Entrepreneurs, partners, mentors, judges and guests gathered to celebrate entrepreneurship at the first MassChallenge Switzerland Awards. The event featured pitches from the top 13, and speeches from Elmar Mock, Co-founder of Swatch, Stefan Scheiber, CEO of Bler Group and Toby Wolf, Economic and Commercial Officer at the US Embassy in Bern.
The Awards capped off an active year for MassChallenge Switzerland. Over 450 startups applied to join and of the 70 selected companies, 13 were chosen for the final judging. Prize money and in-kind awards were granted to the most impactful and high potential projects.
CHF 100’000 Diamond Level was awarded to machIQ Industrial Services Inc. and Versantis. CHF 50’000 Gold Level granted to SwissDecode, Taste of Kenya, TwentyGreen and Xsensio. Aerotain, Darix, Fastree3D, Gait Up, homePad Solutions, Intento and Sensorwake received In-Kind Silver level consisting in professional support and expertise provided by the Inartis Foundation and incubation in the MassChallenge coworking space.
Tonight MassChallenge also celebrated passing a milestone of accelerating over 1,000 alumni, bringing the total to 1,211. In total, these 1,211 startups have raised over $1,8 billion in funding, generated over $700 million in revenue, and created 60000+ jobs. Notable alumni include Gingko Bioworks (Boston, 2010), Handy (Boston, 2012), Localytics (Boston, 2010), Cambridge Bioaugmentation Systems (UK, 2015), and Turo (Boston, 2010).
“We have come a long way since 2010 when we ran our first accelerator in Boston. We now have accelerators in five countries and growing, and have helped accelerate over 1,200 startups. They are truly making an impact on the world addressing some of the worlds biggest problems through innovation and creating jobs of the future. This is only the beginning and Im excited to watch what our alumni continue to accomplish in the years to come,” said John Harthorne, Founder and CEO of MassChallenge.
“We are celebrating two main things: the end of an exciting and impactful first program here in Switzerland, and the launch of the 2nd program of MassChallenge Switzerland that will take place in UniverCit(Renens), from June to November 2017,” said Beno Dubuis, President of the Inartis Foundation, one of the founding partners, who also announced officially the “creation of a dedicated association to support the coming classes of MassChallenge Switzerland.” Applications for MassChallenge Switzerland programme will open in February 2017. Informationon the process will be disclosed at masschallenge.org.
CHF 100’000 Diamond Winners
machIQ Industrial Services Inc.
France
Industrial services marketplace for peer-to-peer spare parts purchasing & trading, and a platform for remote diagnosis & technical support.
Versantis
Switzerland
Versantis is a pharmaceutical company developing the first drug capture platform for the treatment of life-threatening intoxications.
CHF 50’000 Gold Winners
SwissDeCode
Switzerland
Empowering supply chain inspectors to take 200x faster decisions about food authenticity & compliance to protect profitability and brand.
Taste of Kenya
United Kingdom
Simplifying the Kenyan Coffee Supply Chain by linking Kenyan coffee farmers to coffee roasters globally.
www.kenyancoffee.ie
TwentyGreen
Switzerland
TwentyGreen produces a greener natural feed supplement for more sustainable animal farming.
www.twentygreen.com
Xsensio
Switzerland
Xsensio develops the first “Lab-on-SkinTM” sensing platform, to track biochemical information at the surface of the skin.
In-kind Silver Winners
Aerotain
Switzerland
We shape the drone revolution by building safe and friendly entertainment drones.
www.aerotain.com
Darix
Switzerland
Vizir combines thermal vision and augmented reality to give fire fighters a clear vision in dark and smoky environments.
www.darix.ch
Fastree3D
Switzerland
Fastree3D imaging sensors help recognize and measure distance to fast moving objects in real-time, enabling automotive safety.
www.fastree3d.com
Gait Up SA
Switzerland
Gait Up makes and sells next generation wearable technology for motion analysis in the sports, healthcare and wellness industries.
www.gaitup.com
homePad Solutions SA
Switzerland
homePad the first full-stack SaaS solution for rental activities – 16bn European potential market.
www.homepad.com
Intento
Switzerland
Intento is an EPFL spin-off developing a solution for the rehabilitation of paralyzed stroke patients.
www.intento.ch
Sensorwake
France
Sensorwake improves the well- being and health of people by using the sense of smell.
www.sensorwake.com
About MassChallenge:
MassChallenge is the most startup-friendly accelerator on the planet. No equity and not-for-profit, we are obsessed with helping entrepreneurs across any industry. We also reward the highest-impact startups through a competition to win a portion of several million dollars in equity-free cash awards. Through our global network of accelerators in Boston, the UK, Israel, Switzerland, and Mexico, and unrivaled access to our corporate partners, we can have a massive impact – driving growth and creating value the world over. To date, 1,211 MassChallenge alumni have raised over $1.8 billion in funding, generated over $700 million in revenue, and created over 60,000 direct and indirect jobs. For more information, please visit masschallenge.org.
MassChallenge Switzerland Media Contact
Juliette Lemaignen
+41(0)21 697 11 21
jlemaignen@masschallenge.org
jlemaignen@masschallenge.org
###