are suffering from uncertain prospects. The environment in 2025 was anything but favourable. Nevertheless, for the first time since 2022 the amount of money going into Swiss startups increased. Venture capital funds from Switzerland and abroad invested nearly CHF 3 billion in hightech startups across 354 financing rounds. The cautious optimism of investors was also reflected in the distribution of funds: investment in young and very young companies rose from CHF 864 million in 2024 to more than CHF 1.4 billion.
A breakdown by sector shows that financing inflows increased significantly in the ICT and biotech sectors. Investment in medtech, hardware and fintech remained stable. Cleantech startups attracted less funding; however, a third of the total CHF 386 million raised went to Climeworks. The ETH Zurich spin-off raised CHF 128 million in the second largest funding round of the year. Zurich topped the cantonal ranking in both the number of financing rounds and capital invested. Vaud followed in second place, with Basel-Stadt in third in terms of capital invested. Of the CHF 572 million invested in the half-canton, 95% went to biotech companies. After a year without any IPOs, two Swiss startups, Bioversys and MindMaze, ventured on to the market in 2025. The number of startups sold to large corporations or financial investors remained stable. Company valuations developed positively: two acquisitions had a transaction volume exceeding CHF 1 billion and seven had a volume of more than CHF 100 million.
Switzerland maintains its strong position in Europe
After three consecutive years of decline, VC funding for European startups is in recovery, but the rebound is uneven across the continent. According to PitchBook data, VC investment in Europe is projected to reach €66 billion (about $78 billion) this year, up 6.5% from 2024. The UK (EUR 22 billion), Germany (EUR 7.7 billion), and France (EUR 7.3 billion) attracted the largest share of investments in 2025. Looking at venture capital investment relative to population size, Switzerland ranks second, after Finland, whereas the UK, Sweden, France, and Germany rank lower on a per capita basis.
| Country | VC-Funding (EUR) | Habitants | Venture Capital per Capita (EUR) |
| Finland | 2’200’000’000 | 5’621’739 | 391 |
| Switzerland | 3’100’000’000 | 9’007’798 | 344 |
| United Kingdom | 22’000’000’000 | 69’931’528 | 315 |
| Ireland | 1’600’000’000 | 5’356’950 | 299 |
| Sweden | 2’200’000’000 | 10’701’047 | 206 |
| Denmark | 1’200’000’000 | 6’023’520 | 199 |
| Netherlands | 3’300’000’000 | 18’448’775 | 179 |
| France | 7’300’000’000 | 66’746’401 | 109 |
| Belgium | 1’100’000’000 | 11’774’642 | 93 |
| Germany | 7’700’000’000 | 83’644’258 | 92 |
| Portugal | 753’400’000 | 10’395’362 | 72 |
| Spain | 2’600’000’000 | 47’850’793 | 54 |
| Austria | 293’400’000 | 9’107’266 | 32 |
| Italy | 1’200’000’000 | 58’926’166 | 20 |
Investors focus on growth
Swiss Venture Capital Report conducts an annual survey of venture capital investors domiciled in Switzerland on their business performance and outlook. The key finding was that raising capital remains challenging. Nevertheless, the total amount of assets under management increased slightly, and the majority of funds plan to increase their investments in the coming months and years.
“Based on what we’ve seen in January, with major funding rounds for Oviva, SWISSto12, and Distalmotion, and with several VC firms closing new funds, the momentum is clearly here, says Stefan Steiner, Co-Managing Director at Venturelab. "I’m more optimistic for 2026 than I’ve been in years.”
We took a closer look at our monthly fundraising data to identify which Swiss and European venture capital investment firms have closed a new fund in 2025. Data shows that there are still plenty of opportunities for Swiss startups and scale-ups to raise capital from investors.
Additional Links
Download the Swiss Venture Capital Report 2025
Monthly Swiss Venture Insights Reports
Discover and trace high-tech startups from Switzerland on startup.ch, your radar for Swiss startups
