Venture Leaders Technology: Swiss tech startups receive enthusiastic recognition in Silicon Valley

12.04.2022 17:00, Tracy Woodley

The Venture Leaders— the members of the Swiss National Startup Team— have a clear objective: They envision themselves as global players and are aiming for international expansion. The Venture Leaders Technology 2022 roadshow brought ten selected Swiss entrepreneurs to Silicon Valley, where they benefitted from an accelerated learning curve. Through exchanges with their peers in the team, in addition to market exposure, pitch sessions with investors and experts, and hands-on business development, each startup was able to significantly strengthen its entrepreneurial network.

Venturelab has organized international roadshows for the Swiss National Startup Teams for 17 years. The ambitious entrepreneurs and their promising startups are introduced to exclusive investors and potential customers in leading technology hubs such as Silicon Valley, Boston, China, Hong Kong, Barcelona, London, and Munich. 

Alumni of the program include high-flying startups such as Lemoptix, Composyt Light Labs (acquired by Intel), Faceshift (acquired by Apple), HouseTrip (acquired by TripAdvisor), Kooaba (acquired by Qualcomm), Dacuda (acquired by Magic Leap), the unicorns GetYourGuide and Scandit, and many more. 

Swiss technology startups impress Silicon Valley investors

The Venture Leaders Technology roadshow offered a one-week deep dive into the Silicon Valley startup ecosystem for the founders of Assaia International, Corintis, Lattice Flow, Enlightra, qiio, Sensoryx, Tinamu Labs, Tyxit, Veezoo, and xFarm. The roadshow included investor pitches and feedback sessions with Kelly Chen from DCVC, Philip Stauffer from FYRFLY, Grant Allen from SE Ventures, Daniela Caserotto-Leibert from Speedinvest, Ben Narasin from Tenacity Venture Capital, and Chris Kim and Sri Rao from Union Labs. Swisscom organized an additional investor pitch session for the Swiss National Startup Team in Palo Alto as well. Participants were not only able to build a strong network in the Bay Area but also amongst one another as part of a team of entrepreneurs sharing similar objectives and challenges. 
 

What a fantastic week in Silicon Valley for the Swiss National Startup Team. Discover the highlights of the Venture Leaders Technology roadshow 2022: https://t.co/mguHNoITEZ #VleadersTech

— Venturelab (@venturelab_ch) April 11, 2022

"Having had the possibility to meet entrepreneurs and investors in Silicon Valley was very crucial. I got many key points from entrepreneurs either on how to scale up a business model or how to approach the right investor on right time. Being challenged by US investors was very constructive in order to improve our communication and pitches. Additionally, we breathed the atmosphere of the valley populated by tech company and we came back to Switzerland with many inspirations."
— Matteo Vanotti, Founder and CEO, XFarm.

Beyond the investor meetings, the founders expanded their knowledge with a valuable U.S. pitch training session with Stuart Paap of PitchDNA, a session on how to scale the company by Gabor Cselle from Google, a HR workshop about team culture with Jodi Johnson from JJ Human Capital and a Q&A session with former Venture Leaders Technology participant Christopher McCall from Fotokite. Thanks to the Swiss Business Hub USA they could also enlarge their business network at a networking reception.

"The Venture Leaders tour gave us a valuable exposure to US investors and to the entrepreneurial mindset of the Silicon Valley. Travelling with such a high-quality team of startups was a true eye opener! I got many new insights for our company and generated some very interesting business opportunities." 
— Marcos Monteiro, Co-Founder amd CEO, Veezoo

At the Swiss Pitch Night organized by swissnex San Francisco, each Venture Leader pitched their project in front of 90 guests followed by a Q&A session with a jury consisting of Sophie Durey, Chima Osuke and Juan Carlos Soto. Congratulations to XFarm, who won the jury vote, and Corintis, who won the audience choice award!
 

The Swiss National Startup Team is wrapping up the @venturelab_ch Silicon Valley roadshow. Congrats to startup @helloxfarm who won the jury prize and to Corintis who won audience choice at the Venture Leaders Pitch Night yesterday. See you soon #Vleaderstech pic.twitter.com/oYaNqlAxsS

— Swissnex in San Francisco (@swissnexSF) April 9, 2022

Participating investors were once again impressed by the quality of the Swiss National Startup Team. Daniela Caserotto-Leibert, Venture Partner at Speedinvest, shared her impression of the Venture Leaders: "It’s the first time I have seen the Swiss National Startup Team and it's mind-blowing how the startups detect global problems and aim to change the world with technology made in Switzerland. The level of a 'US-ready' pitch deck which the cohort has gained within a week leaves me with no doubt that they are going to achieve their next big milestones soon. The program has proven to be very efficient and successful."

Stefan Steiner, Co-Managing Director at Venturelab, has supported the Venture Leaders Technology roadshow in San Francisco for five years says this year’s excursion made a powerful impression: "Swiss startups definitely do not need to hide from competitors in Silicon Valley and we can be proud of our technologies that will improve the world. I am already looking forward to the upcoming funding rounds of these 10 startups.” 

The Venture Leaders roadshows provide invaluable support for the selected startups and propels remarkable growth trajectories. For example, decentriq, a startup that participated in the roadshow in November 2021, announced a USD 15 million Series A financing round with American investors in March 2022.

The Venture Leaders Technology 2022 program is organized by Venturelab and supported by dpd Switzerland, EPF Lausanne, ETH Zurich, Kellerhals Carrard, Rothschild & Co, and the Canton of Vaud.
 
Learn more about the Venture Leaders Technology 2022 startups below.