Swiss Startup Investor Predictions for 2026: How Investors View Growth, Capital, and Risk
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Switzerland’s startup ecosystem enters 2026 amid persistent macroeconomic uncertainty, shifting capital markets, and accelerating technological change. For founders and investors alike, navigating this environment requires sharper focus, disciplined execution, and a clear sense of where long-term value will be created.
Venturelab spoke with leading investors from across the Swiss venture ecosystem to understand how they are thinking about the year ahead. Their perspectives shed light on the technologies and sectors likely to shape the next growth cycle, how investment criteria are evolving, and what founders must demonstrate to remain competitive in an increasingly selective funding environment.From AI-enabled industrial systems and deep tech commercialization to capital efficiency and go-to-market execution, the insights collected here offer a grounded outlook on what will matter most in 2026 and how startups can position themselves accordingly.
We spoke to some of the most influential investors backing Swiss startups to uncover what they see on the horizon. The following profiles introduce the people behind the perspectives shared in this outlook.
Image by Heiner from Pixabay
What trends or technologies will drive startup investing in 2026?
Investors expect 2026 to be shaped by the convergence of advanced intelligence, physical infrastructure, and strategic relevance in a more complex geopolitical environment. Antonia Albert, Principal, Founderful:
“Exceptional founders solving big problems, especially those turning deep science into global businesses. We’re most excited about AI, robotics, energy and infrastructure, advanced materials, industrial manufacturing, and software-centric opportunities.”
Oliver Pabst, General Partner, Redalpine:
“The next major investment focus will be companies that merge extreme compute with extreme physical capability. Autonomous factories, defense systems, new energy infrastructures, advanced manufacturing stacks, and compute-rich robotics. The highest upside lies in markets previously considered too hard, including energy, defense, chemicals, materials, biology, and industrial automation.”
Yves Becker, Senior Investment Manager, Zürcher Kantonalbank:
“From our perspective, various overarching trends are shaping the investment landscape in Switzerland and Europe. One exciting development is in the field of efficient computing. Sustainable and efficient energy sources for data centers, as well as faster and more secure data processing, have significant medium- to long-term potential. Additionally, areas such as medical technology, robotics, and sensor technology are highly attractive fields with strong growth prospects.
In general, we believe that generative AI will create many new use cases and automate existing ones, where securing a first-mover advantage will be crucial. We also observe that rising geopolitical uncertainties are fueling significant innovation in defense and security technologies, with substantial capital being allocated to these verticals. However, our focus remains on deep tech, where we identify more sustainable fundamental drivers.”
Which factors will matter most in investment decisions in 2026?
As capital becomes more selective, investors emphasize fundamentals, execution, and early commercial proof alongside technological differentiation.Emi Naganuma, Founder, Apprecia Capital:
“A strong and defensible technology moat remains essential, but it must be paired with clear go-to-market execution. The ability to show early commercial traction through paid pilots, recurring revenue, or a credible customer pipeline will be decisive. Even at the early stage, evidence that customers are willing to pay is a powerful signal in our investment decisions.”
Jennifer McCloskey, Investment Director, Swisscom Ventures:
“Every investment being made is compared to recent AI investments and growth curves. The bar is therefore high. In addition, fundraising considerations are becoming increasingly important, with many investors placing greater emphasis on exits and long-term scalability when underwriting new investments.”
Nils Granath, Senior Investment Director, Swisscanto:
“In 2026, investors will remain focused on the fundamentals: exceptional teams, unique and defensible technologies, and clear market opportunities. Startups that demonstrate strong commercial traction and present a credible, scalable growth strategy will stand out.”
Where will investors place their main focus in 2026: efficiency, scaling, or innovation?
Rather than a single priority, investors describe a stage-dependent balance shaped by execution maturity and market context.Eric Lohrer, Managing Partner, Helvetica Capital:
“For AI-based solutions, the focus will be on actually finding a business model and proving real-life value that allows for monetization by the company. In addition, investors will continue to look for businesses that can reach break-even within a reasonable timeframe.”
Yves Becker, Senior Investment Manager, Zürcher Kantonalbank:
Investors invest according to their guidelines at different stages of a company’s lifecycle, where various factors come into play. As an early-stage investor, innovation holds paramount importance for us. At the same time, scalability remains an important part of our evaluation.”
Oliver Pabst, General Partner, Redalpine:
“Firstly, the rate of learning and gradient of improvement inside the founding team. Founders who double their surface area every 90 days beat founders who coast on initial brilliance.”
What are the key opportunities and threats for the Swiss startup ecosystem?
Switzerland is widely seen as a strong platform for deep tech innovation, while access to large growth rounds remains a structural challenge.Antonia Albert, Principal, Founderful:
“Deep tech leadership, incredible AI talent density, and a world-class pipeline of spin-outs from ETH and EPFL position Switzerland to produce global category leaders.”
Nils Granath, Senior Investment Director, Swisscanto:
“Switzerland has the potential to move away from the trend of early exits through equihires and focus on developing successful startups into global market leaders. The increasing availability of domestic growth capital provides the resources needed for startups to scale internationally while remaining based in Switzerland.”
Eric Lohrer, Managing Partner, Helvetica Capital:
“One of the main challenges is coming up with capital for larger rounds without getting diluted by larger investors with deep pockets. This issue has become more pronounced in an environment with flat or down rounds and reduced crossover fund activity.”
What is your key advice for founders entering 2026?
Across interviews, investors converge on a clear message for founders entering 2026: focus, execution, and commercial clarity are decisive.Jennifer McCloskey, Investment Director, Swisscom Ventures:
“Speed of execution is a competitive advantage. Having few, clear, short-term goals is key. Founders need to remain focused on their journey and consistently deliver on critical milestones.”
Emi Naganuma, Founder, Apprecia Capital:
“Founders should focus early on their go-to-market strategy and customer acquisition. A deep understanding of the customer’s core bottleneck is essential, as is clearly articulating why the solution is mission-critical and worth paying for. Technology alone is not enough.”
Oliver Pabst, General Partner, Redalpine:
“Assume your competition is not a startup but a country with a budget and an ideology. Build something that moves GDP, not something that shaves three percent off a workflow.”
Conclusion: What this means going into 2026
Taken together, these perspectives outline a pragmatic and demanding outlook for 2026. Investors are backing startups that combine deep technological strength with early commercial validation, disciplined execution, and the ambition to scale globally. Switzerland’s strong research base, talent density, and institutional stability offer a solid foundation, but success will depend on founders’ ability to operate with focus and resilience in a more selective capital environment.Stefan Steiner, Co-Managing Director at Venturelab confirms that:
“With our long-standing focus on deeptech startups and Switzerland’s strong university research, we are perfectly positioned for the emerging trends. After challenging years, more capital is now available to Swiss startups that combine a scalable business model, the right team, IP, and execution power. And with AI lowering costs, the opportunities have never been greater.”
