Zurich – 2.5 billion francs have been collected by the 600 spin-off projects sponsored by Venture Kick since 2007. In the past year alone, 687 million francs of investment were added – an increase of 49 percent over 2017 – and a record for the venture kick initiative.
The Jury Pool, comprised of investors, industry experts and successful entrepreneurs, selected 70 new projects for Venture Kick’s 9-month funding program in 2018. The innovative startup projects, which come from all the major Swiss universities, were supported with CHF 3.24 million.
The 11 largest rounds of financing last year alone contributed 221 million francs to the record result:
Amal Therapeutics SA has raised CHF 33.2 million to bring its colorectal cancer vaccine closer to clinical trials. Amal’s vaccines, which stimulate the body’s immune system to kill cancer cells, are the result of more than 13 years of research by founder and CEO Madiha Derouazi.
The company filters carbon dioxide from the air, which can be stored underground in basalt or sold as commercial carbon gas.
Scandit AG has raised $ 30 million from investors such as GV and NGP Capital, behind the initials hide no less than the venture capital companies of the tech giants Google and Nokia.
Ava AG raised $ 30 million for fertility wristband bracelets, which even caused a stir at the New York Times. Abionic SA has raised 20 million francs to begin clinical trials with its sepsis diagnostic device. Kandou Bus SA recruited 15 million francs to accelerate the commercialization of its high-speed computer chip.
Andrew Alliance SA has received $ 14 million from life science companies for its table-top pipetting robot. Beekeeper AG has raised $ 13 million to expand its Berlin office and improve its digital workplace application. Flyability SA raised another $ 11 million to continue the rapid growth of the drone manufacturer.
InSphero AG has raised $ 10 million and has increased the total funding of the drug discovery platform to $ 35 million.
Venture Kick has set ambitious goals for 2019 and beyond and has recently improved its support model to increase investment in Swiss startup projects by 36 percent to 4.35 million Swiss francs.
“The new model supports our 2027 mission. Our goal is to create a portfolio of 1’000 high-tech startups in Switzerland, generating 15’000 jobs and generating over CHF 2.7 billion in total revenue,” says Beat Schillig, co-managing director of Venture Kick.