Venture Leaders Biotech 2021: 10 new Swiss National Startup Team members to showcase Swiss biotech innovation on the global stage 

14.07.2021 07:00, Isabelle Mitchell

The Swiss National Startup Team welcomes new members: A jury selected 10 startups for the first Venture Leaders program dedicated explicitly to the biotech sector. During their roadshow, the Venture Leaders Biotech will meet international investors and industry leaders and access industry-specific expertise and networks to grow their companies. Venture Leaders Biotech 2021 is co-organized by Venturelab and Swissnex and supported by EPF Lausanne, ETH Zurich, VISCHER, and the Canton of Zurich. 

The Venture Leaders—the members of the Swiss National Startup Team—have a clear-cut goal. They envision themselves as global players and want to take the first step toward their international expansion. The investor and business development roadshows for Swiss startups are specifically structured to help them achieve this goal. For the past 16 years, the Swiss National Startup Team has traveled to Boston to discover the entrepreneurial scene of the United States of America. In 2014, the Venture Leaders roadshow extended to China and New York and then added Silicon Valley in 2017 and Barcelona in 2019. 
 
For the past 16 years, the Venture Leaders teams have been showcasing the quality and potential of Swiss startups around the globe. Venture Leaders alumni comprise high-flying biotech startups such as Covagen (acquired by Johnson & Johnson), Redbiotec (Redvax acquired by Pfizer)), KB Medical (acquired by Globus Medical), SimplicityBio (acquired by Precision for Medicine), and AMAL Therapeutics (acquired by Boehringer Ingelheim). The startup NBE-Therapeutics participated in the Venture Leaders program in 2003 and was acquired for EUR 1.18 billion by Boehringer Ingelheim in 2020.  
 
The biotech sector now introduces its own members of the Swiss National Startup Team: A jury of professional investors and biotech experts reviewed almost 70 applications to choose the 10 Venture Leaders Biotech 2021. Previously, biotech startups participated in the Venture Leaders Life Sciences program, but the sector now has its own roadshow, and the Venture Leaders Biotech 2021 will be the first class to graduate from the biotech program. The 10 selected startups improve disease prevention, diagnostics, and treatment through innovative solutions covering areas such as RNA-sequencing, precision medicine, gene editing, and gene therapy.  
 
“Having an international investor roadshow for biotech startups reflects the importance of this growing sector—in Switzerland and beyond. We want to facilitate connections and investment opportunities for the Venture Leaders Biotech 2021 so that their innovative power can reach its full potential,” said Jordi Montserrat, managing partner at Venturelab. “The Venture Leaders Biotech startups 2021 demonstrate Switzerland’s position as a global biotech hub that provides high-quality innovation that will transform our future.”  
 
The international investor roadshow to take place in the fall aims to accelerate the startups’ expansion and sets the base for their global business networks. “Venture Leaders is an outstanding program that opens many more doors than it would be possible for an individual company alone,” said Sven N. Hobbie, co-founder of Juvabis and Venture Leaders alum. 
 
Venture Leaders Biotech 2021 is co-organized by Venturelab and Swissnex and supported by EPF Lausanne, ETH Zurich, VISCHER, and the Canton of Zurich. 





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