Dear reader
Basel-based dental implant manufacturer Straumann presented good half-year figures on Wednesday and its share price has risen significantly. At the presentation, the company also announced the acquisition of mininavident, developer and manufacturer of the world’s smallest dynamic navigation system for dental implants. The medtech start-up was launched in 2013 as a spin-off from the University of Basel and the University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland. The solution developed over the past 10 years has now been brought to market by Straumann under the name Straumann Falcon.
It is still rare for successful Swiss companies to buy Swiss start-ups, mainly because there is no home advantage in this country. Companies have to look globally for start-ups in which to invest or to acquire or collaborate with.
However, a global orientation is now increasingly found in start-ups and is well received by investors. The teams are often spread across different countries, as is the case with GraphEnergyTech, for example. The start-up is based on research at EPFL and the University of Cambridge, and has attracted Aramco Ventures as an investor just two years after its launch.
Sanos’ activities are split between Switzerland and Germany. The start-up, which has developed a software solution for management of dental practices, is initially targeting the large German market. Top investors obviously think this is the right strategy: Google Ventures and Partech have invested in a EUR 7 million round.
The OnchainLabs team is spread across several countries. The Crypto Valley start-up, which aims to pave the way for other companies in the Web3 world, has completed a financing round of CHF 5 million. One of the investors is Ilkay Gündogan, professional footballer at FC Barcelona and captain of the German national team.
AI start-up Nunu.ai has relied on close contacts with the US from the outset. The ETH Zurich spin-off has now completed a pre-seed financing round in which one of the participants was Y Combinator.
The four start-ups from the medical sector that were recently awarded the Innosuisse certificate are also active internationally. Another striking feature is that three of the four are healthtech companies with products in which IT plays a major role.
Speaking of healthtech, investments in these start-ups increased significantly last year at the SICTIC Angel Investor Club. The reasons for this and further insights from the new SICTIC Investor Report can be found in our article.
There are still a few deadlines running until the start of September. I would like to draw your attention to the Cyber Startup Challenge, the Tech4Trust programme, the newly launched AI Launchpad and BaseLaunch, which is looking for life sciences start-ups that are developing therapeutics. You can find all deadlines in our Awards directory.
Have a good weekend.
Stefan Kyora
Editor in Chief, Startupticker.ch