Venture Leaders Technology 2020 hosted by the U.S. Embassy in Bern

24.11.2020 10:24, Lara Fritschi

On November 19th, 2020, the U.S. Embassy in Bern, hosted the third virtual Pitch Session for this year’s Venture Leaders Technology 2020. The Swiss National Startup Team pitched their innovative Deep Tech solutions to four international investors and an audience of six Economic Development Offices in California.

The participants were virtually welcomed by Sandor Galambos, Investment Specialist at SelectUSA (part of the U.S. Department of Commerce), the Agency that promotes foreign direct investment and job-creation in the U.S.. Stefan Steiner, Co-Managing Director of Venturelab moderated the pitches. Present amongst the Investors - namely Amit Pradham from VC & Silicon Valley Blockchain Society, Kurt Kalternegger from ABB Technology Ventures, David Johnston from Yeomans Capital – was Craig Tarnopol from Bessmer Venture Partners, who recently participated in an astonishing USD 92.3M Series C funding round of Kandou, a Venture Kick alumni and TOP100 startup. 
 

We and @USEmbassyBern @venturelab_ch hosted a virtual pitching event connecting 10 of Switzerland’s tech startups with reps from NorCal startup ecosystems to accelerate their expansion to the U.S. market in 2021! @CALED_EconDev @CAGoBiz @TradeGov @CommerceGov #FDI pic.twitter.com/HaxpwlALA4

— SelectUSA (@SelectUSA) November 20, 2020

The investors agreed on the highly innovative solutions and quality of Swiss startups indicating their motivation to expand their funding activities into Switzerland and Europe. Nonetheless, Silicon Valley still represents the ‘crème de la crème` agreeing that “if a European Startup succeeds in establishing their business in Silicon Valley and raise money there, then this is a success factor for them in order to get a much higher valuation than they could ever get in Europe”, as Kurt Kaltenegger from ABB Technology Ventures pointed out. 

After the feedback by the investors and an interactive Q&A session, the startups were presented with lucrative opportunities to expand their business to the United States by the California Association for Local Economic Development (CALED) and six Economic Development Offices (EDO’s) from Sacramento, San Francisco, Silicon Valley, Sonoma and other cities in California, one of the leading U.S. states when it comes to R&D spending in high-tech industries and internationally known for its Silicon Valley. 

The virtual pitch session concluded by a lively discussion and Q&A and another reconnection to promote an U.S. and Swiss economic partnership. This webinar helped accelerate the startups’ expansion to the U.S. market, building their networks, and connecting with entrepreneur and investor ecosystems in California. It was a valuable opportunity to underscore our current strong bilateral ties and to set the stage for future cooperation.

Venture Leaders Technology 2020 is made possible through the support of our program partners: EPF Lausanne, ETH Zurich, dpd Switzerland, Kellerhals Carrard, Rothschild & Co, and the Canton de Vaud.  


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