CHF 1,347,000,000 for Swiss startups
25.01.2017
1,347 billion Swiss francs. This is the enormous amount of capital, which the 303 startup companies of Venture Kick were able to attract as follow-on financing in order to build the future pillars of the Swiss economy. In total, they already represent 3,881 jobs. These numbers show the impact of the fully private initiative Venture Kick launched in 2007. Every month, Venture Kick selects new startup ideas and supports them with up to CHF 130,000 in start capital, in addition to mentoring and introductions to next round investors. In 2017, Venture Kick will pay out another CHF 3,000,000 to 114 idea-stage startup projects.
 Download the annual report of Venture Kick 2016
|
 |
Find innovative minds at Swiss universities and kick them out of the lab in order for them to commercialize their patents and prototypes. Turn scientists into entrepreneurs and help them create businesses and jobs. This was the original idea of Venture Kick in 2007, and it still is. Meanwhile, Venture Kick has proven its supporting process and growing success. The philanthropic initiative initially supported by the foundations Gebert Rüf Stiftung and Ernst Göhner Stiftung has grown into a consortium of donors with more supporting foundations and well-known philanthropists such as André Hoffmann, Hansjörg Wyss and Martin Haefner. In 2016, Venture Kick was selected as a program line of digitalswitzerland’s venture and growth program, which paved the way to get Swisscom and Engagement Migros as new partners, both members of digitalswitzerland.
Looking for strong partners to support more startup projects
In addition, Venture Kick was happy to announce a partnership with the new Business Incubation Centre of the European Space Agency in Switzerland supporting startups in the field of space technologies and their applications. With this, the innovations of Swiss startups will not only conquer the globe, but also space. However, there is still a lot of untapped potential in terms of great research, which can be converted into businesses and jobs. The growing number of applications from researchers who request support from Venture Kick show it. To cope with this, Venture Kick is looking for additional donations in the range of CHF 4 million to achieve its vision of 10,000 jobs provided by 500 growing high-tech startups.
Strong growing impact in 2016
The 2016 Venture Kick annual report shows, that Venture Kick startups are definitely on the rise: Since 2007, 463 spin-off projects from more than 20 Swiss universities received CHF 18,650,000 in funding from Venture Kick.This resulted in 303 active companies and 3,881 active and highly qualified jobs. Moreover, Venture Kick startups attracted a total investment of CHF 1,347,000,000. Only in 2016, the startups raised CHF 451 million. The trend keeps going strong: In the first days of January, the two Venture Kick alumni Advanon and Scandit closed financing rounds worth CHF 21 million in total already.
Position Switzerland as a leading innovation hub in the world
The amazing successes of Swiss startups such as Climeworks, Flyability, InSphero, MindMaze or QualySense on global markets help to position Switzerland as a leading innovation hub in the world.
The actual TOP 100 Swiss Startups ranking is a proof of the innovation power of Switzerland. Venture Kick contributes to this by counting 54 alumni on the list. And there is more to come: In 2017, Venture Kick will pay out another CHF 3 million to founders with breakthrough business ideas.
Download the Annual Report 2016 of Venture Kick
Read about the success stories and detailed statistics of Venture Kick and the supported startups in the 2016 Venture Kick annual report.
Some highlights:
- Faceshift was acquired by Apple
- MindMaze became Venture Kick’s “first unicorn” (a startup with a valuation above 1 billion USD)
- G-Therapeutics raised 36 million, Kandou Bus 15 million and Ava 10 million
- QualySense counts industry leaders as customers and raised more than 6 million in total
- Climeworks presented at the COP22 Conference and raised more than 10 million in total
About Venture Kick
Venture Kick does not only provide up to CHF 130’000 to seed stage startups. It also offers them a structured entrepreneurial path towards building a winning new venture. New entrepreneurs present in front of experts at each stage to obtain funding. On top, they receive direct feedback and learn about execution in building a startup at the kickers camps. They get access to a broad network of experienced entrepreneurs and investors and learn how to win customers and convince investors more rapidly.
Venture Kick is a highly competitive program. Each month, eight projects get the chance to present themselves to a jury. The four most promising then receive CHF 10.000 and qualify for the second round held three months later, where the two best teams receive another CHF 20.000 each. In the third and final round, taking place six months later, the winner gets CHF 100.000.
The Venture Kick Foundation is supported by Gebert Rüf Stiftung, Ernst Göhner Stiftung, Fondation Lombard Odier, Debiopharm Group, Fondation Pro Techno, Rising Tide Foundation, European Space Agency, Engagement Migros, Swisscom, André Hoffmann, Hansjörg Wyss and Martin Haefner.