Renens, November 1, 2019 – MassChallenge Switzerland, part of MassChallenge’s global network of zero-equity startup accelerators, yesterday awarded CHF 500K in cash prizes to the 12 top startups in its fourth cohort.
“I would like to congratulate the entire MassChallenge 2019 cohort, with a special shout out to our top 12. It has been amazing to see the journey of such a diverse group of 76 startups, that were selected out of more than 1,000 that applied, said Matt Lashmar, Managing Director of MassChallenge Switzerland. “MassChallenge Switzerland and our experts and our corporate partners have worked with these startups to help them all make progress, and in doing so, add value back into society.”
The MassChallenge Switzerland 2019 Awards Ceremony, held at the SwissTech Convention Center in Ecublens, shined a spotlight on the world’s most promising startups and corporate intrapreneurship teams and brought together entrepreneurs, corporate executives, inventors, media and other innovation A-listers. During the event, MassChallenge Switzerland and its partners also awarded more than CHF 200K of in-kind prizes to startups in the 2019 cohort: Mazars will provide one year of accountancy worth CHF 10K to ARTIRIA Medical, Liquid Logical, and Tomplay; Reuteler & Cie will provide 12 hours of IP services to BFT, s.r.o., Silencions, PXL Vision, Liquid Logical, CellSpring, and ARTIRIA Medical; and Kellerhals & Carrard will provide 12 hours of legal services to Emotion Food Company, BFT, s.r.o., Silencions, Planted, Enterprise Bot, and CellSpring.
The Awards Ceremony also highlighted MassChallenge Switzerland’s work helping entrepreneurs create impact. Since 2016, MassChallenge Switzerland has quickly become a leading driver of innovation and entrepreneurship in Europe by connecting startups with the experts and resources they need to grow, and by launching a number of specific verticals addressing some of the world’s most pressing challenges. Entering its fifth cohort in 2020, MassChallenge Switzerland, the World Business Council for Sustainable Develpment (WBCSD) and One Young World will join forces and work together with one objective: find the ten most impactful solutions for climate change mitigation every year until 2025 and multiply them globally before 2030.
“Given our mission and commitment the future looks surely bright, but for now let’s congratulate this year’s winners and all of the startups from the 2019 Switzerland cohort,” said Matt Lashmar, Managing Director of MassChallenge Switzerland.
2019 MASSCHALLENGE SWITZERLAND WINNERS
CHF 150K Diamond Winner
ARTIRIA Medical (Switzerland): We developed a disruptive medical device allowing stroke surgeons to navigate in brain arteries with unprecedented speed and efficacy.
CHF 80K Platinum Winners
AbuErdan (Egypt): AbuErdan is a cloud-based management system empowering poultry companies with tools to increase their profitability and decrease their waste.
CellSpring (Switzerland): We use a proprietary tool to identify exosome cargo linked to cancer metastasis and develop ‘biomarker hits’ into liquid biopsy diagnostics.
CHF 30K Gold Winners
Enterprise Bot (Switzerland): Enterprise Bot is an Artificial Intelligence company that build chatbot solutions for enterprises.
PXL Vision (Switzerland): PXL Vision’s Daego® is a technology platform for secure identity verification and the creation & management of trustable digital identities.
Planted (Switzerland): Planted creates tasty ‘meat’ directly from plants – and skips the animal. Our plant-based meat is sustainable, healthy and cruelty-free.
SEADS – SEA DEFENCE SOLUTIONS (United Kingdom): 10 rivers are responsible for 80% of the total plastic entering the Oceans. Our patented technology stops it and sends it to recycle.
Tomplay (Switzerland): Tomplay invents the Interactive Sheet Music and offers all musicians a unique tool to learn and play music.
CHF 10K Silver Winners
BFT, s.r.o. (Slovakia): BFT developed new processing method for sugar beet to alternative sweeteners with health benefits, offers also value and cost optimisatation.
Emotion Food Company (Switzerland): EFC is a company specialized in the development of solutions for people suffering from dysphagia or swallowing disorders.
Liquid Logical (United Kingdom): Liquid Logical have invented a new technology which brings water to boiling temp instantly without a tank. Using exact time, water, energy.
Silencions (Switzerland): Our mission is to bring back silence to people’s everyday life by significantly reducing noise emission in a simple and economical manner.
Best Corporate Innovation Team
PackNeutral, Corporate Innovation Team – Nestlé (Switzerland): Our planet is being overwhelmed by plastic pollution. We will help brand owners to recover their packaging with help from their consumers
About MassChallenge
MassChallenge is a global network of zero-equity startup accelerators. Headquartered in the United States with locations in Boston, Israel, Mexico, Rhode Island, Switzerland, and Texas, MassChallenge is committed to strengthening the global innovation ecosystem by supporting high-potential startups across all industries, from anywhere in the world. To date, our 2,344 MassChallenge alumni have raised more than $5 billion in funding, generated more than $2.7 billion in revenue, and created more than 136,000 total jobs. Learn more about MassChallenge at masschallenge.org.
MassChallenge Switzerland Founding Partners
Bühler, GEA, Givaudan, Nestlé, Barry Callebaut, Swiss Economic Forum, Inartis Foundation