Switzerland, Europe’s Leading Life Science Hub, Sends Best Startups to Roadshow in the U.S.
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Venture Leaders Life Sciences roadshow brought ten of Switzerland’s most-promising startups to the heart of U.S. life sciences for a 14th year. The winning startups benefited from exposure and introductions to the industry’s leading investors, and hands-on business development with medtech and biotech experts.
International science journal Nature ranks Switzerland top in Europe for life science startup deals, scientific output, patenting, venture capital and human capital, so the Venture Leaders arrived in Boston with confidence and a full schedule of meetings. The region’s leading VCs and ecosystem players were keen to meet Venturelab’s selection of high-potential biotech and medtech startups. Invitations to pitch came from top tier funds including Third Rock Ventures, which closed a $770 million fund earlier this month; U.S. Investment Firm of the Year RA Capital; and Ernesto Bertarelli’s Gurnet Point Capital.
Andrea Chicca, CEO and co-founder of Synendos Therapeutics was impressed by the high-quality of the feedback received during the roadshow. “Venture Leaders has been a unique experience, combining the opportunity to be connect with top-notch U.S.-investors and brilliant entrepreneurs in the most efficient way possible,” Chicca said.
Raising expectations
Expert workshops then offered the entrepreneurs valuable inputs on penetrating the U.S. market, raising finance and building global businesses. As a perfect role model for success in the U.S., the team met canton Schwyz-born Joe von Rickenbach, to hear his experience building biopharmaceutical services company Parexel into a global leader with more than 20,000 employees. The talk was following by a regulatory workshop with Parexel’s experts, providing specific insights for each startup to consider while addressing the U.S. market.
Global pitchfest
This year’s batch impressed Boston’s investors and also the wider public. The ten Swiss startups competed against a dozen U.S. healthtech startups at the Future of Healthtech Pitch Night 2019. Danuta Cichocka, CEO and co-founder of Resistell won the jury award at the end of an atmospheric evening event organized by swissnex Boston with 150 guest. The entire trip has been an outstanding experience for her and reinforced her global vision: “This week we’ve been challenged by the sharpest brains in life sciences and medtech. The lesson is that our startups can have a global perspective, as long as we don’t limit our own ambition,” Cichocka said.
The week concluded with a magnificent sailing trip in Boston Harbor, as many team members already planned their next meetings and a return to the region.
Details of each of the 10 winners of Venture Leaders Life Sciences 2019.
Details of each of the 10 winners of Venture Leaders Life Sciences 2019.
Venture Leaders Life Sciences 2019 was organized by Venturelab, and supported by: EPF Lausanne, ETH Zurich, Hansjörg Wyss, Kanton Zürich, Kellerhals Carrard, Paul Scherrer Institute, swissnex Boston, Canton de Vaud, and Ypsomed.
About Venture Leaders
For the past 18 years, Swiss National Startup Teams have traveled to Silicon Valley, Boston, New York, China and Barcelona diving into the exciting, entrepreneurial scenes at each thriving startup-hub, and helped more than 360 founders achieve their visions for internationalization. The list includes many of Switzerland’s best startups in business today, such as Bestmile, Flyability, GetYourGuide, and L.E.S.S.
