Celebrity support

Dear reader

Bill Gates’ investment fund Breakthrough Energy Ventures Europe (BEV-E) has invested in Bloom Renewables. It’s remarkable not only that the EPFL spin-off was able to attract this investor, but also that it happened in the seed round. This demonstrates the quality of the start-up, which will use its technology to convert plant waste products into valuable chemical products, and also shows that Switzerland as a deep-tech location is on the radar of major financiers.

Carvolution has won a prominent Swiss entrepreneur as an investor. Francisco Fernandez, founder of fintech company Avaloq, which was recently sold to NEC for CHF 2 billion, joined the car subscription company with Ringier Digital Ventures. The financing round brought in a total of CHF 15 million.

There was also support from politics: federal councillor Simonetta Sommaruga inaugurated a solar thermal power plant in Geneva yesterday, the panels of which come from TVP Solar. And at Bug Bounty Switzerland, Florian Schütz – the Swiss ‘Mr Cyber’ – sits on the Advisory Board: Schütz is the federal delegate for cybersecurity.

The just launched kickfund combines support for the ecosystem and investment in start-ups in a unique way – the VC fund plans to invest in the best deeptech start-ups from Venture Kick. The partnership with Venture Kick enables competitive returns for investors and also generates additional funds for the philanthropic initiative Venture Kick. Investors have already pledged over CHF 50 million, and the first investment should be made before the summer.

Speaking of Venture Kick, this week condenZero secured CHF 150,000 from the initiative. The start-up’s products allow more efficient experiments at very low temperatures.

Two new support projects were announced this week: in Geneva, Fongit and canton Geneva have created a new funding instrument for innovations in sustainable development. And the successful SaaS start-up Beekeeper has created its own accelerator programme for which start-ups can now apply.

The deadlines for some initiatives and awards are pending: our calendar provides an overview. I would also like to mention the IFZ FinTech Conference on Wednesday, where current challenges will be discussed and the new fintech study presented.

Have a sunny weekend.
Stefan Kyora

Editor in Chief, Startupticker.ch