The 100 best startups in Switzerland 2020
For the tenth time, the Swiss Startup Award honored the 100 best startups in Switzerland: Cutiss (1st place), Wingtra (2nd place) and Piavita (3rd place) topped the expert jury, while Authena (formerly Acatena) won the public voting. A select audience of 100 startups, 100 investors and TOP 100 partners were present at the event.
The anniversary edition of the TOP 100 Swiss Startup Award was also broadcast live for the first time. The award for the best startups in Switzerland was held in collaboration with presenting partners Credit Suisse, SVC, Swiss Prime Site, SECA and digitalswitzerland.
Ten years of TOP 100 Swiss Startups
Within a decade, the TOP 100 Swiss Startup Award has become a reference event in the Swiss startup ecosystem. The award show brings together the most promising Swiss startup CEOs with Swiss and international investors, executives and journalists. What started with an initial publication of the ranking in 2011 has evolved into a comprehensive collection of events and activities, including an Award Night, the Investor Summit, where hand-picked TOP 100 startups can pitch to selected Swiss and international investors, regional pitch events organized together with presenting partner Credit Suisse, and the Scale-up Ranking. The Swiss startup magazine "TOP 100" reports on all these events and news with editorial content in German, French, English and Chinese.
The 100 best startups: Enormous potential
The potential of TOP 100 nominees was illustrated by the evening's keynote - featuring the founders of Climeworks (ranked 11th in the first TOP 100 edition 10 years ago), which just closed a CHF 100 million investment round to accelerate the fight against climate change, and AMAL Therapeutics, the largest European biotech startup exit in 2019. "Such role models show that we are well prepared and can look forward with anticipation to see how TOP 100 startups will shape the next decade," said Stefan Steiner, co-managing director of Venturelab and TOP 100 director. "The quality of Swiss startups is evidenced by the fact that funding continues at a similar level as in the record year of 2019."
Three female founders among the TOP 3 Swiss startups
Cutiss, Wingtra and Piavita took home the top prizes. All three companies were among the 10 most promising Swiss startups in 2019.
- First Place: Cutiss. The life sciences startup is able to produce large areas of customized human skin grafts: denovoSkin™ is a safe, effective and accessible therapy for children and adults suffering from large-scale burns or scalds. Cutiss' human skin grafts are expected to leave minimal scarring after transplantation. The Zurich-based startup was founded in 2016 by Dr. Daniela Marino (CEO) and Dr. Fabienne Hartmann-Fritsch (CCO) and ranked #6 in 2019.
- Second place: Wingtra. The Zurich-based startup develops vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) drones for surveying purposes. Wingtra's drones are used in more than 70 countries on all continents. Industries such as mining, construction, research, agriculture, urban and regional planning benefit from its powerful surveying drones. Wingtra was founded in 2016 by Maximilian Boosfeld (CEO), Basil Weibel (CTO) and Elias Kleinmann (CFO). The start-up and was ranked 4th in 2019.
- Third place: Piavita. Founded in 2016 by Dr. Dorina Thiess and Sascha Bührle, the medtech startup aims to develop digital solutions that transform veterinary medicine. Piavita combines sensors, Big Data and AI to create a platform for remote monitoring of sick and convalescent horses with a hardware-assisted software solution for a completely non-invasive approach to monitoring vital signs. The Zurich-based startup was ranked 8th in the TOP 100 Swiss Startup Awards in 2019.
- Winner of the TOP 100 public vote: The TOP 100 public vote, which runs parallel to the expert ranking, was the audience's chance to highlight a promising Swiss startup. The winner of this year's public vote is Authena (formerly Acatena), a Zug-based company whose patented technology allows products to be traced from location to consumer, helping to prevent counterfeiting and fraud.
The list with all 100 startups can be found here.
Startups create jobs
The 100 best startups in Switzerland that were nominated this year represented the tip of an iceberg, as it were: To date, a total of 435 startups have received the TOP 100 Swiss Startup Award. Cumulatively, they have raised more than 5.4 billion Swiss francs. 47 startups were acquired and three went public (IPOs). The TOP 100 Startups represent more than 9,553 active jobs. And the proportion of women is also growing: 85 women currently hold management positions in the TOP 100 Startups 2020, including 24 co-founders.
Source and further information: www.top100startups.swiss/ and www.venturelab.ch
