In 5 years 251 startups got a kick
and raised 365m!

Is your business idea good enough?

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Managing Director venture kick - Jordi Montserrat

Kick your startup idea to success with venture kick

Winning startups that got a kick

  • Stemergie Biotechnology SA

    Virginie Clément

    “Our technology would have remained a research tool if venture kick would not have given us the kick to turn it into a business.”

  • senseFly SA

    Jean-Christophe Zufferey

    “Thanks to venture kick, we could expand our marketing activities to the US and grow our business.”

  • HouseTrip SA

    Arnaud Bertrand

    "Without venture kick, we simply couldn’t have launched our company! The most useful initiative ever!"

The jury: 100+ investors and industry experts

  • „venture kick is definitely one of the best supports a young entrepreneur could find. Not only money but lot of expertise and networking is accessible.“
    Diego A. Braguglia
    VI Partners AG
  • „venture kick is a great program for young entrepreneurs, helping them to build successful businesses which result in vital contributions to the growth of the Swiss economy.“
    Philip Bodmer
    Bodmer & Partner Consultants AG
  • “It is our duty to support the entrepreneurial spirit in our country. In this context venture kick is a very good instrument to ensure the success of emerging companies in the coming decades.”
    Andrea Pfeifer
    AC Immune SA

Strong growing impact

Financing

Money raised by kicked startups

(in mio. CHF)

The results of venture kick since 2007

Started in September 2007 venture kick provides spin-off projects at Swiss universities with pre-seed capital, coaching and access to professional investors. Members from a jury pool (100+ leading startup experts across Switzerland) evaluate and support 16 spin-off projects in three sessions every month.

Since the inception of the program, 251 startup projects were supported with CHF 9.390.000 in pre-seed capital (up to CHF 130.000 perventure kick winner), which attracted CHF 365.000.000 in financing volume. Additionaly, the supported startups received hands-on coaching during 125 kickers camps.

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University

Supported projects per university

Supported projects per university

In 2012, a total of 218 projects applied to the venture kick program. The number of submissions is usually around 20 per month. Approximately 60% came from the German part of Switzerland, and 40% from the French part.

49% of the supported projects originate from the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology of Zurich and Lausanne. The remaining projects are distributed among 20 different universities, indicating that venture kick is well implanted on a national level.

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Sectors

Supported projects per sector

Supported projects per sector

The analysis of submissions by sector shows that all high-tech disciplines are represented. However, most projects can be counted in the "Information & Communication Technologies", the largest sector in 2012, followed by Electronics / Mechanics, Medtech, Biotech and Cleantech sectors. The remaining submissions are difficult to assign to a specific sector due to their diversity and interdisciplinary character.

16% of all submissions are made by women. This is remarkable even if one considers the low proportion of women among doctoral students, professors and assistants. Nevertheless, this encourages us to continue promotional efforts in favour of women pursuing a career as entrepreneurs.

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A PHILANTHROPIC INITIATIVE OF A PRIVATE CONSORTIUM

Turning scientific innovation into entrepreneurial activity and job creation is the basis of societal and economical prosperity. In the very early stages, startups bear very high risks that are neither carried by public money nor by private investors. Supporting seed stage startups fills a crucial gap and is therefore purely philanthropic.
Read more about the Foundation of Founders