This Tuesday, I had the opportunity to attend (again!) the event organised by the Swiss economic magazine Bilan in Lausanne. For the 7th consecutive year, Bilan selected 50 Swiss startups in which to invest. More than 145 startups applied (all applying for the first time) and a team of experienced entrepreneurs and investors was mandated to review the applications and selects its favorites.
Fabrice Delaye, the well-known tech journalist of Bilan, who is also the initiator of this competition, made a particularly interesting introduction regarding the average return for Venture Capital: from 2008, Venture Capital provided an average 35% return per year, compared to the 22% of private equity (where everybody in the finance world want to go) or the 16% for real estate sector. Fabrice concluded that it’s not only fun to invest in startups: you simply cannot neglect startup investments if you’d like to generate great returns!
Alongside panel discussions and talks about startup investment landscape, which has evolved a lot in the past 5-7 years. But one main take-away, which was repeated several times by panel participants was that if you have to chose between the network (that investor claims to bring you) and the money… take the money! Something that I totally agree… money is the one thing that will help you survive and move forward!
Finally, a dozen startups had the opportunity to pitch the audience on stage. You’ll find the complete list of these “50 startups in which to invest in 2019” hereafter… with the amount they are raising and spread among the different categories (Artificial Intelligence, Biotech, Clean Tech, Connected Health, Drones, E-Commerce, EdTech, Fintech, Imagery, Industrie 4.0, Logistics, Medtech and Wearables). If you want some money to invest, you should find what you are looking for ;-)!
Artificial Intelligence
| Name | Description | Financing round (amount) |
| CrowdAI | CrowdAI transforms images coming from satellites into meaningful insights | CHF 2’000’000 |
| DeepCode | Code review (software development) via Artificial Intelligence (AI) | CHF 4’800’000 |
| Exeon Analytics | Cyber security company specialized in detecting hidden data breaches and advanced cyber attacks | CHF 3’000’000 |
| Largofilms | Data-driven movie-making solution, which can be introduced much earlier in the life of a film project, right from script choice and development, through filming, post-production and theatrical release | CHF 750’000 |
| Legartis | Convenient and efficient legal document analysis (as a service) | CHF 7’000’000 |
Biotech
| Name | Description | Financing round (amount) |
| Araris | Enabling the development of next-generation ADC (Antibody-Drug Conjugates)-based safe and potent drugs for various diseases and ailments | CHF 2’500’000 |
| limula Biotech | Automated manufacturing, from a patient white blood cell sample, genetically engineered cells at its bedside | CHF 500’000 |
| T3 Pharmaceuticals | Developing the next generation bacterial cancer therapy | CHF 20’000’000 |
| Tolremo Therapeutics | Preventing resistance to cancer therapy | CHF 20’000’000 |
Clean Tech
| Name | Description | Financing round (amount) |
| AgroSustain | Efficient, cost-effective, organic treatment against molds to reduce wasted fruits, berries and vegetables | CHF 2’000’000 |
| bloom | Replacing everything made from petroleum with biomass | CHF 2’000’000 |
| GridSteer | Providing autopilot system for electric grids | CHF 500’000 |
| hiLyte Power | Providing cheap clean energy for people who still use kerosene for lighting, with an ecological battery with non-toxic, renewable consumables. | CHF 600’000 |
| Zaphiro | Real-time monitoring of electrical systems | CHF 1’500’000 |
Connected Health
| Name | Description | Financing round (amount) |
| be.care | Enabling the largest number of people to make informed decisions about their health and well-being while reducing overall healthcare costs. | CHF 3’000’000 |
| DigiPharm | Blockchain-powered platform for value-based payments in healthcare (meaning that cost of treatment/services is based on performance and patient benefits) | CHF 5’000’000 |
| GenomSys | Efficient compression, storage, transport and manipulation of genomic data | CHF 25’000’000 |
| Online Doctor | Quick and cost-effective specialist assessment of your skin problem | CHF 2’400’000 |
Drones
| Name | Description | Financing round (amount) |
| Auterion | Building the open source infrastructure for autonomous robots / drones | CHF 30’000’000 |
| Clear Space | Keeping space clean to make sustainable growth possible | CHF 1’500’000 |
| Dufour Aerospace | Advanced electric aircraft, fastening end-to-end transportation at the same cost per kilometer as a car | CHF 10’000’000 |
E-Commerce
| Name | Description | Financing round (amount) |
| Mondays | Period subscription service with plastic free products | CHF 3’000’000 |
| PrivateDeal | Smart negotiation platform for hotels, to know the price guests are ready to pay | CHF 1’100’000 |
EdTech
| Name | Description | Financing round (amount) |
| Mobsya | Education-focused robots and softwares to discover digital technologies and sciences | CHF 500’000 |
| UbiSim | Virtual Reality training for nurses | CHF 300’000 |
Fintech
| Name | Description | Financing round (amount) |
| ALTOO | Empowering wealthy individuals and their families to consolidate and interact with their total wealth in a simple and intuitive way. | CHF 4’000’000 |
| Commochain | Communication platform for commodities trading operations | CHF 1’500’000 |
| DynaMetrics | Automated Credit Scoring tool helping Relationship Managers, Credit Analysts, Underwriters and Risk Managers. | CHF 1’300’000 |
| loanboox. | Independent money- and capital market platform for public-sector and large corporations, institutional investors and banks | CHF 50’000’000 |
| Sustema | Transforming publicly available data into improved underwriting results for commercial insurers | CHF 1’500’000 |
| Wealth Initiative | Platform for wealth management institutions to share a network of deals on behalf of their High Net Worth clients in the fields of Real Estate, Art, Passion Investments and Business Deals | CHF 1’000’000 |
Imagery
| Name | Description | Financing round (amount) |
| Astrivis | Capturing the world in 3D with your mobile device anywhere – anytime – in real-time | CHF 1’000’000 |
| DotPhoton | Raw image compression for machine vision and AI with no quality compromise | CHF 2’400’000 |
| Fixposition | Providing high precision self-localization of any object in all outdoor environments | CHF 1’500’000 |
| iniVation | Bio-inspired vision for machines | CHF 4’000’000 |
Industrie 4.0
| Name | Description | Financing round (amount) |
| SY&SE | Assembling glasses and ceramics to metals | CHF 600’000 |
| Touchless Automation | Manipulating and assembling solutions that would unlock the future of micro-assembly | CHF 1’500’000 |
| V-Labs | Augmented reality for excavation works | CHF 500’000 |
Logistics
| Name | Description | Financing round (amount) |
| kemiex | Trading platform to buy and sell APIs (Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients), vitamins and other food/feed additives | CHF 2’000’000 |
| LuckaBox | On-demand delivery platform | CHF 5’000’000 |
Medtech
| Name | Description | Financing round (amount) |
| Artiria Medical | Empowering catheters and guidewires, by developing cutting edge technologies to bring micromotion deep in the brain arteries, enabling a seamless navigation and stroke treatment | CHF 3’200’000 |
| Aspivix | New generation of surgical instrument for gentler and more modern gynecological procedures | CHF 3’000’000 |
| MotionTech | Democratising the usage of tailored orthopaedic devices through novel 3D printing technologies | CHF 800’000 |
| Positrigo | Tomography scanners to discover Alzheimer diseases early | CHF 4’000’000 |
| Pregnolia | Detecting the risk for premature birth | CHF 10’000’000 |
| Resistell | Saving lives by finding the right antibiotic on time and reduce spreading of antibiotic resistance | CHF 4’000’000 |
Wearables
| Name | Description | Financing round (amount) |
| Volumina Medical | Regenerative implants to treat volumina defects (in quick and easy implementation procedures) | CHF 10’000’000 |
| IDUN Technologies | Comfortable and highly qualitative wearables | CHF 3’000’000 |
| Netsensing Technology | Democratising sleep apnea detection via a miniaturized belt | CHF 1’500’000 |
| Snowcookies | Helping you to become a better skier via werable cookies | CHF 5’000’000 |