Impressive ecosystem

Dear reader

This week Versant Ventures announced the launch of Matterhorn Therapeutics. The biotech start-up develops novel cancer drugs and has emerged from a collaboration between researchers at the University of Basel and the Versant Ventures office in Basel. This is the third start-up launched by Versant in Basel, following Monte Rosa Therapeutics and Bright Peak Therapeutics. And like the other two, Matterhorn is also financially well equipped – Versant has raised USD 30 million for it.

Examples such as this demonstrate the importance of a networked ecosystem in the creation of promising start-ups. Just such an ecosystem has emerged in Switzerland in recent years, where start-ups are supported by various players that focus on specific topics.

The variety of players, and their focus areas, is broad in Switzerland. This week we wrote about established organisations as well as newcomers. The Swiss Medtech Association has announced the three finalists of the Swiss Medtech Award. Our article about the First Ventures winners tells you which university projects will be funded by the initiative. Five projects have been selected for the Samsung For Impact accelerator programme. LikeMinded, a new 10-week programme that supports skilled professionals who are starting a business from scratch, announced its participants. And Dart Labs is supporting digital motion analysis start-up Vay.

I also spoke to Raphael Tobler, the new president of the Swiss Startup Association. He talks about the plans, goals and the background to the realignment of the association.

This week we reported on the finalists for the Female Innovator of the Year Award: the prize will be awarded on 27 August at the Female Innovation Forum. X.Days will take place a week earlier – this year the event will be held online from 19 to 21 August. The day before, on 18 August, the participants of the F10 accelerator programme will introduce themselves at the Online Demo Day.

I would also like to point out the deadline for the Swiss Technology Award on 21 August. Applications to the Venture Kick initiative can be made at any time.

Have a sunny weekend.
Stefan Kyora

Editor in Chief, Startupicker.ch