Baby food start-up yamo has had to give up. Its demise is an example of the very narrow gap between success and failure for ambitious start-up projects.
Dear reader
There was good news from LEDCity and Fotokite this week. Both hardware start-ups secured investment, with LEDCity receiving CHF 2 million from a private investor. The start-up intends to use the new funds to grow further by integrating its energy-saving, smart lighting system into various luminaire designs from industry partners. Fotokite provides fully autonomous tethered drones for firefighting and public safety teams, and has now raised CHF 10 million to finance the scale-up phase.
Baby food start-up yamo, on the other hand, has failed to raise funds. A financing round necessary for its survival was not able to be finalised and the start-up has had to cease operations. The demise of a flagship start-up such as yamo shows how narrow the gap is between success and failure, and that the risks associated with ambitious projects aimed at turning a market upside down may lead to failure. If bankruptcies such as yamo’s ease the distinction between risk and failure, it would at least do some good and perhaps make the start-up scene more mature.
The risks are all the greater as the investment climate remains unfriendly. Young start-ups looking for smaller investments have it somewhat easier, as these are still achievable. Progile has received CHF 1.3 million for its AI-driven no-code testing platform testresults.io, while Klode attracted investors on a French TV show. And Caveo secured about half a million francs before the launch of its robo-advisor for financial planning.
Other start-ups relied on grants and foundations for funding. Openversum received a grant for CHF 500,000 from a programme run by various federal offices that promotes impact start-ups. And following the Migros Pioneer Fund, Circunis has also attracted the Seedling Foundation as a backer. Kidemis is the latest winner of Venture Kick: the start-up’s technology, which has secured CHF 150,000, transforms agricultural sidestreams into high quality nutrition for farmed seafood.
Next week I will be at the Swiss Startup Association’s Founders Day, and the following week we will attend the Swiss Biotech Day in Basel, Swissnex Day in Bern and EPFL’s Startup Champions Seed Night. I would also like to draw your attention to the Startup Weekend in St. Gallen on 26-28 April: registration is open now.
Have a good weekend.
Stefan Kyora
Editor in Chief, Startupticker.ch
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