Venture kickers highlights: Ava, Flyability and InSphero
14.03.2017
Venture Kick was the starting point for many successful startups. Catch up with some of the best successes of 2016 and get the "kick" for your startup: Up to CHF 130'000 in pre-seed capital, access to an extended network of investors and experts, and intensive hands-on execution support at the kickers camps. This year Venture Kick will pay out CHF 3 million in total to kick breakthrough idea-stage startup projects and bring Swiss science to global markets. Register all year round on www.venturekick.ch/register.
Ava: USD 10 million to boost women’s chances to conceive
The 2015 Venture Kick winner will use the funds to further develop its connected fertility bracelet, scale up production to meet consumer demand, and advance the company’s research and objective to enhance women’s health. In 2015, Ava had opened an office in San Francisco. It is now in a phase of expansion into international markets including European countries. In 2016, Ava also moved from rank No. 94 to rank No. 6 in the TOP100 Swiss Startups ranking.
Flyability raises USD 4.3 million to build safer drones
The 2015 Venture Kick winner Flyability has proven that drones are able to reach inaccessible places which are too dangerous or costly to be accessed by humans. In July 2016, the NCCR Robotics spin-off secured USD 4.3 million to ramp up production, meet the growing demand in target and new markets such as search & rescue and security, and prepare for the future. In September, Flyability was also elected 4th best Swiss startup by the TOP100 Swiss Startups Award.
InSphero: Reduce the use of animal testing in research
Early October 2016, InSphero, the leading supplier of easy-to-use solutions for production, culture, and assessment of organotypic 3D cell culture models, met with members of the United States House of Representatives to discuss advances in in vitro technologies which help to reduce the use of animals in research. A month later, the 2009 Venture Kick finalist won the Global 3Rs Award, which recognizes significant innovative contributions toward the advancement of ethical science through the 3Rs of animal research: refinement, replacement, or reduction of animal use.
