Startupticker editor-in-chief Stefan Kyora accompanied the winners of the Swisscom Startup Challenge to Silicon Valley, and reports from the land of permanent innovation. In addition, venture capital investment is also increasing in Europe.
Dear reader
Alex Fries knows his way around Silicon Valley. For years he has been building bridges between the Californian and the Swiss start-up ecosystem with his company Alpana Ventures. Last week he talked to the winners of the Swisscom Startup Challenge in Palo Alto. One of his key messages was that the most sedulous buyers of start-ups are American corporations. For start-ups with exit ambitions, visibility in the US is therefore a must.
This is not easy, as startupticker editor-in-chief Stefan Kyora reported from the US. Rents are extremely high, and although the employees may have excellent qualifications they are not very loyal. The only solution, according to Sam Haidari, former CEO of IT company Quantenna, is high investment in both the corporate culture and the recruitment process. “The fact that founders and team members are particularly hungry for success plays a major role in Silicon Valley’s unique position,” said Heidari.
Silicon Valley is the promised land of permanent innovation, but the rest of the world is catching up and in particular the start-up location of Switzerland, as our view of various international competitions and accelerator programmes shows.
Another indication is provided by EY’s current Start-up Barometer. The total value of start-up financing in Europe increased by 62% to EUR 16.9 billion compared with the previous year. In the city ranking by investment sum, Basel, Zurich and Lausanne are among the top 20.
Companies are behind the figures and in the past week four stood out. Zurich recruiter Coople generated USD 32 million in a Series C financing round, and digital marketing agency Picstars collected CHF 2.3 million.
In addition, there were two seed rounds: 18 months after its foundation, ETH spin-off Planted Foods generated CHF 7 million, and Zug-based blockchain start-up Sibex, just a few months old, received about USD 1.8 million.
Looking ahead, the registration deadline for the Swiss Prime Site Accelerator Workshop on 3 and 4 November runs until Sunday. ‘Schweizer VCs on Stage’ takes place next Wednesday in Zurich, and Energy Startup Day will take place on Thursday at Technopark Zurich. My colleague Stefan Kyora is back from the Valley and will be present at both events.
Have a relaxing weekend.
Jost Dubacher
Editor startupticker.ch
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