August 27, 2016
Much optimism and a setback
Dear reader
Openness, experimentation, maker mentality – those were the attitudes that marked the launch of Kickstart Accelerator yesterday from the 90 start-up entrepreneurs from around the world who made it into the programme and also from the representatives of corporate partners. “Whatever you do, be radical,” Ringier CEO Marc Walder told the audience in his speech. Accordingly, it was not surprising that founders and the representatives of large companies were quick to make contact during the apéro.
One of the nine Swiss start-ups that made it on to the Kickstart Accelerator is Faitron. The company not only convinced the Kickstart jury but also investors and it closed a first seed investment round.
Also at the beginning of the week, the start-up investment platform investiere.ch completed a financing round of CHF 3.5 million. Zürcher Kantonalbank (ZKB), which is very active in the financing of young companies, participated in the round and is now a significant minority shareholder.
The participation of ZKB in investiere sparked some press coverage; Kickstart Accelerator even succeeded in winning some top foreign media reports, including the Financial Times. More international attention for Swiss start-ups is also the aim of venture leaders. This week, the 10 start-ups for the next venture leaders China programme were announced – you can meet them at an event on 8 September in Schlieren.
On 14 September, IFJ and Seca will present this year’s Top 100 Swiss Startup rankings at an exclusive event in Schlieren. The keynote speaker will be Dominik Tarolli, founder of Procedural who sold his start-up in 2011 to one of the world’s largest software companies in California and now works there.
Swiss Startup Day takes place on 24 and 25 October at the Stade de Suisse in Bern. The interest in tickets is already very high, so the number of Early Bird tickets has been increased again for start-ups. It is worth booking immediately.
Speaking of the Stade de Suisse, since the beginning of the football season the fintech solution from Swiss start-up MUUME has been in use at the games of BSC Young Boys. Fans and visitors can use the app to directly order and pay for food and drinks, which greatly shortens the queues.
Also successful on the go is Monito – formerly TawiPay – another fintech company. Monito already has 270,000 users and this week launched the first search engine for money transfer services.
In contrast, time ran out for Joiz – the social TV station has gone bankrupt. But such setbacks are always on the cards when one attempts to implement such a globally innovative concept. As the founders of Joiz show, there’s no shortage of Swiss entrepreneurs willing to take risks.
Have a good weekend.
Stefan Kyora
Managing Editor, startupticker.ch