Startups Raise Money Like Never Before
30.01.2019
2.5 billion Swiss francs – that’s the amount of money the 600 spin-off projects supported by Venture Kick have raised since 2007. Only last year 687 million francs were added by the startups - a 49 percent increase compared to 2017 – and a record for the Venture Kick initiative.
 Venture Kick celebrated a record 2018
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Juries of investors, industry experts and successful entrepreneurs selected 70 new projects in 2018 to enter Venture Kick’s 9-month support program and allocated 3.24 million francs to the innovative startup projects, which originated from all Switzerland’s major universities.
Between its launch in 2007 and the end of 2018, Venture Kick has provided a total of 24.9 million francs in support to 600 spin-off projects from Swiss universities, thanks to the philanthropic engagement of private donors. This has triggered 2.5 billion francs of further investment into these startups, the majority of which equity and acquisitions, complemented by grants, loans and awards.
Eleven Venture Kick startups raised a combined 221 million francs, in rounds each exceeding 10 million:
Amal Therapeutics SA raised 33.2-million francs to bring its colorectal-cancer vaccine closer to clinical trials. Amal’s vaccines, which stimulate the body’s own immune system to kill cancerous cells, result from more than 13 years of research by founder and chief executive Madiha Derouazi.
Climeworks AG raised 30.5 million francs. The company filters carbon dioxide from air, which can then be stored underground in basalt or sold as commercial carbon gas.
Scandit AG raised $30 million from investors including GV and NGP Capital, initials that camouflage the fact they represent the venture capital units of tech industry titans Google and Nokia. Ava AG raised $30 million for fertility sensor bracelets that garnered media attention from the New York Times.
Abionic SA raised 20 million francs to start clinical trials of its sepsis diagnostic device.
Kandou Bus SA raised 15 million francs to accelerate commercialization of its high-speed computer chip.
Andrew Alliance SA raised $14 million from life science enterprises for its table-top pipetting robot.
Pristem SA raised $14 million for its accessible radiology diagnostics solution.
Beekeeper AG raised $13 million to expand its Berlin office and improve its digital workplace app.
Flyability SA raised $11 million to continue the drone-maker's explosive growth.
InSphero AG raised $10 million to bring the drug discovery platform’s total financing to date to $35 million.
Venture Kick has ambitious goals for 2019 and beyond, recently improving its support model to increase the amount invested in Swiss startup projects by 36 percent, to 4.35 million francs this year.
“The new model supports our ‘Mission 2027’. Our target is to create a portfolio of 1,000 high-tech startups in Switzerland, generating 15,000 jobs, with total revenue exceeding 2.7 billion francs,” said Beat Schillig Venture Kick’s co-managing director.