Great opportunity for start-ups
This year saw 42 Swiss firms make it onto the TOP 100 Swiss Startup Award list for the first time, and at the Award Night on September 7 they were able to showcase themselves to the investor community. A place in the rankings provides a great opportunity for companies seeking capital, because it confirms that they have tremendous potential in the market place.
Startups cannot put themselves forward: Only those that attract the attention of investors and are nominated have an opportunity to be included in the rankings. A prerequisite is that companies are less than five years old. Investors choose their top 100 out of all 100,000 new firms set up over the last five years. A company can theoretically appear in the list up to five times before being eliminated again due to age. "However, there is no such thing as automatic participation for firms that are already on the list," says Stefan Steiner, Co-Managing Director of Venturelab and organizer of the event. "Year after year they need to reconvince the 100 members of the jury."
The 2022 winners
Place 1: Yokoy – the Fintech start-up offers expenses and expenditure management for medium-sized and large companies.
Place 2: Planted Foods – the Zurich start-up revolutionizes the food industry by producing plant proteins from 100% animal-free ingredients.
Place 3: Ledgy – provides an equity management platform that helps high-growth companies manage their investors.
International investors are looking at start-ups in Switzerland
The TOP 100 Swiss Startup Award has existed since 2011. Since then, the event has become bigger and attracted international attention. The prize-winning start-ups have accumulated a total of 11.1 billion Swiss francs in investor capital and have already created 16,149 jobs. This has not escaped the attention of international investors from Silicon Valley, Boston, and China, who attend the TOP 100 Swiss Investor Summit in order to invest in the most promising startups.
The successes of the TOP 100 start-ups in Switzerland are impressive
As well as an investor vote there has also been a public vote for the last four years. This too can be a door-opener for startups. Fact is, they become familiar to potential future customers. "That's exciting for all those startups that are not primarily on the hunt for capital," says Stefan Steiner. This year ten startups – one per sector – were selected.
512
Number of start-ups that have reached the top 100
8
Number of start-ups that have gone public
16,149
Number of jobs created
CHF 11.1 billion
Capital raised
Credit Suisse supports start-ups
Credit Suisse has supported the TOP 100 Swiss Startup Award as partner since launch. It also organizes regional events with selected start-ups and acts as an intermediary with investors. Through Credit Suisse Entrepreneur Capital Ltd., it also invests in promising Swiss start-ups itself. As the Bank for Entrepreneurs, Credit Suisse helps young companies with incorporation and offers them appropriate banking solutions.
Start-ups from Switzerland are internationally competitive
Major international interest in the event shows that the Swiss startup scene can easily compete with Silicon Valley and others. "We have no reason to hide," says Stefan Steiner. Quality levels are high on the technical front in particular, thanks to ETH Zurich and EPFL Lausanne. The startups from these institutions are much in demand, and have often been acquired by tech giants such as Apple and Facebook.
The innovative skills of young Swiss entrepreneurs are also on show in other sectors. Among this year's TOP 100 startups are firms in the healthcare, biotechnology, life sciences, medical technology, cleantech, drones, and fintech sectors. Although startups from Zurich and Lausanne are over-represented, entrepreneurs from the whole of Switzerland also feature on the list.