Switzerland is famous for its beautiful landscapes with breath-taking mountains and lakes. But did you know that last year Switzerland was ranked the most innovative economy in the world? The country is also home to a thriving startup scene with over +47 accelerators and incubators, +20 investment funds, +18 events and networking organizations, and many other ecosystem players. Operating in various sectors, Swiss startups are mainly prominent in fintech and blockchain, with the Zug region having even gained the nickname “Crypto Valley.” However, in addition to finance, Switzerland is at the forefront of innovation in multiple sectors – from foodtech to banking.
Find below a list of 10 super promising Swiss startups to look out for in 2021 – across sectors like fintech, medtech, and robotics – all founded within the past 3 years, with fast growing teams, and showing promising signals like having just raised funding:
SEBA Bank – Launched in 2018 and headquartered in Zug, SEBA Bank is a pioneer in the financial industry, providing a seamless, secure, and easy-to-use bridge between digital and traditional assets. The company offers an array of solutions – from digital investment to corporate finance and banking. Financially backed with over €18.5 million in 2020, in a Series B funding round, Seba Bank aims to boost product offerings and accelerate growth and international expansion.
CasperLabs – This startup from Zug (founded in 2018) is an open-source blockchain company developing the blockchain platform to remove the barriers that prevent mainstream blockchain adoption. CasperLabs is building the first live pure Proof-of-Stake (PoS) CBC-Casper blockchain designed for real-world applications without sacrificing usability, cost, decentralization, or security. In 2020, the startup landed €12 million to propel the network forward and make a long-lasting impact.
Archlet – The winner of the START acceleration programme and the ProcureCon Best Procurement Tech Award in 2019, Archlet is an AI-based strategic sourcing platform dedicated to supporting buyers in their sourcing processes and empowering them to include non-cost components such as sustainability, risk, or diversity scores into the bid analysis and award decision. Founded in 2019 by ETH Zürich alumni Jakob Manz, Lukas Wawrla, and Tim Grunow, the startup completed a €2.3 million seed round to boost its growth and scale up the customer base in January 2021.
Aktiia – Headquartered in Neuchatel, Aktiia is reshaping high blood pressure prevention tools with its proprietary cuffless optical Blood Pressure Monitoring technology (oBPM). Founded in 2018 by Mattia Bertschi (CEO) and Josep Solà (CTO), the startup became the first company to obtain regulatory approval to sell a wearable bracelet that measures blood pressure in the European Economic Area, the UK, Australia, and Canada. In March 2020, Aktiia scored €5.5 million in its second funding round.
Decentriq – This Zurich-based startup specializes in solving the challenges of sharing and collaborating with the most sensitive data without the risk of exposure. The underlying technology is based on confidential computing, which ensures that all data passed through is entirely secure and encrypted end-to-end. Decentriq raised a seed round amounting to €3.2 million from btov Partners, Paladin Capital Group, and Atlantic Labs in 2020 to drive international growth and expand its client base.
DIA Association – Founded in 2018, this Zug-based startup is a data platform focused on the decentralized finance (DeFi) space. The company provides open-source access to crowd-verified financial data, enabling a fair and symmetric financial ecosystem, and plans to become a fully decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) in the next five years. Financially backed with €12.3 million secured in 2020, DIA intends to develop a service that will provide community-sourced and validated financial data for DeFi.
Voliro Airborne Robotics – Voliro develops a highly advanced flying robot for safe and efficient work at height. Using its unique 360° drone design, the robot can achieve robust and reliable interaction with the environment and be equipped with various payloads. Founded in 2019 as a spin-off from ETH Zurich, in 2020, the startup raised a €1.9 million seed round led by Alpana Ventures, with participation from BackBone Ventures, Zürcher Kantonalbank, and a group of Swiss Angels to further develop its advanced flying inspection robots.
Planted – This foodtech startup aims to revolutionize the meat market. Using the protein and fibers of yellow split peas, Planted creates nutritious, healthy, and cruelty-free plant-based meat, which mimics traditional animal meat’s taste, texture, and mouthfeel. Launched in 2019, the Zurich-based startup already boasts partnerships in casual eateries and fine dining, as well as a team of +46 employees. Financially backed with around €5 million in August 2020, Planted recently launched its plant-based kebab skewer, a revolutionary step for alternative protein consumption
Neon – This Zurich-based startup is one of the first independent Swiss challenger banks. Founded in 2017, with its simple, user-friendly, and secure account app solution for all smartphones, Neon reached the 30,000 customer mark only one year after the app went live. In 2020, the startup landed €4.6 million from existing and new investors to speed up its growth.
Alpian – Carouge-based fintech startup Alpian is pioneering a digital experience combining everyday banking services, a personal wealth management offering, and tailored investment products – all within an easy-to-access app. Founded in 2019, the company aims to create an innovative new banking offering tailored to the affluent mass population. In 2020, the startup secured €11.5 million Series A funding to accelerate its growth and pursue its ambitions to receive a full banking license from the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA), launching as a fully licensed digital affluent bank in 2021.
By the way: If you’re a corporate or investor looking for exciting startups in a specific market for a potential investment or acquisition, check out our Startup Sourcing Service!