Bühler advances its commitment to start-ups

Founded as a Swiss family business and now a global leader in industrial process technologies and solutions, Bühler executes a state-of-the-art innovation management with collaborative innovation as its core. Bühler has partnerships with universities all over the world and drives innovation with its employees as well as customers and suppliers The result are unique solutions tackling global challenges such as the growing world population and the need for food safety and security. “We are interested in generating fruitful exchanges with young entrepreneurs, getting them involved in our cause and giving them every chance to be successful in the future”, explained Ian Roberts.

Bühler has joined MassChallenge as a Diamond sponsor. The partnership forms a new pillar in the MassChallenge International Bridge program, a program designed to exchange knowledge and best practices between MassChallenge and its partners in some of the world's most powerful startup ecosystems. With the support of regional partners, Bühler and MassChallenge plan to engage Switzerland’s dynamic community of entrepreneurs by inviting Swiss startups to apply to the 2015 accelerator program before the April 1 deadline.

A non-profit organization, MassChallenge is funded by corporate, public and foundation partners to fund promising startups of all industries. To date, more than 600 companies supported by MassChallenge alumni have raised over USD 706 million in funding generated USD 404 million in revenue and created 4,800 jobs.

“We are very happy to begin collaboration with MassChallenge in Boston and London. In the future, we plan to center our efforts in our home country Switzerland”, said Bühler CTO Ian Roberts. “MassChallenge's no-equity model to support entrepreneurs at scale has a proven track record. Furthermore, we are convinced that MassChallenge will provide elements such as entrepreneurial spirit, selectivity and a sense of urgency that can fortify and boost the extraordinary Swiss talent base and fuel further growth in Swiss startups.”

Bühler’s support of MassChallenge in the context of the Bridge program combines the best of these two organizations. “Bühler’s excellent combination of global leadership, solid performance and outstanding innovation will undoubtedly strengthen our global network,” said MassChallenge Founder and CEO John Harthorne. “We hope this partnership will encourage even more Swiss startups to engage with our growing global community.”

“The partnership between MassChallenge and Bühler is a symbol of the strong and steadily growing collaboration between the U.S. and Switzerland in the area of innovation,” said Suzan G. LeVine, U.S. Ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein. “As a leading U.S. accelerator with global reach, MassChallenge offers outstanding opportunities for start-ups to learn how to grow under the guidance of an impressive group of partners, now even more impressive with Bühler added to the roster. There have already been some fantastic Swiss success stories coming out of MassChallenge – I encourage Swiss entrepreneurs to apply and become part of this network.”

Last month, MassChallenge launched a new UK program in London which will replicate the successful accelerator model from Boston. With programs now in Boston, Israel and the UK, MassChallenge continues to work toward delivering on its Clinton Global Initiative commitment to expand to ten locations in the next five years.

During the month of March, MassChallenge is holding a series of info sessions in Switzerland in order to encourage Swiss entrepreneurs to apply to MassChallenge. Application period ends April 1, 2015. Entrepreneurs should apply at http://masschallenge.org/apply.