Gebert Rüf Stiftung restructures the First Ventures program

The Gebert Rüf Stiftung launched the First Ventures Program to cultivate a culture of science entrepreneurship among bachelor’s and master's students at universities of applied sciences in Switzerland by empowering them to launch a spinoff after graduating. During a maximum of 18 months, the program offers financial support of CHF 150,000 for each business project, in addition to a tailored training program, allowing aspiring entrepreneurs to transform their ideas into innovative products and services. Since 2018, “First Ventures” has supported 40 projects with a total of CHF 5.68 million, of which 23 have already launched their businesses.

As of February 2024, the program will follow a new structure with three funding options:

• PROOF - Startup projects in the early phase can apply for smaller grants of up to CHF 25,000 to prove the viability of their ideas.
• VALIDATE - Startups will receive up to CHF 50,000 to validate their business case. The evaluation and decision phase will take place in only one month.
• EXECUTE - in this stage, the large ticket of CHF 150,000 will remain unchanged. The individual funding amounts can be cumulated, but up to a maximum of CHF 150,000 per project.

Under the new format, selected projects will also have the opportunity to reserve a voucher worth a maximum of 10% of the total budget for services within and outside the university. These adjustments will take effect on February 1, 2024. The next submission deadlines for the next calendar year are 1 February, 1 May, 1 September, and 1 December.

“With the new funding concept, “First Ventures” is positioning itself even more clearly than before in the already established funding chain “First Ventures” – BRIDGE PoC – Venture Kick,” said Marco Vencato, Deputy Director at Gebert Rüf Stiftung. “Up to now, many projects have been rejected because they are still at too early a stage for funding of CHF 150,000. This means that "First Ventures" cannot fully capitalise on some of the potential and misses out on promising project ideas in the pipeline in the long term. The aim of the new funding strategy is also to address those start-up projects that are in an early phase - especially at the Bachelor level - and, therefore do not yet qualify for a funding budget of CHF 150,000 through lower entry contributions. This way, potential UAS startup founders can apply directly for any stage depending on their specific needs,” he added.

RAN