As already explained earlier this year, the Swiss fintech scene is growing rapidly. And even more since then! A new award was launched end of September: “The Swiss FinTech Award”. The idea is to build a national ecosystem that helps Swiss fintech companies going forward, and gaining international attention. Initiated by Finanz und Wirtschaft Forum, the initiative gathers key players in the field, like Accenture, PostFinance, Raiffeisen and many other ones. The applicants will not only compete for a cash prize (definitive not announced yet, but a multiple of CHF 10’000.-!) and a ticket to Accenture’s Innovation Lab in London (to be awarded on March 31st in Zürich), but finalists will also get coaching and an opportunity to meet the partners at speed dating events. It is also my pleasure to announce that startupolic.com is a media partner of the …
10 great things I did (not) see at TechCrunch Disrupt SF
This is a guest post by Penny Schiffer a Zürich-based energetic woman, passionate by the startup and investment world. She’s currently managing the startup initiatives of Swisscom and in charge of the « Swisscom Startup Challenge » and also part of Swisscom Ventures and a member of the business angel club Go Beyond. Have you ever been to TechCrunch Disrupt? For me, until a couple of days ago, it was a nearly mythological place where the best startups of this planet present themselves in an exhibition and compete in the so-called Startup Battlefield – the mother of all startup competitions. Among the finalists, there are stellar companies like Fitbit, Yammer, Zenefits and Betterment. As part of the prep work for the Swisscom Startup Challenge, I had the opportunity to go to Silicon Valley during this crazy time of TechCrunch Disrupt. …
4 Startups Conferences to Consider in September
How do you know that Summer is definitely over? Colder weather, shorter days? Or by the reappearance of startup conferences? Yes, July and August do not see much activities in terms of conferences (for obvious reasons, as entrepreneurs are busy working hard on a terrace or simply taking a hard-earned break! Startup conferences are starting again and it is hard to make a choice. I’ve discovered new and valuable conferences that I want to share with you (of course, you cannot be everywhere so choose wisely! And don’t go everywhere, you have a startup to run!): VentureDays, Prague – 21-22 September: Venture Days is a global tech industry, IT startup event designed to bring together startups, venture capitalists, angel investors and mentors. Mostly from Eastern Europe countries, but it can be a good idea for Swiss startups to enjoy a …
Win CHF 10’000.- for your Fintech Startup
As you may have seen if you’re following startups trends worldwide, fintech is quite a hot topic. And it’s not different in Switzerland (check this and this post). Of course, because Switzerland (in a whole) is one of the biggest financial hubs in the world. And things are moving, and it’s great to see this happening! A few ago, a new fintech association is born, namely Swiss FinteCH. This new organization came out of the Fintech Meetups Zürich and Geneva, and their founders, John Hucker and Alexandre Gaillard. Swiss FinteCH is a non-profit association with members connected to the local ecosystem and a common aim to promote the Swiss FinTech scene. Swiss FinteCH is an independent member-based association which aims to serve as the hub for #swissfinteCH. The group is volunteer-led and engages with partners (i.e. corporates, associations, government, etc) to pursue its goals, …
Win a startup trip to Tel Aviv
Launching a startup is hard and even harder if you’re not in a viable startup ecosystem (where there is enough money flowing to startup, enough entrepreneurs and a general acceptance of failure). In Europe and Middle East, there are 2 mature startup hubs, London and Israel. Of course, Berlin, Paris and many startup scenes are growing and maturing. Switzerland still doesn’t really exist as a startup hub on the global map, even if many Swiss tech startups deserve more attention. And there are also many new initiatives popping up regularly. Like the launch of the Startup Manifesto to transform Switzerland into a real Startup Nation, initated by the association Le Réseau. It is still a long way to go to have a mature startup ecosystem in Switzerland (talking about web and mobile companies, not life sciences). The advantage is that …
Apply to Fintech Fusion: #1 Swiss fintech acceleration program!
Switzerland is very well known in the world at least for 4 things: Banks Mountains Watches Chocolate Less known for the quality of its startups, even if Switzerland is one of the most innovative country according to the Global Innovation Index (it’s probably not the right metric, but that’s another debate). And even less for fintech. Right now. Fintech is getting very hype everywhere and we feel it massively here since the beginning of the year (if you haven’t, go read The Waking Up of fintech in Switzerland). I have sometimes heard some silly statements as “Switzerland cannot compete with London, New York or Silicon Valley”. It’s wrong. If you see Switzerland in a whole as a big city (the whole population is 8 millions, a bit less than the Greater London area. And way less than New York City), …
Experiencing MoneyConf
Last week, I had the chance to attend the first fintech event organized by Paddy Cosgrave (the guy behind the acclaimed WebSummit in Dublin), MoneyConf. This 2-days conference took place in Belfast T13… in an old depot close to the docks, which is now normally used as a… skatepark ! Surprising ? Yes. Especially as I’ve heard the kind of sayings that fintech is different to other startups (in term of culture). The coolest thing about this place is that MoneyConf used the skatepark elements (quarter-pipes, half-pipes, tables, etc.) to make an amazing decoration… For instance, the desks and sofas for the media corner were just placed on a double half-pipe ! It made me also remember how I was addicted to « aggressive roller » (and especially half-pipe) in my younger years 😉 ! Back to MoneyConf : more than 1,200 people came from 50 different …
30 startups to meet on June 25th
For the 4th time, the Alpine High Tech Venture Forum is coming back to Lausanne. 30 startups will present their project and compete to qualify for the European Venture Summit which will take place at the end of 2015. Startups come mostly from Switzerland, with an addition of 4 Italian startups and one from France. The conference is open ot anyone upon registration. And you can grab a 20% discount to AVHF by using this code startupolic15 INFORMATION & COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY BestMile, Lausanne: shaping robots into public transport systems Digit Arena, Martigny (Switzerland): Imagine watching Google TV 3.0 and having access to live sports of any major event or series in the world. Formerly unaffordable broadcasting rights are turned into enhanced revenue fed by local in-video tailored banner advertisement. ELSE, Geneva: ELSE stands for ELegant Systems Engineering. Gait Up, Lausanne: …