Swiss Startups Win Seats for IPIEC Global Final in China
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Three Swiss startups won seats for the final of the IPIEC GLOBAL pitching competition. The winners earned themselves a two-week roadshow in China and the chance to compete for the $100,000 international prize. A fourth winning startup received the Haikou National High-Tech Incubator prize: a week-long market exploration trip through Hainan's startup ecosystem.
The jury of Sino-Swiss startup experts and investors selected BioVersys, Flyability, and Topadur as Switzerland's winning trio to tour eight Chinese mega-cities, and compete in Guangzhou for IPIEC GLOBAL's top international prize in December.
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The startups, with leading technologies in drone-inspection, tuberculosis treatment, and wound-healing, will visit Suzhou, Xian, Chongqing, Shenzhen, Dongguan, Foshan, Guangzhou, and Hainan, in a two-week matchmaking tour of potential industrial partners and investors. Fourth winner Medyria, which uses blood flow sensors to localize the position of a catheter within the human body, will visit Hainan later this year.
Zhiyi Wang, senior manager of Haikou National High-Tech Incubator Operation, congratulates Medyria CTO Mauro Sette on the startup’s selection for the Hainan business development visit.
The IPIEC GLOBAL pitch contest's Swiss chapter, co-hosted by Venturelab at the startup space, attracted applications from more than 30 startups developing innovative AI, advanced manufacturing, big data, biotech, energy and IoT technologies. An audience of 70 listened keenly as the founders of the 10 short-listed finalists pitched, and learned more about China's high-tech ecosystem and networks during discussions with investors in and from China.
The seven jurors made a difficult selection based on the winning startups’ interest in the Chinese market and readiness to land in China, said Edmont Rao, senior vice-president of WTOIP, the joint organizer of the international pitch competition. "These startups represent the best of Swiss innovation for potential partners in China," he added.
"We’ve very happy that our partnership with WTOIP allows us to foster further relations between China and Switzerland," said Jordi Montserrat, Venturelab's managing partner. The Swiss startup supporter’s Venture Leaders programs have brought 60 Swiss startups on roadshows throughout China over the past 6 years.
