Money is not enough

Dear reader

The wave of summer financings continues. In the past two weeks, a lot of money has flowed into Swiss start-ups, and this week we reported on more than seven financings. Not only is the high number remarkable, but the start-ups have selected investors that will not only provide them with the necessary funds for further growth, but also support them. Donors that are unable to offer this additional benefit are not welcomed.

Veezoo won five experienced business angels as investors, Get Local attracted two private investors and Julius Baer joined fintech company Nectar Financial. Biovotion and Biognosys were able to expand their respective Series A and Series C rounds, and start-up Alver from western Switzerland had a crowdfunding round.

Finally, the Swiss Startup Factory announced an investment round for its newly established umbrella company Swiss Startup Group, from which some money will flow into start-ups. The group’s goal is ambitious: it wants to become the most important early stage investor in Switzerland.

With the increasing maturity of the Swiss start-up scene, not only are demands on investors rising, but also those on start-ups. So after the first round of the Bern be-advanced Challenge, only one start-up managed to go straight into the programme’s second round: Caru.

The summer break had little discernible effect this week and activities in the start-up scene will continue in the coming weeks. On 2 August, an event takes place at the University of Bern with a very special speaker: Thomas Zurbuchen, head of NASA Science Missions. Since the astrophysicist has set up an entrepreneurship programme at a US university, his lecture is likely to be highly interesting to start-ups.

I would like to highlight the second Female Founder Summit: start-ups can now apply for a pitch – and the same applies to the Investor Summit Lichtenstein.

In addition, you can vote for the first audience prize of the Top 100 Swiss Startup Awards and also choose the best venture kick winners of the last 10 years.

Have a good weekend.
Stefan Kyora

Editor in Chief, Startupticker.ch