Microcaps closed a CHF 5 Million financing round to enable product commercialization and business expansion

26.01.2021 09:00, Guillaume Tinsel

Microcaps, developing formulation, processes, and equipment to generate precision microcapsules, announced today that it has closed a CHF 5 million seed financing round co-led by Helvetica Capital and Zürcher Kantonalbank. The ETH Foundation, the Lichtsteiner Foundation, and a group of Swiss entrepreneurs participated significantly in the financing. We interviewed co-founder and co-CEO Michael Hagander to learn more about how they reached this new milestone.

Microcaps has co-developed many proprietary formulations with industrial clients and will use the proceeds of the financing to launch its first product, a customized microcapsule production unit and associated consumables for sample batch sizes, and grow its team, which will be based at new corporate facilities in Zurich.

“We are very thankful to all of our investors who have helped Microcaps to get to this stage. We have already registered our first revenues from formulation development and are about to launch our first production unit to customers. This significant progress could not have been made possible without our dedicated and talented team,” said Dr. Alessandro Ofner, co-founder and co-CEO of Microcaps.

“The financing will help Microcaps grow and scale-up our operations, taking us to that next level in our corporate development plan. We have seen increased interest in our formulation capabilities and product offerings and will use this financing to continue to build on this momentum,” added Michael Hagander, co-founder and co-CEO.

Microcaps participated in Venture Kick in 2018, in Venture Leaders Technology in 2019, and were ranked in the TOP 100 Swiss Startup Award in 2020. We enjoyed this opportunity to interview Michael Hagander about his entrepreneurial path.

Michael, how will the 5-million-investment from Helvetia Capital and Zürcher Kantonalbank help achieve your vision?
This investment round brings together a group of excellent investors, including the ETH Zurich Foundation, the Lichtsteiner Foundation, and a group of very supporting Swiss entrepreneurs, in addition to Helvetia Capital and Zürcher Kantonalbank. It comes at a time when we are really beginning to build momentum as a company and will allow us to invest in our future growth. With the funding in place, we intend to launch our first product, a customized microcapsule production unit and associated consumables, which will be used by customers for sample batch sizes and small production volumes. To achieve this, we intend to grow our team by 8 FTEs in 2021 as well as moving into our own facilities in Zurich.

You won Venture Kick in 2018. How did it help you lay the foundation for your growth and today's achievement?
Participating and ultimately winning Venture Kick made us really solidify and fine-tune our business offering in a way that was attractive to customers. Especially the Kickers Camps, venture Kicks Startup coaching sessions were of great value to us.

You also participated in Venture Leaders Technology in 2019 and were ranked in the TOP 100 Swiss Startup Award in 2020. How did it leverage your fundraising strategy? 
Switzerland’s startup programs and competitions are excellent visibility platforms and we firmly believe our participation led to investor and customer connections.

When, and what, was your inspiration to found Microcaps?
The fundamental basis of our technology is the result of Alessandro’s Ph.D. studies at ETH Zürich. This know-how allowed us to determine the relevant factors that enable the scaling of our technology, which ultimately makes us interesting in the industry. Both Alessandro and I have always been interested in entrepreneurship, particularly after we visited a lecture on how to get from science to a start-up. While applying for start-up grants, like the ETH pioneer fellowship, we started contacting potential future customers and received very positive feedback. The various coaching and accelerator programs provided the necessary feedback to elaborate and finetune our business idea, which led to the founding of the company.

What is your advice for the potential medtech entrepreneurs launching companies in Switzerland today? 
To succeed, there needs to be a balance between the aspirational and practical. Potential entrepreneurs are usually passionate and have a defined vision of their future. To deliver on this, you need to have a solid business plan and a team to help implement the plan with shared goals. Also, don't be afraid to make mistakes. Learn from them and move forward, listen to the advice you get, and ultimately, you can only succeed if you actually try.