Switzerland’s Most Important Startup Events, Investments, and International Roadshows: Highlights of 2019

30.12.2019 16:36, Raffael Kellner

In 2019 we celebrated 15 years of Venturelab, building world-class startups. Swiss made. 2019 has been another amazing year where our Swiss startup alumni raised a record-breaking CHF 1.45 billion in equity financing.

We delivered 390 programs and events supporting another 1,000+ startups and inspiring 4,500+ participants. We connected startups with corporates and did fundraising and business development roadshows across the globe with the Swiss National Startup Team. Venture Kick invested CHF 4,350,000 to kick Swiss early startups forward.

A big thank you to all our partners BKW, Credit Suisse, digitalswitzerland, dpd, EPFL, ETH, ESA BIC Switzerland, EY, Gebert Rüf Stiftung, IFJ, Innosuisse, Kanton Zürich; Kellerhals Carrard, Postfinance, PSI, Rothschild & Co Bank, SVC, Swisscom, Swiss Post,Swiss Prime Site, Swissnex, S-GE, Uni Basel, Uni Zürich, VAUD, Vischer, Walder Wyss, Zühlke & many more.

The 5 most read articles on Venturelab in 2019

Read the Swiss startup highlights 2019 in detail:

January

Sophia Genetics SA raised $77 million investment from VCs including Generation Investment Management, Idinvest Partners, Balderton Capital and Alychlo. Sophia Genetics, whose software helps doctors understand complex genetic data, will use the money to "grow the global community of hospitals using its technology,".
The fintech company Loanboox, the leading money and capital market platform, collects CHF 22 million (20 million euros) in the Series B financing round. The company's valuation rises to CHF 122 million (110 million euros).
Nexiot AG, which makes devices and software to track freight wagons and ocean cargo containers, raised 15 million francs to hire staff and internationalize sales.
Daphne Technology SA, whose filters purify exhaust emissions from commercial shipping, raised 4.9 million Swiss francs from investors including the world's largest oil and chemicals companies.

February

The Swiss National Startup Team, the Venture Leaders Mobile selection, travelled to Barcelona to pitch to international investors and meet with telecom industry leaders at the Mobile World Congress. The five selected mobile startups from Switzerland plan to expand global and the investor and industry roadshow was specifically structured to help them achieve this goal.
The Venture Leaders Fintech startup Tradeplus24 AG raised over CHF 120 million in equity and debt, a record for Swiss fintech startups, in a round led by SIX Fintech Ventures, Berliner Volksbank Ventures (BVBV) and Credit Suisse.
Anaveon, a spinoff of the University of Zurich with a new approach for developing immunotherapies for cancer, has finalized a CHF 35 million Series A financing.
The Swiss technology company DEPsys received 13.2 million Swiss francs venture capital as part of a Series B investment. This capital increase prepares DEPsys for strong international growth.
Insolight’s Rooftop Solar Panels Achieve World Record Efficiency. The EPFL based startup announces that its pre-production modules set a new efficiency standard of 29% for commercial solar panels.

March

SimplicityBio acquired by Precision for Medicine: Bringing AI algorithms to Medicine. SimplicityBio provides the possibility of using multiple biomarkers simultaneously in a white-box design.

During the Startup Champions at ETH Zurich on March 4th, the Venture Leaders Technology team 2020, made of 10 exceptional founders, presented their startups prior to their departure to the Silicon Valley for a roadshow.

The Swiss National Startup Team, the Venture Leaders Technology selection, travelled to Silicon Valley to pitch to international VCs such as New Enterprise Associates, Bessemer Venture Partners, Rothschild Advisory, Airbus Ventures, Data Collective, Partech Partners, FYRFLY Venture Partners. The 10 selected technology startups from Switzerland plan to expand to the US and the investor roadshow was specifically structured to help them achieve this goal.
On March 21st, the Business Ideas conference took place a the STIL conference at EPFL. The keynote speakers, François Briod from Monito and Grzegorz Gonciarz from Resistell, shared their experience as entrepreneurs with the audience.
The wefox Group, an InsurTech startup founded in Switzerland and based in Berlin, successfully achieved the record sum of $ 125 million in its Series B round.
Polyneuron Pharmaceuticals AG raised CHF 22.5 million venture capital from investors including Sofinnova Partners and New Enterprise Associates to fund human clinical trials of its drug to prevent rare autoimmune diseases.

April

The AIT India team was in Switzerland for a week. This program aims to support scientists in transforming their applied research into market application and discovering their entrepreneurial potential. By connecting scientists from top ins¬titutions in Switzerland and India, the program promotes an international network and enables access to one of the most promising markets and intel¬lectual capitals in applied research.
The Startup Champions Seed Night, co-organized by EPFL Alumni, the Innogrants and Venturelab, is a leading annual startup presentation event and pitch competition. This year’s keynote speakers were Steve Anavi, Co-founder and President of Qonto and Madiha Derouazi, Founder and CEO of Amal Therapeutics.
TOP 100 Investor Pitch Event with Credit Suisse. 100 invited investors and entrepreneurs listened to pitches from selected startups which were ranked in the previous TOP 100 Swiss Startup Awards and are now looking for growth financing.

May

The Swiss Venture Leaders in South Africa team travelled to Cape Town for an intensive week to stress test their product on the South African market.
THE SPOT, a pioneering new sporttech event launched by ThinkSport, aims to stimulate progress and innovation in sport by bringing together bright minds and fresh innovations inside and outside the industry. The second edition of the annual two-day event took place from May 28th to 29th 2019 at the SwissTech Convention Center in Lausanne
Swiss travel startup GetYourGuide raises 484 million and enters the privileged club of startup unicorns, companies valued at more than 1 billion.
Nexxiot, the provider of IOT digital solutions has secured CHF 35 million venture capital from DiaMedCare AG for the long-term production of a new generation of sensors and the installation at the customer's site as part of the service contract. - note: 15 million in January probably part of this round
Wingtra raises $10 Million to increase global expansion.

June

The Swiss National Startup Team, the Venture Leaders Life Sciences selection, travelled to Boston to pitch to international investors such as New Enterprise Associates, and to healthcare industry leaders. The 10 selected Life Sciences startups from Switzerland plan to expand to the US and the investor roadshow was specifically structured to help them achieve this goal.
The Swiss Africa Business Innovation Initiative: Africa Market Discovery Camp aims to boost the entrepreneurial know-how and exposure of Swiss Sciencepreneurs seeking growth opportunities with and in Africa.
The Swiss National Startup Team, the Venture Leaders China selection,travelled to China to pitch to Chinese investors and to industry leaders. The 10 selected startups from Switzerland plan to expand to China and the investor and industry roadshow was specifically structured to help them achieve this goal.
A few weeks after Peripal received marketing approval for its patient aid device for home dialysis, the medtech start-up closed a financing round to drive market expansion.

July

Amal Therapeutics was acquired by Boehringer Ingelheim for up to €425 Million to add key platform supporting Boehringer Ingelheim’s focus on patients with difficult-to-treat gastrointestinal and lung cancers.

EIT Food Pre-Incubation Bootcamp is Europe’s leading food innovation initiative, working to make the food system more sustainable, healthy and trusted by consumers. In partnership with Venturelab and the Integrative Food and Nutrition Center at the EPFL, the EIT-Food welcomed European-based foodtech startups at the EPFL Innovation Park.
L.E.S.S. raises CHF 14 million to accelerate the industrialization and production of the products.
Gamaya raises CHF 12 million series B financing round led by India’s largest tractor manufacturer, Mahindra & Mahindra.
Daedalean raises 11.8 million to bring their autonomous piloting and flight control solution to market.
10 Swiss Scientrepreneurs will test their applied research project on the Indian market as part of the AIT India program
ETH transfer was named Tech Transfer Unit of the Year by Global University Venturing Magazine
Investments in Swiss startups doubles in the first half of 2019 to exceed CHF 1 billion

August

ObsEva, focused on the development and commercialization of innovative reproductive health and pregnancy therapies for women, closed a $75 million credit facility with Oxford Finance LLC to advance ObsEva’s late stage development pipeline including Phase 3 trials of nolasiban and of linzagolix.
Bestmile, the leading Fleet Orchestration Platform used to plan, manage, and optimize autonomous and human-driven vehicle fleets raised $16.5 million and strengthened its leadership to accelerate growth.
SWISSto12, a provider of telecommunications components for the satellite and aerospace industries, raised CHF 18.1 million to accelerate the company’s industrialization and the commercial deployment of antenna products for communication satellites.

September

Swiss startups are playing in the global Champions League. That was the message at the TOP 100 Swiss Startup Award, as an audience of more than 700 international investors, startups, corporates and startup experts celebrated Switzerland’s top-ranked startups.
Venturelab hosted the Startup Champions at ETH presenting the Swiss National Startup Team and featuring world-class entrepreneurs as speakers, Daniel Keiper-Knorr, Founder & General Partner at Speedinvest and Patrick Barnert, former CEO & President of Qumram.
MSCI’s subsidiary, MSCI Barra (Suisse) Sàrl, acquired Zurich-based environmental fintech and data analytics firm, Carbon Delta AG, a Venture Leaders Fintech alum. Carbon Delta is a boutique research firm that specializes in identifying and analyzing the climate change resilience of publicly traded.
Kandou founder and CEO Amin Shokrollahi reflects on his entrepreneurial path from Venture Kick to his most-recent financing round, which bring the total investment in his startup to nearly $100 million.
Swiss SaaS Startup Beekeeper Raised $45m to Expand Team in Europe and U.S.
Versantis Raises CHF 16m to Develop its Therapies for Liver Cirrhosis and Rare Disorders. In our interview Versantis CEO Vincent Forster reflects on his entrepreneurial path with Venturelab so far.
T3 Pharmaceuticals AG, a Basel-based company focusing on immuno-oncology, closes its second financing round of CHF 12m with existing investors joined by Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund and Reference Capital SA to progress into the clinical phase.

October

10 South African startups visited Switzerland for a week of intensive workshops and business meetings as part of the Venture Leaders South Africa program.
WTOIP in collaboration with Venturelab hosted the Swiss final of the IPIEC GLOBAL 2019 at the startup space in Schlieren-Zurich, where 10 startups pitched for a chance to win up USD 100,000 and a seat for a business roadshow in China.
Coople, Europe’s leading on-demand platform for flexible staff, raised $32 million from investors led by One Peak Partners and Goldman Sachs. The round makes the Swiss startup one of the world’s best-funded companies in the flexible job market, having raised a total of $76 million to-date.
Avrios International, with more than 800 customers and more than 80,000 managed vehicles closed a Series B financing round of 14 million Swiss francs.
On October 10th, Credit Suisse and TOP 100 hosted a special breakfast in intimate settings to connect startups and investors in Lausanne. Six startups nominated in the TOP 100 Swiss Startup Awards were invited to pitch to the members of the Credit Suisse Private Investors Club to forge key connections and expose their business opportunity and disrupting technologies.
At the Credit Suisse Private Investors Club evening in Geneva on 25 September 2019, handpicked business angels and entrepreneurs listened to pitches from selected startups which were ranked in the previous TOP 100 Swiss Startup Awards and are now looking for financing.
Eight Venture Kick Alums Among EIT Climate-KIC Winners

November

The Swiss National Fintech Team, the Venture Leaders Fintech selection, travelled to Hong Kong and Shenzhen to pitch to Asian investors such as GP Bullhound, Invest Hong Kong, Standard Chartered Ventures and to banks such as HSBC, LGT, UBS and to Chinese industry leaders such as Tencent, WeBank and WeLab . The 10 selected fintech and insurtech startups from Switzerland plan to expand to the Asia and the investor and industry roadshow was specifically structured to help them achieve this goal.
Scale up Bootcamp Lausanne in Smart City and Enterprisetech, AI and Customer Solutions gave Swiss startups access to leading corporates for matchmaking and scale up deal building (pilot project, investment, customers, partnerships).
Swiss Africa Business Innovation Initiative Selects 8 African Winners and Introduces 9 Swiss Entrepreneurs to African Markets
The Venture Leaders US Teams (Venture Leaders Technology and Venture Leaders Life Sciences) 2019 of the Swiss National Startup Team celebrated at the US Embassy in Switzerland
The Food Scale-Up Day at EPFL Lausanne was a unique opportunity for growing foodtech startups from all around Europe to get access to the decision makers at Nestlé, Migros, Buhler, Firmenich and ADM. 20 startups in the field of foodtech, agritech and healthtech benefitted from a full day of matchmaking, presentation, exhibition and networking on the EPFL campus.
Carvolution raises CHF 11 Million to accelerate growth of car-subscription service. Swiss insurer Mobiliar and family office Armada Investment join lead investor Redalpine in the financing round.

December

The Startup Champions event in Lausanne featured EPFL rising stars startups and TOP 100 Swiss Startup Award finalists: Flyability, Lunaphore and Bestmile. Read the founders' advice and experiences about entrepreneurship.
The 9th Swiss Prime Site Startup Accelerator Workshop selected innovative startups in enterprisetech to develop business cases with Switzerland's biggest listed real-estate company.
Wefox, one of the largest insurance brokers with 550 employees raised another 110 million in growth capital. With this financing round Wefox achieved unicorn status.
Cellestia Biotech raised CHF 20M to advance the ongoing Phase l clinical trial into Phase II of its gene transcription cancer therapy.
Biotech startup ImmunOs Therapeutics raised CHF 15M in Series A financing to further develop its immunotherapy platform for cancer.
Swiss biotech company Numab Therapeutics has announced the closing of it's CHF 15 million Series B round from Chinese investors. The startup is developing multispecific antibodies that enable the pursuit of novel therapeutic strategies.

Outlook 2020

Accessing global investors will be the goal of the 2020 Venture Leaders roadshows. The Swiss National Mobile Team is preparing for their roadshow in Barcelona, while the registrations are open for the Technology team that will fly to the Silicon Valley. Stay tuned for the upcoming Venture Leaders China and Life Sciences team selection!

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