These are the winners of the Swisscom StartUp Challenge 2018

Since the launch of the StartUp Challenge in 2013, over 851 young companies have applied. For this year's edition, over 238 applications have been received, which represents a new record number of participants. The applicants come from the fields of ICT, cloud services, fintech, artificial intelligence, IOT, robotics, digital marketing and cyber security, among others. The top ten pitched to a panel of experts on Tuesday, August 14, 2018. The jury consisted of Roger Wüthrich-Hasenböhler (Chief Digital Officer Swisscom), Carole Ackermann (Investor and President Business Angels Switzerland, Lukas Weder (Founder EAT.ch) and Beat Schillig (Managing Director of the program partner venturelab).

Tailored mentoring program in Silicon Valley

With a convincing business model, team spirit and determination, the five winners scored points with the jury: AAAccell, Dotphoton, Exeon Analytics, Sentifi and ROVENSO have secured participation in the one-week Business Acceleration Program in Silicon Valley. There, they will learn from the personal experiences of top entrepreneurs and venture capitalists and further develop their marketing and sales skills. In addition, the young companies have the chance to win Swisscom for a cooperation or an investment. The start-ups will embark on their journey on October 21, 2018.

Startups from a wide range of sectors

The award-winning young companies come from a wide variety of fields. AAAccell (https://aaaccell.ch/), for example, is a spin-off company of the University of Zurich. The team consists of two former bank CEOs, eleven professors and various PhD/Master students from the University of Zurich, ETH and Columbia University New York, among others. The company brings together academic excellence, Artificial Intelligence and the power of algorithms to develop high-tech software solutions for the financial industry, specifically for the field of asset and risk management, based on the latest scientific findings.

Dotphoton (http://www.dotphoton.com/) is a quantum-inspired method for compressing raw image data for professional applications. It makes raw image data up to 10 times smaller while maintaining quality. This saves time and money when storing, transferring and analyzing images. Dotphoton says it is ushering in the next generation of high-quality imaging and processing solutions, in the fields of photography, cinema, AI, biomedical and aerospace.

Exeon Analytics (https://www.exeon.ch/) combats advanced cyber attacks using award-winning algorithms. It often takes months, if not years, to detect data leaks because they are hidden among millions of regular user activities. ExeonTrace security analytics and visualization software allows organizations to better understand their network traffic and detect hidden cyber attacks and data breaches.

Sentifi (https://sentifi.com/) provides financially relevant crowd intelligence. This company's solutions garner more than 180 million views per month and are used by the world's leading financial services firms to gain unique insights into more than 50,000 traded companies, currencies, and commodities and stay up-to-date on the events that affect them. Sentifi uses machine learning to rank more than 14 million financial influencers.

ROVENSO (http://www.rovenso.com/), a company founded in 2016 that began as a startup at EPFL in 2014, manufactures agile sensor robots for particularly demanding and harsh environments. The Swiss-based company has already opened a branch and workshops in Shenzhen, China, in cooperation with the HAX Accelerator. Pilot projects are currently underway with paying customers in China and Switzerland, in the fields of firefighting and security monitoring.

More information about the StartUp Challenge and source: www.swisscom.ch/challenge