Celebrating 15 Years of Venture Kick
30.11.2022
On November 17, Venture Kick's 15th anniversary was celebrated with a special event at the Startup Space in Schlieren. The event highlighted the achievements of Venture Kick’s alumni, as well as the success of its donors, supporters, and strategy board in their mission to enrich and energize Swiss entrepreneurship.
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On Thursday evening, guests were welcomed at the Startup Space in Schlieren for a night of festivities. The event began with the Kicker’s World exhibit, which showcased the solutions created by Venture Kick alumni to tackle some of today’s most pressing issues, including climate change, food insecurity, and automation.
The exhibit highlighted the startups and innovators in four sections:- The Future of Work with Technis, Scandit, MOBBOT, Flyability, and Auxivo
- The Future of Food with AgroSustain, AI Retail Systems, QualySense, Vatorex, and Yasai
- Longevity with Akina, Emovo Care, MaxWell Biosystems, and Sleepiz
- Unlimited Energy with Enerdrape, Perovskia Solar, SmartHelio, SoHHytec, and UniSieve
The exhibit also provided guests with the answers to the Kicker's Challenge, a quiz about Venture Kick's alumni and their innovations. The winner, i.e. first person to provide all the right answers, was announced later in the evening. When it came time to move to the first floor, the guests were ushered to the first floor by Flyability drone.
15 Voices
The evening was devoted to the people who made Venture Kick what it is today and those who made the most of what Venture Kick has to offer. Fifteen of Venture Kick’s jury members, donors, strategy board members, and alumni took to the stage to talk about what Venture Kick has meant to them, what has been achieved together, and what it means to the future of the Swiss startup ecosystem.
Contributing to this moment were:- Dr. Pascale Vonmont, Strategy Board Member, CEO Gerbert Rüf Stiftung
- Manuel Aschwanden, CEO Optotune
- Dr. Suzanne Avedik, Strategy Board Member, Management Ernst Göhner Stiftung
- Philip Bodmer, Strategy Board Member, CEO Bodmer & Partner Consultants
- Dr. Michael Sidler, Founding Partner Redalpine
- Prof. Dr. Elgar Fleisch, ETH Zurich
- Dr. Bettina Ernst, Founder & CEO Preclin Biosystems
- Roger Wüthrich-Hasenböhler, Chief Digital Officer Swisscom Group
- Sandra Tobler, Founder & CEO Futurae Technologies, Kick Foundation Board Member
- Wulf Glatz, Founder and CEO CORE/greenTEG AG
- Dr. Nanja Strecker, Managing Director ESA BIC Switzerland
- Gregory Hitz, Co-Founder & CEO SevenSense
- Olga Dubey, Co-Founder & CEO AgroSustain
- Dr. Jan Lichtenberg, Strategy Board Member, CEO of InSphero AG
- Dr. Igor Fisch, Co-Founder & CEO Selexis
Igor Fisch, who was on the Venture Kick strategy board since its inception in 2007 and stepped down in 2021, was gifted with a signature red vest and, on a more whimsical note, a soccer ball in honor of the years of hard work and dedication to Venture Kick.
Dinner in a lively atmosphere, enjoying dishes provided by food startups and Venture Kick alumni luya, Planted, Alpenhirt, Yasai, and Nectariss.
Looking Ahead
After dinner, Beat Schillig and Jordi Montserrat took to the stage to speak to their vision for the initiative’s future. As Beat said: "By the time Venture Kick’s 20th anniversary comes around, we want to be celebrating a portfolio of 1,000 growing high-tech companies, creating at least 20,000 jobs and raising CHF 12 billion in total."
The anniversary cake was delivered by a very special guest: SevenSense the robot, a special loan from SevenSense Robotics. Dessert and a special performance by 77 Bombay Street were followed by the announcement of the winner of the Kicker’s Challenge, who was rewarded with a bottle of champagne: Thomas Billeter.
To round off the celebration, Pascale Vonmont, Suzanne Avedik, Jordi Montserrat, and Beat Schillig delivered closing words and premier the Venture Kick Anniversary video.
