Venturelab has organized international roadshows for the Swiss National Startup Teams for 15 years. The ambitious entrepreneurs and their promising startups are introduced to high-class investors and potential customers in leading technology hubs such as Silicon Valley, Boston, New York, China, Hong Kong and Barcelona. The success of last-year's inaugural roadshow in Barcelona and the growth in mobile tech have led Venturelab to double the number of startup founders travelling to Barcelona in 2020 to ten. The MWC is the world's largest and most important event in mobile with more than 100,000 decision-makers and investors attending. The ten selected companies are: Astrocast SA | Fabien Jordan | EcublensMobile networks cover less than 10 percent of the planet and low-power wide-area networks less than 1 percent, which means that many potential IoT devices cannot connect. Astrocast, with partners including Airbus, ESA and Thuraya is developing the most-advanced network of nanosatellites to allow cost-effective bidirectional IoT communication everywhere on Earth. It is raising funds to finish launching its 80-nanosatellite constellation. CREAL SA | Tomás Sluka | Saint-SulpiceThe discomfort of today's virtual reality googles glasses is holding back the entire VR and mixed reality industry, as 3D images with conflicting depth cues strain our eyes. CREAL3D's patented tech projects images with depth cues that allow eyes to change focus naturally and without strain or nausea. The startup looks to raise $5 million to finalize the tech to power smart glasses and the emerging VR and MR markets. Decentriq AG | Maximilian Groth | ZugCollaborations involving sensitive data are slow and full of friction due to security and privacy concerns. Decentriq’s platform uses the latest advancements in hardware cryptography and privacy technologies to make data collaboration secure and simple. As the only European startup working in the Confidential Computing Consortium, decentriq advocates its technology’s use in ICT, financial services and digital healthcare. EcoRobotix SA | Aurélien G. Demaurex | Yverdon-les-Bains Weeding and tending crops is back-breaking labor that can also expose humans to harmful chemicals. Around 2 million tons of herbicides are spread on crops each year, with only 5% actually reaching their target. EcoRobotix's completely autonomous, solar-powered robot can tend fields continuously, offering precise weed detection and reduced herbicide use while collecting quality data. Backed by investors including BASF, the startup will meet with potential strategic partners for a series B round. Exeon Analytics AG | David Gugelmann | Zurich The complexity of corporate IT networks means that cyber attacks, which may cause millions of dollars of damage, often remain hidden for a long time. Founded by white-hat hacker David Gugelmann, Exeon Analytics's award-winning software uses big data algorithms and machine-learning to automatically detect such attacks and prevent data theft leaks, whether from external hackers or malicious insiders. IniVation AG | Kynan Eng | Zurich Conventional vision systems are too slow and inefficient for high-performance, always-on mobile and IoT applications. IniVation's bio-inspired neuromorphic vision technology overcomes these limitations, enabling unprecedented levels of speed and efficiency. The startup already counts global leaders in automotive, consumer electronics and aerospace among its clients and licensees. Kido Dynamics SA | Ignacio Barrios Baños | Lausanne Data on people's mobility patterns could be used to improve various sectors from transport and tourism to marketing. In a mission to democratize big data, Kido Dynamics' breaks down complex data sets using its proprietary algorithms to generate analytics which are easy to read and intuitive to understand. For that, the team at Kido works in partnership with telecom operators across the globe, helping them to take the leap towards big data in human mobility. Qiio AG | Felix Adamczyk | Zurich While many small and medium-sized enterprises want to take advantage of industrial digitalization to improve their operations, they often lack the knowhow to do so. qiio implements industrial IoT, from sensor to cloud for SMEs to remotely monitor and control their assets. The startup's one-stop-shop for hardware, software, and cloud services offers business clients everything they need for long-term operations, without the need for specialist in house-teams. ScanTrust SA | Ricardo Garcia | Ecublens With the growth in complexity of global supply chains and decreasing trust of consumers, it has become very challenging for brands to demonstrate the origin of each single product and guarantee product authenticity. ScanTrust's patented QR-codes allow brands to secure their products digitally, and empower consumers and other users to check if their products are real or fake and learn more about the product's history. The technology ensures trust through transparency, and also gives brands the opportunity to create a new communication channel with their users. Synthara AG | Manu V. Nair | Zug AI-capabilities on battery-operated devices such as AR/VR, drones, bio-medical or wearable devices are limited by the performance of their chips. Synthara's AI processors offer between 10 to 100-times more computational power for AI algorithms than existing technologies when running on the same battery. This promises a new breed of smarter edge-computing applications and devices. The startup is fundraising to launch its first product. The Venture Leaders Mobile 2020 program is organized by Venturelab and supported by VISCHER, Swisscom and Switzerland Global Enterprise. The ten innovative startups were chosen from more than 70 applicants, by a jury of professional investors and mobile technology experts. The startups cover sectors ranging from IoT and cyber security to AI and big data, facilitating the Venture Leaders Mobile to demonstrate the quality of Swiss deep tech innovation. The roadshow from February 23rd to 27th 2020 aims to accelerate the startups’ expansion and help them build global business networks. The schedule includes meetings with top-notch investors, industry leaders and potential clients at several of MWC’s key events like the 4YFN startup conference, the SwissNight at the Royal Club Nautica, and the main fair. "Barcelona is the world’s largest exhibition for the mobile industry and gives the selected Swiss startups access to an exclusive platform of investors and international industry leaders," said Stefan Steiner, Co-Managing Director of Venturelab. Former participant Mélanie Guittet Co-Founder & Business Development at INVOLI confirmed: “Attending the Mobile World Congress thanks to the Venture Leaders Mobile program opened many doors and opportunities for us to drive our business development forward.” (Press release)