VENTURE - Companies for Tomorrow

VENTURE - Companies for Tomorrow >>venture>> is Switzerland's leading annual startup competition.

15/09/2026

🚀 Introducing The Starting Line!

Applications for the 2027 >>venture>> competition open on October 1 — and this year, we’re kicking things off differently.

On October 5, join us at EPFL to discover what it takes to make it to the Top 200 and get a first taste of the new >>venture>> experience.

Watch real jurors score startups live, discover the six criteria they’ll be looking for, and put your own thinking to the test.

✍️ Writing Room: work on your own answer to one of the six jury criteria, with practical prompts and guidance to help you structure your thinking.
💡 Clinics: get your answer challenged by experienced mentors, and ask questions before submitting your application.
🤝 Apéro: meet fellow founders, the >>venture>> team, and members of our expert community.

Whether you have a startup, a side project, or just an idea, The Starting Line is for you.

And with the 2027 edition marking 30 years of >>venture>>, there’s never been a better time to join us.

🔗 Find out more about the event and register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/venture-the-starting-line-tickets-1999385357426?aff=socialmedia

📅 October 5, 2026 | 6:30 PM
📍 EPFL, MED Building (Lausanne)
🎟️ Free to attend

6 criteria. 200 spots. One form. Do you have what it takes?Exciting changes are coming to the >>venture>> 2027 applicati...
27/08/2026

6 criteria. 200 spots. One form. Do you have what it takes?

Exciting changes are coming to the >>venture>> 2027 application process!

The application now begins with only a short online form. It opens October 1 and closes November 30. From every team that applies, 200 move forward to the full startup plan.

Six criteria decide who makes that cut: Innovation, Team, Technology & Product, Market, Sustainability & Impact, and Business.

We put the whole thing on one page so you can get a head start on your free application.

No fee. No 20-slide deck. Only one short form.

📄 Download our free one-pager and we will tell you the moment applications open: venture.ch

20/08/2026

☀️ Summer Series | Pharma & Biotech

What if one of the biggest threats to modern medicine could be tackled with a vaccine?

For Ulrich Wuellner, Director External Innovation at Johnson & Johnson, that's what makes a biotech startup compelling: identifying a problem that truly matters and showing how your solution could make a difference for patients.

In this year's Pharma & Biotech vertical, that ambition was everywhere. Baxiva, Isospec Analytics and Santella made it to the finals, tackling very different challenges across healthcare and life sciences.

But Baxiva's mission speaks directly to a growing global challenge: antimicrobial resistance.

The ETH Zürich spin-off is developing vaccines against infections caused by Gram-negative bacteria, starting with extraintestinal pathogenic E. coli (ExPEC)—a major cause of urinary tract infections and a potentially life-threatening cause of sepsis. Despite the scale of the problem, there is currently no approved vaccine against ExPEC.

And as Bettina Ernst, CEO of PRECLIN Biosystems, reminds us, solving a problem this complex takes more than promising science. It takes a team with the expertise, passion and determination to bring it to the market.

That combination ultimately earned Baxiva the Advisory Board's selection as the Pharma & Biotech winner.

A bold scientific challenge. A significant unmet need. And a team determined to turn the two into a solution.

Congratulations to Baxiva, and to Isospec Analytics and Santella for making it to the finals. 👏

11/08/2026

☀️ Summer Series | Medtech & Healthcare

During Jury Round 2, our Medtech & Healthcare jury listened to the pitches of 10 semi-finalists before selecting Actival, Emerstat and RELiYOO as this year's three finalists.

🎥 In this video, Arnd Kaltofen-Ehmann, Managing Partner at VI Partners, and Claudine Bl**er, Managing Director at Medgate Switzerland, reflect on what made this year's vertical so compelling: strong founder teams, high-quality projects and a remarkable breadth of technologies and industries.

For Claudine, bringing together jury members with different perspectives is a key part of the process. Their discussions don't just help identify the strongest startups—they also give founders valuable insights and perspectives to take forward.

Actival is a great example of what can emerge from this kind of cross-disciplinary environment. Later selected by our Advisory Board as the Medtech & Healthcare winner, the CSEM spin-off brings together expertise in dentistry, science, engineering and business to rethink the dental aligner. Its Active Aligner uses patented 3D-printed microchannels to deliver antibacterial and other beneficial fluids directly where they are needed, addressing oral-health challenges associated with conventional aligners.

From 10 semi-finalists to 3 finalists, the quality of this year's vertical made the choice a difficult one. And, as Arnd put it, there were several startups he could genuinely imagine investing in.

Congratulations once again to Actival on winning the Medtech & Healthcare vertical, and to Emerstat and RELiYOO for making it to the finals. 👏

🚀 Looking for another opportunity to showcase your startup?While applications to our competition open on October 1, our ...
06/08/2026

🚀 Looking for another opportunity to showcase your startup?

While applications to our competition open on October 1, our partners at the ETH Entrepreneur Club are already accepting applications for the LAUNCH Startup Pitching Competition, taking place at LAUNCH 2026 on November 3 at ETH Zurich. As Zurich's largest startup conference, LAUNCH brings together founders, investors, and innovators from across Europe for a day dedicated to entrepreneurship.

The top 7 startups will pitch live in front of founders, investors, and industry leaders, competing for:
🏆 The >>venture>> mentorship programme
💼 Up to CHF 20,000 in EMBARK Law legal packages

The competition is open to ambitious pre-seed and early-seed startups from across Europe, with a preference for technology-driven ventures in AI, climate, fintech, health, software, and more. No university affiliation is required.

⏳ Applications are reviewed on a first-come, first-served basis and close on September 1. Submit your 2-page pitch deck early to maximize your chances.

👉 Apply now: https://luma.com/n5rlrmct

🚀 From cutting plastic waste with scissors to building an industrial recycling plant.Every startup has a moment when an ...
03/08/2026

🚀 From cutting plastic waste with scissors to building an industrial recycling plant.

Every startup has a moment when an idea starts to become something bigger.

For DePoly, that journey began with a simple but ambitious question: Could plastic waste be transformed back into its original building blocks?

After hundreds of experiments—and countless setbacks—the team proved it could.

Winning >>venture>> in 2019 marked an important milestone.

As CEO and co-founder Samantha Anderson recalls: "For us, it was a decisive moment—it showed we were on the right track."

Since then, DePoly has continued to scale its technology, moving from laboratory experiments to industrial production and bringing the vision of a truly circular plastics economy one step closer to reality.

Stories like DePoly's remind us that breakthrough innovation rarely happens overnight. It takes persistence, resilience, and a community that believes in bold ideas.

📖 Read the full interview with Samantha Anderson in our 2025 Annual Report:https://www.venture.ch/_files/ugd/d3dc8c_9f8627f8989647c982d1c254bb996acf.pdf

30/07/2026

☀️ Summer Series | Industrials & Engineering

The best engineering breakthroughs rarely happen overnight.

As jury member Patrik Eigenmann puts it in this video, truly great ideas are often the result of countless iterations rather than a single moment of inspiration. And according to Nathalie Casas, that spirit of perseverance was evident throughout this year's Industrials & Engineering semi-finalists.

🎥 Watch as they reflect on the passion, commitment, and remarkable diversity of the ideas presented during Jury Round 2, from semiconductors to food packaging and beyond.

One startup stood out all the way to the very end of the competition: EDWATEC. Later selected by our Advisory Board as the winner of the Industrials & Engineering vertical—and ultimately awarded the >>venture>> 2026 Grand Prize—the startup is addressing one of today's most pressing environmental challenges. Its electrochemical water treatment technology removes persistent PFAS ("forever chemicals") without the need for intensive chemical processes, offering a scalable and more sustainable solution for clean water.

It's a powerful reminder that world-changing innovation isn't just about having a brilliant idea. It's about the perseverance to keep improving it until it can make a real difference.

Congratulations once again to EDWATEC on this remarkable achievement, and to Aithon Robotics and Cria Technologies for earning their place among this year's outstanding finalists. 👏

💡 "Innovation is not a concept that is positive per se."It's a statement that challenges one of the most common assumpti...
27/07/2026

💡 "Innovation is not a concept that is positive per se."

It's a statement that challenges one of the most common assumptions in entrepreneurship.

In our 2025 Annual Report, Peter Maurer—former President of the International Committee of the Red Cross and member of the >>venture>> advisory board—shares why innovation alone doesn't create progress.

Technology can solve problems. But it can also create new ones.

The real question isn't how innovative an idea is—it's how that innovation is introduced, who is involved, and whether society is ready to embrace it.

As Peter Maurer puts it: "Innovation requires social embedding. It must be accompanied by dialogue, consensus-building, and the involvement of those who will live with its consequences."

For founders, this is an important reminder: building a great product is only part of the challenge. Creating lasting impact means engaging stakeholders, understanding context, and thinking beyond the technology itself.

At >>venture>>, we believe the strongest startups combine scientific excellence with responsible entrepreneurship.

💬 Do you agree? Can innovation ever be truly successful without societal acceptance?

📖 Read Peter Maurer's full interview in our 2025 Annual Report:https://www.venture.ch/_files/ugd/d3dc8c_9f8627f8989647c982d1c254bb996acf.pdf

23/07/2026

☀️ Summer Series | Consumer Solutions

"They're all people who really want to achieve something. They're very bold. They really want to create a better world."

That is how jury member Rolf Hiltl describes the startups that stood out during Jury Round 2 in the Consumer Solutions vertical.

His fellow juror, Catarina Dahlin, looks for something equally essential: founders with genuine passion for their mission and the confidence to turn it into reality.

Together, their reflections paint a picture of this year's finalists — TruLux, HALA and OptiZone — entrepreneurs driven not only by innovation, but by purpose.

A fitting example is TruLux, which was later selected by our Advisory Board as the Consumer Solutions winner. The startup is tackling one of the luxury industry's biggest challenges: trust. Using AI-powered visual authentication, TruLux enables brands, retailers and consumers to instantly verify the authenticity of high-value goods with nothing more than a smartphone, making resale safer, protecting brand value and helping genuine products remain in circulation for longer. It's a bold vision that combines cutting-edge technology with a more transparent and sustainable future for commerce.

Congratulations to TruLux on winning the Consumer Solutions vertical, and to HALA and OptiZone for earning their place among this year's finalists. 👏

🚀 A new competition format for a milestone year.As we celebrate the 30th anniversary of >>venture>> with our 2027 editio...
20/07/2026

🚀 A new competition format for a milestone year.

As we celebrate the 30th anniversary of >>venture>> with our 2027 edition, we're making it easier than ever for founders to enter Switzerland's leading startup competition.

The biggest change? A simpler application process.

Instead of submitting a full startup plan from day one, every team will start with one simple online application form. The form is structured around our six core jury criteria: Innovation, Technology & Product, Market, Sustainability, Business Model, and Team. Only the Top 200 teams will then be invited to submit a comprehensive startup plan in the second stage.

With this streamlined process comes a new timeline:

📅 Applications open: October 1, 2026
📅 Applications close: November 30, 2026

The application window is now 2 months instead of 5. While the submission period is shorter, the first step is significantly lighter—allowing founders to spend less time on paperwork and more time building their ventures.

What isn't changing? The things that have made >>venture>> Switzerland's leading startup competition for the past 30 years:
✨ Six industry verticals
🏆 The Spotlight Award
💰 CHF 590,000 in non-dilutive prize money
🚀 A platform that connects ambitious founders with expert jurors, mentors, investors, and the wider startup ecosystem.

A new format. The same commitment to supporting the next generation of entrepreneurs.

Mark your calendars—we'll see you on October 1st.

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