Meet NEMIS CEO Arnaud Muller and find out what location has to do with productivity

25.11.2020 08:05, Isabelle Mitchell

Venture Leader China Arnaud Muller co-founded NEMIS Technologies, a diagnostics company that develops rapid, easy-to-use, and affordable on-site/point-of-care diagnostic kits for the safe detection of dangerous bacteria to improve food safety, environmental monitoring programs, and pathogen screening. Learn more about Arnaud’s expectations for the Venture Leader China experience and find out what he is most proud of and why Napoléon and Leonardo da Vinci make for a great television experience.

The Venture Leaders China 2020 will accelerate their expansion into the Chinese market and build a business network through meetings with top-notch investors and industry leaders. To introduce you to the members of the Swiss National Startup Team, we asked each entrepreneur to complete a short profile and choose four questions from a questionnaire about their personal and professional life.

Name: Arnaud Muller
Job title: CEO of NEMIS Technologies 
Location: Zurich   
Nationality: French
Graduated from: Ashridge Business School
Number of employees: 8
First touchpoint with Venturelab: January 2019—listing in TOP 100 Swiss Startups 

“NEMIS Technologies transforms microbiological detection in the fields of food safety, clinical diagnostics, water safety, and animal health by providing a unique lab-free and easy-to-use detection system.” 

How and where did you come up with the idea for your startup? 
It all started with a few chemists at Tel Aviv University, who were excited about the world’s most sensitive light-emission molecules. Their great endeavors rendered the innovative AquaSpark™ chemiluminescence technology available for diagnostics applications. The CEO of Biosynth, a Swiss organic synthesis company, saw the discovery’s potential and helped in the further development and patenting of the technology. The enormous market potential ignited the creation of NEMIS Technologies, which I joined as a co-founder and where I am very proud to lead a great team.
 
What do you expect from the Venture Leaders program, and how will it help you achieve your vision? 
International expansion is a strategic pillar at NEMIS, and China is a priority market. Chinese Premier Xi Jinping has repeatedly stressed the importance of food safety for the nation, calling it “an important foundation of national security.” As we want to carefully prepare both our market entry strategy into China and our commercial partner selection for our first products dedicated to food safety, the Venture Leaders program will be extremely valuable to ensure that we enter the market efficiently. Also, NEMIS’ technology is a platform technology: We cannot develop all opportunities and applications on our own. We need R&D collaboration partners, and China is a natural option in search of such partners. 
 
Where and when are you most productive? 
Where? The COVID-19 pandemic has taught all of us a lesson: We can run our business from anywhere and at any time, and “location” becomes less of an important factor in achieving productive outcomes. 
When? Definitely, when I am surrounded and stimulated by my core team, be it in the same room or in video conferences. After all, TEAM stands for “Together, Everyone Achieves More”! 
 
How and where do you clear your mind?  
Definitely while walking in the forest with my wife and my three dogs (two Saint Bernards and a Belgian Shepherd) for hours over the weekend, and for a short walk every morning—if my traveling schedule allows it. Rainy day, snowy day, or sunny day—always out!
 
What is your favorite TV show? 
A French TV series called Secrets d’histoire, which has been on the air in France for more than 10 years. Each episode covers the story of a famous historical event or person, be it a country leader (Julius Caesar, Napoléon, Charles de Gaulle, etc.) or an artist (Mozart, Victor Hugo, Léonard de Vinci, etc.) while showing the hidden secrets of famous and emblematic places. I very much like the thoroughness of the preparation of each story, the openness in addressing controversies through historians’ interviews, and the simplicity of getting the stories across to a wide audience.  

What are you most proud of?  
Definitely, seeing my now grown-up children starting their own life with a solid foundation of education and values. Having my 22-year-old daughter’s name on her first publication made me very proud. Although, the research work is sometimes hard to grasp for me and very far from our startup world: “Associations between attachment, therapeutic alliance, and engagement in black people with psychosis living in the UK”!

Last but not least, can you show us your workspace? 



For more information and updates on NEMIS Technologies and the Venture Leaders China, follow the Venture Leaders China 2020 team with #VleadersChina on social media or subscribe to our newsletter. 
 
This year’s Venture Leaders China is organized in collaboration with swissnex China and supported by EPF Lausanne, ETH Zurich, Gebert Rüf Stiftung, VISCHER, Canton Vaud, and the Canton of Zurich.