Startups developing next-gen fusion power, an innovative shopping platform, AI-driven robots for industrial inspections, safer drugs for patients, wheelchairs with steering-by-leaning each get CHF 10,000

Firefly Fusion: Making fusion happen
Fusion, the energy source of the sun and stars, holds the unique potential to be a safe, clean, and reliable part of humanity’s solution to climate change. To bring fusion to the electrical grid, Firefly Fusion begins from the pinnacle of mainstream academic research – the tokamak. After decades of exponential improvement, tokamaks are just one step away from demonstrating power plant-level performance and hundreds of megawatts of fusion power.
To achieve this, Firefly Fusion will take an existing mature design, implement several novel technical innovations, and build it quickly in Europe. Based on this breakthrough tokamak, Firefly Fusion will design fusion reactors and control systems to license electric utilities. Firefly Fusion is led by Dr. Rustem Ospanov. Rustem is an experimental physicist with 18 years of impactful research involvement in large cutting-edge projects at CERN and Fermilab. He holds an entrepreneurship MBA from EDHEC, which focuses on the nascent fusion industry.
The Venture Kick funds will be used for computational analysis to further develop the design of Firefly’s breakthrough tokamak.

JOSEPHA : a centralized shopping platform with all product information
Relevant information about products is scattered across the internet. Consumers waste hours jumping between websites to compare prices, read reviews, watch tutorial videos, and gather product information to find the best product for them. Current search engines and comparison platforms fail to bring everything together in one place, leaving users frustrated by fragmented data and time-consuming searches.
JOSEPHA was founded by Dr. Silvan Weder and Josef Gitterle, who bring together years of experience in AI and commerce. Their shopping platform aggregates all product-related information and makes it interactively accessible, saving consumers valuable time with every purchase. Josepha is a shopping platform that centralizes all product information (reviews, offers, tutorial videos, and more) and makes this product information interactively accessible to consumers. The e-commerce market is vast, with over 27 billion product searches per month globally. JOSEPHA disrupts this space by providing the platform where all your shopping happens.
JOSEPHA will use the Venture Kick Stage 1 funds to further develop its product discovery feature, and enhance user acquisition through organic social media strategies. These efforts will accelerate its growth in the DACH region.

RoBoa: Revolutionizing confined spaces navigation, inspection, and rescue
Industrial inspections often require people to enter hazardous environments, while existing solutions struggle in winding, sharp, or slippery conditions.
RoBoa overcomes these limitations with its cutting-edge, snake-like robot, which uses growing-based locomotion to go where humans and other robots cannot. With exceptional manoeuvrability, RoBoa autonomously navigates and senses its environment, gathering vital maintenance data to reduce costly downtime and improve safety. Founded by ETH Zurich engineers, composed of Alexander Kübler, Betim Djambazi, Nicolas Aymon, and Pascal Auf der Maur, RoBoa is set to revolutionize the inspection of process pipes, sewers, and tanks — making operations safer and more efficient. Beyond industry, RoBoa’s versatility also extends to search and rescue, where it can locate and assist victims trapped under debris, for example after earthquakes.
RoBoa will use the funding to support our prototyping and pilot testing as well as for marketing to engage with new customers. 

TransHeps: Safer drugs for patients by DILI causality assessments
Drug-induced liver injury (DILI) is an acute form of liver injury caused by drug intake. Its most severe form is idiosyncratic DILI (iDILI). iDILI is a showstopper for clinical drug development and can lead to the withdrawal of approved drugs for which drug developers invested 1-3 Bn USD. 
The TransHeps solution is an iDILI causality assessment for clinical studies using the patented MetaHeps technology to show which drug or substance combination in specific patients leads to iDILI. 
The founding team has academic and industrial backgrounds, from drug development in big pharma to small startup companies, bench scientists, regulatory, and management. The team has an impressive academic and industrial global network. The market size is estimated at USD 28.5 B and consists of 2 segments: Services & Test Kits for drug developers, and Medical Care Kits for consumers.
They will use the first Venture Kick funds to improve their website and corporate design, expand business development, and ensure solid patent rights worldwide for the core technology MetaHeps.

Versive: Moving Paradigms in Wheelchairs with Steering-by-Leaning
Manual wheelchair users expend up to 1/3 of their energy on one-handed braking just to maintain direction while moving forward. This method is inefficient, frustrating, and poses significant health risks.
Versive's steering-by-leaning technology transforms wheelchair navigation much like carving revolutionized skiing. It enables users to control direction without braking, using intuitive upper-body movements. By leaning to one side, users turn to that side; sitting upright keeps them moving straight. The result is a more efficient, enjoyable, and natural experience.
Versive originated from ETH Zürich, founded by Dr. Reto Togni and Stefan Villiger. Their combined expertise in movement science, design, and engineering is dedicated to revolutionizing manual mobility for over 80 million users worldwide.
The Venture Kick funding will accelerate product development towards finalization and help establish a strong, recognizable brand.