Welcome to our dedicated page for programs aimed at Swiss-based startups and entrepreneurs! Here, you'll find various resources, tools, and programs that help you succeed in your entrepreneurial journey. Currently, the overview features 24 programs/entities across Switzerland. The overview below is still a work in progress and I will soon add more resources.
The programs are divided by stage: Pre-seed/Seed, Series A+ & Internationalization.
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🙏 Kudos to Federico Lorenzon for curating the overview on LinkedIn 🙏
A startup is in the pre-seed phase when it's just an idea with a strong founding team, but before a product is built. The seed phase comes next when the startup uses funding to develop a prototype and validate its market fit. Here are the programs in Switzerland in alphabetical and stage order:
Phase 0: Ideation Phase
🌉 BRIDGE Programme: This initiative allows researchers to transform their research into products or services. It offers two types of funding: Proof of Concept support, which grants up to CHF 130k/year, and Discovery support, which provides up to CHF 850k over four years.
👩🔬 Digital Health Nation by DayOne Basel: The Digital Health Nation Innovation Booster, in partnership with Innosuisse, fosters radical innovation in Swiss healthcare by transforming ideas into solutions that deliver real value to patients and healthcare professionals.
EPFL Innogrants: The CHF 100K grant is intended as a salary for the future startup founder, for a maximum duration of one year. You will need to be hosted in an EPFL Lab where you will be incubating your spinoff.
EPFL Ignition Grant: The Ignition grant is early stage funding, giving you a chance to validate your technology and develop a first prototype or find your right market fit. The CHF 30K can be in the form of a salary and/or of consumables and/or outsourcing needs. The grant is for a maximum of 6 months. You will need be hosted in an EPFL Lab where you will be incubating your spinoff.
🏫 **ETH Entrepreneurship, EPFL-UNIL Entrepreneur Club,** and Entrepreneurship Club Bern: These organizations offer training and courses to help students embark on their entrepreneurship journey.
🏫 ETH Student Project House: The ETH Student Project House (SPH) is a place for ETH students to explore and grow innovative ideas. SPH provides coaching, events, a maker space, a coworking space, funding and a community of makers and innovators. It supports any idea at any development stage.
🏫 **HSG START Accelerator:** a highly customized 3-month program in St.Gallen – founded by the University of St.Gallen, START Global, and Swiss Innovation Park East – equips you with crucial business strategy, connects you with seasoned mentors and investors, and fast-tracks your journey to venture capital.
📗 Innosuisse Business Creation by Venturelab: This is a 5-day intensive training program for aspiring entrepreneurs. It provides industry-specific support to help build your project.