Dear reader
Let’s not beat around the bush: the new US tariffs will hurt start-ups. The US is the most important market for the scaling phase, and for medtech companies it is the country of choice when it comes to initial market approval. There is also the potential for long-term damage. More background information, including a link to the full text of the US president’s executive order, can be found in our article.
The good news is that despite the Swiss start-up scene’s close ties to the US, almost no other ecosystem has such a good chance of overcoming the situation. First, there is the focus on deeptech – i.e. unique products for which there are no alternatives; this focus is evident in the list of winners of various awards this week. Another good example is RoBoa. The company, developing a flexible, autonomous robot, secured CHF 150,000 from Venture Kick. Second, Swiss start-ups export successfully to other countries: Privately’s age verification system is being rolled out in France, photovoltaic company dhp’s solar folding roofs are now in Austria after Switzerland and Germany, and Enantios has delivered its measurement solution to its first customer – an Israeli university.
Third, the planned association with EU research programmes is progressing as planned. The importance of these programmes can be seen in the case of Novigenix: the company will receive EUR 1.8 million for its collaboration on a Horizon Europe project for personalised cancer care.
Fourth, Swiss start-ups are finding investors outside the US. Bloom Biorenewables’ CHF 13 million financing round is dominated by Swiss and European investors. The only US investor is Breakthrough Energy Ventures, founded by Bill Gates.
Last but not least, Switzerland benefits from the fact that pharmaceutical products are exempt from the tariffs. Whether this exemption will remain in place for long remains to be seen, but the importance and strength of the sector was demonstrated once again this week by the USD 500 million financing for MoonLake Immunotherapeutics.
Startup Champions Seed Night will take place in Lausanne next week, and my colleague Eugène Schön will be there. Also next week, The House of Lab Science will open in The Valley Kemptthal. The following week, the Swiss Startup Association’s Founders Day will take place in Zurich. And on the weekend in between, we will take part in the SwissHacks Hackathon, where together with Innosuisse we have set a challenge for the participants. We will keep you updated on our LinkedIn channel.
Have a good weekend.
Stefan Kyora
Editor in Chief, Startupticker.ch