May 17, 2021 (Renens, Switzerland) – MassChallenge Switzerland, part of MassChallenge’s global network of innovators, today announced the 97 early-stage startups invited to join the 2021 Accelerator Program.
These selected startups have been rigorously vetted by a community of more than 220 expert judges and represent the top 10% of applications from around the world.
The selected 97 early-stage startups come from 31 countries spanning over 4 continents and have the potential to create widespread impact across industries.
The cohort composition is mostly agnostic – being made up of 67 startups from many different industries. Additionally, there is a special track of 30 startups that make up our Sustainable Food Systems track. In detail:
- 31% are sustainable food systems, and will join the special Sustainable Food Systems track
- 20% are general, retail, and consumer goods
- 14% are high tech
- 21% are healthcare and life sciences
- 10% are clean tech and energy
- 4% are social impact
Since 2016, MassChallenge Switzerland has been a leader in helping startups across Europe grow their businesses, with 396 alumni raising $497M in funding. In 2020, we accelerated 96 early-stage startups, taking no equity or fees and connected them to our corporate partners and broad group of expert mentors.
For our 2021 program we are staying true to our mission of bringing startups together with the people and resources they need to launch and grow, so we’ve have designed an on-line / on-site hybrid accelerator program. Operating this way will enable startups from anywhere in the world to take part in the accelerator.
Matt Lashmar, Managing Director of MassChallenge Switzerland said, “I’m pleased to welcome this outstanding group of startups to the 2021 program. They out-competed over 1,000 startups to get selected and represent the top 10% of applicants. An interesting trend is that the vast majority of this year’s cohort are purpose driven startups whose ideas have huge potential to add value to the world-at-large. I’m looking forward to connecting them to our partners and mentors, so that together the MassChallenge community can help them grow their businesses and add some value back to society”.
During the 4 months of acceleration, the selected 97 startups will be able to engage with industry experts, corporates and investors, while receiving world-class mentoring, tailored programming, free co-working space and numerous key networking opportunities. The accelerator program will culminate on October 28th at the MassChallenge Switzerland Awards Ceremony, when the best startups will be rewarded with up to CHF 1 million in zero-equity prize money, as well as several other in-kind prizes.
Follow us on LinkedIn or register for the MassChallenge Switzerland newsletter to stay up-to-date on the 2021 program: http://more.masschallenge.org/newsletter
2021 MassChallenge Switzerland cohort
Sustainable Food Systems Track
Agrinfo company ltd (United Republic of Tanzania): We provide farmers with decision support systems, allowing them to sustainably optimize their operations.
Biteback Biotechnology (Singapore)
ClearLeaf (Costa Rica): ClearLeaf offers 100% non-toxic fungicides and bactericides for agricultural use.
EDIRIS (Slovakia)
FairFlavor (Hong Kong): Saving the planet by producing delicious dairy alternative food with super nut from Melanesia rain forest.
FermBiotics (Denmark): FermBitoics is a microbiome company on a mission to improve gut health all over the world.
Frankles (Chile): The first technological platform based on biotech & data science for the development of natural ingredients using sustainable technologies.
Fybraworks Foods (United States): Fybraworks aims to replace the trillion dollar ag-based meat market by growing real animal meat proteins in yeasts and fungi by fermentation.
Galventa (Switzerland)
Gelatex (Estonia): High-throughput and cost-effective bio-based nanofibers production for cultured meat, wound care, filtration or other industries.
Grain4Grain (United States): We use proprietary upcycling technology to turn byproducts from alcohol producers into low carb, high fiber flour alternatives at low cost.
Green and Seed Corporation (Republic of Korea): Using the weeding and moisturizing features of biodegradable films, we innovate rice farming by growing rice outside of the water.
Greencovery (Netherlands): Greencovery is here to accelerate the time-to-market of new ingredients recovered from food companies’ side-streams.
Michroma (Argentina): Biotech startup using fungi, synbio tools, and fermentation to produce next-gen natural ingredients in a sustainable and scalable way.
Microbe Plus (Poland): Microbe+ – Solutions provided by nature.
MycoNourish (United Kingdom): We customise microbes to suit specific crops and solve targeted problems in their production – enhancing yields and adding value for growers.
New Green Technologies (United States): NGT is a US company that has developed state-of-the-art, industrial-scale technology to extract botanical oils from plants.
Organifarms (Germany): Organifarms develops farming robots for indoor farming systems to enable the profitable cultivation of labour-intensive crop types.
OTTAN (Turkey): OTTAN develops and produces sustainable bio-composite materials for designers by up-cycling green waste with the circular economy.
Paragon Pure (United States): Paragon Pure is inspired by nature to create genuine ingredients for delivering natural flavors, colors and nutrients into wholesome foods.
Proeon (India): Innovative plant proteins with superior nutritional, functional and sensory profiles for plant based meat, egg, dairy and functional foods.
Reazent (Canada): Reazent makes organic alternatives to replace petroleum-derived chemicals and ingredients in agriculture and industry.
ROHKRAFT green GmbH (Austria): We are algae producers focusing on human nutrition and health products. We develop tasty high quality consumer products using fresh algae.
Sophie’s BioNutrients (Singapore): We are developing a new sustainable plant-based protein out of microalgae using fermentation technologies.
The Dairy Dodger Ltd (TA Little Bandits) (United Kingdom): Little Bandits is the dairy free brand for kids. We make delicious plant based, low sugar kids yogurts. No dairy, no soya, no worries.
ULLMANNA (Czech Republic): Ullmanna is working on an innovative solution that will scale organic food production using robotics and artificial intelligence.
Umami Meats (Singapore): Umami Meats enables production of affordable cell-based meat and seafood with 98% cheaper growth serum and novel marine cell lines.
Umiami (France): We created a proprietary technology to produce better-tasting, more clean-label plant-based meats and fish.
Volatile AI (United Kingdom): Olfactory sensory system for chemical content monitoring in foods.
Zowasel (Nigeria): An online marketplace for grains that offers working capital and sustainable sourcing across the supply chain.
Healthcare/ Life Sciences
Advanced Interactive Response Systems (AIRS) (United States): The Oxygen Flow Monitor is a patented technology that couples the delivery of oxygen therapy to the physiological response of individuals.
AidPlex (Greece): AidPlex is aiming at disrupting the orthopedics sector by offering patient centered products and revolutionizing the monitoring of patients.
anavo medical (Switzerland)
Babylat (Switzerland): Disrupting preterm nutrition to save the most fragile lives.
BestHealth4U (Portugal): BestHealth4U develops advanced materials for skin-interacting medical devices, from simple skin adhesives to digital monitoring devices.
BioEclosion SL (Spain): Development of the next generation of rapid diagnostic test for low-resource settings to solve the societal challenge of global health.
CRIAM (Portugal): CRIAM is an in vitro diagnostic company focused on the point of care area.
DIAGNOLY (France): AI-powered medical hardware device for prenatal detection of fetal abnormalities in real time.
DrSafeHands (India): Mission driven digital platform to address sexual health issues using technology, with high focus on sexually transmitted infections.
Epios (Switzerland): Epios is providing personalized and precision management of brain disorders using daily life monitoring and therapeutics.
Kayothera Inc. (United States): Novel small molecule immunotherapies to cure incurable cancers.
Kobara Medical, Inc. (United States): Kobara’s patented solution addresses the growing UNTAPPED 3M+ patient Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction (HFpEF) market.
Leucine Rich Bio (India): Leucine Rich Bio is South Asia’s first microbiome company. We develop healthcare solutions for chronic & lifestyle diseases.
miniMarrow (Switzerland)
Paragit Solutions (Denmark): Paragit is changing the way Parkinson’s motor symptoms is assessed, how new drugs are evaluated and how patients are medicated.
Parithera (Switzerland)
React4life (Italy): React4life: Technological solutions to accelerate your biomedical research.
Spirecut SA (Switzerland): We develop surgical instruments for percutaneous treatment. No skin incision, less complications, early return to normal life.
TissueLabs (Brazil): TissueLabs is a platform for creating organs and tissues in the lab. We offer biomaterials, equipment, and services for 3D bioprinting.
VAY AG (Switzerland): Democratizing professional human motion analysis by using readily available consumer devices to digitize physical therapy, rehab & fitness.
High Tech
Calyo (United Kingdom)
CatapultX (United States): Pioneers of on-stream video advertising.
Digi.Bio (Netherlands)
GasApp (Ghana): GasApp is an online platform for liquid petroleum gas distribution, leakage detector and level monitor, through mobile app and smart device.
GO TO-U (United States): The platform for electric vehicle (EV) charging management and operations.
Mensior (Italy): Value My Brain >_ GET IN THE FLOW. SCORE MORE.
Pricepally (Nigeria): Pricepally is sharing economy platform that enables users to shop for wholesale food items in groups helping them to save money.
Sparrow Quantum (Denmark): Sparrow Quantum develops, manufactures and delivers Single Photon Sources which is a key enabling element to unleash the power of quantum.
Swoop (United Kingdom): We make it easy for businesses to source and save the money they need to grow – all in one place.
Vectech (United States): Vectech’s detection and monitoring solutions are preventing human disease, and economic and agricultural loss caused by insects.
VISENSE (Switzerland): VISENSE is a remote error diagnosis solution that gives you real-time insights into industrial production errors.
XRnanotech (Switzerland)
ZEG (United Kingdom): ZEG’s proprietary 3D AI tech allows any eCommerce seller to create photos virtually at 1/10th cost and 1/100th the time compared to a studio.
General
Aeroflux Braking Systems (Canada)
AIT Group (Poultry Farmer’s Management Systems) (Cameroon): An AI-powered mobile app that helps poultry farmers rapidly detects diseases, connects with vets, and treats animal illness in real-time.
AMPHIBIO LTD (United Kingdom): Development of a sustainable and recyclable Waterproof Breathable Textile and Garment for the outdoor apparel industry.
B’ZEOS (Norway): B’ZEOS offers sustainable, home compostable, and bio-digestible packaging solutions made from seaweed extracts to combat plastic pollution.
BeeSecure (Italy): By translating bees’ vibrations and sounds we provide real time data analysis to beekeepers, farmers, consumers and companies.
Cadel Deinking sl (Spain)
DAC sp.z.o.o. (Poland): Dynamic Air Cooling (DAC) technology is a new ecological way to generate cold for industrial or residential air cooling and refrigeration.
FlexSea (United Kingdom): FlexSea develops novel biomaterials derived from renewable marine resources to replace current primary plastic packaging.
goodbag (Austria)
GreenJams (India): Carbon-negative building materials from crop residues and industrial by-products for up to 50% cheaper construction cost.
Ittinsect (Italy): Zero Ocean Impact Aquafeed. Transforming insects and agri-food by-products into aquaculture feed through a circular production method.
Jaxon, Inc. (United States): Jaxon is an AI-powered training platform that enables other AI to more accurately understand natural language from unstructured text.
Matter (Portugal): How much do we take from the planet and how much do we give back? Our vision is to reshape the narrative around waste.
Mellowvans (South Africa): MellowVans are electric delivery vehicles that provide low-cost, efficient and emission-free delivery services in cities.
Mobilized Construction Limited (United Kingdom): Mobilized Construction provides real-time and predictive machine-learning analytics to monitor and forecast road network road deterioration.
NaturLoop (Switzerland): NaturLoop AG are the pioneers of Cocoboard, the first 100% bio-based panel for the furniture and construction industry.
nul (Switzerland): No water. No plastic. No toxins. No nonsense. Nul is making the personal and household care industry more sustainable.
Outlander Materials (Netherlands): Outlander Materials is a clean biotech company focused on upcycling food waste streams to new alternative materials such as UnPlastic.
SecondCircle (Denmark)
Transit X (United States): A new mass transit service to replace buses, trains, and cars — convenient, dependable, affordable, and environmentally sustainable.
Energy / Clean Tech
Cyltronic AG (Switzerland): Cyltronic AG launches world’s one and only electric cylinder for the direct replacement of standard based pneumatic cylinders.
Element 16 Technologies, Inc. (United States): Element 16 makes 24-hour renewable industrial process heat competitive with fossil fuels with our sulfur heat storage technology.
Heatneutral (Switzerland): We are creating the future of domestic and industrial CO2 neutral heating devices with zeros emissions.
Ovon Home (United Kingdom)
Oxyle AG (Switzerland): Oxyle provides efficient wastewater treatment with game-changing reactors that degrade >90% of toxic & persistent pollutants from effluents.
SmartHelio (Switzerland): SmartHelio brings second life to solar panels, helping to generate more clean energy and prevent e-waste using out patent pending IoT sensor.
Solarflux Energy Technologies, Inc. (United States): Solarflux provides a low-cost, flexibly deployable distributed solar thermal energy solution suitable for a wide range of use cases.
SolFoil Oy (Finland): Compact, easy to use and affordable solar heated packages allow heating, cooking and pasteurizing without hassle, smoke or risk of fire.
UNISERS Ltd (Switzerland): 40 to 70% of high-end computer chips are defect. UNISERS detects the invisible defect sources and enables financial benefits of $2b-20b/year.
WeCo (France): Public flush toilet which is environmentally friendly and allow for the cities a sustainable and economical development of its resources.
Social Impact
BrightCure (United Kingdom): We are biotech company developing next-generation microbiome solutions for women suffering from urinary tract and vaginal infections.
Capture (Singapore): Build and engage a planet-friendly workforce with the Capture app and platform.
Plastogaz (Switzerland): Plastogaz develops plastic valorization technologies centered on catalysis.
TrashCon Labs Private Limited (India): TrashCon’s an automated zero waste system, with globally awarded waste recycling technologies and circular economy models.
About MassChallenge
MassChallenge is the global network for innovators. Headquartered in the United States with seven locations worldwide, MassChallenge equips bold entrepreneurs to disrupt the status quo and to create meaningful change. Since launching in 2009, more than 2,928 MassChallenge alumni have raised more than $8.6B in funding, generated more than $3.6 B in revenue, and created more than 186,000 total jobs. Learn more about MassChallenge at masschallenge.org.
MassChallenge Switzerland Partners
Barry Callebaut, Bühler, Nestlé, Givaudan, DSM, Südzucker, General Mills, Philip Morris International, Canton of VAUD (Economic Promotion), Candon of VAUD (Board of Higher Education), Swiss Economic Forum, Mazars, Kellerhals – Carrard, Reuteler & Cie, Inartis Foundation, Federation International de I’Automobile and EIT Food.