Elderly people often lack proper nutrition due to appetite loss, swallowing difficulties, and challenges monitoring their intake. This leads to frailty, muscle loss, and higher healthcare costs. While many medical drinks available today address this issue, they often fall short in terms of taste acceptance due to artificial ingredients and off-flavours from vitamins. 

AlpinaSana uses a novel proprietary solution using innovative 3D imaging technology making daily scans of food intake from the elderly to identify their specific nutritional need and develops personalized nutritional supplements in delicious forms such as meal drinks, ice creams, and cookies.  AlpinaSana’s first production is already sold out, and the startup has secured multiple pilots with hospitals and clinics.

The FSMP market (Food for Special Medical Purposes) is currently valued at approximately USD 13 billion and is substantially growing. AlpinaSana aims to start serving the recognized 6% of malnourished patients, and further expand their offering, aiming for a 20% plus of the market. The startup’s primary customers include hospitals, care facilities, and home care services, which distribute AlpinaSana’s products directly to patients. The startup has garnered interest from 60 hospitals across Switzerland for its solution.

AlpinaSana will invest the CHF 150,000 from Venture Kick to accelerate business development and scaling production. Initiatives include an offline campaign, participation in major nutritional fairs, and the design and production of the first FSMP ice cream, set for launch in June 2024.

The team comprises CEO Robert Schreiber, CSO Jotam Bergfreund, CTO Raban Ilten, and Health Scientist Gommaar D'Hulst.

“Venture Kick was a game-changer for us. The program has not only refined our approach to achieving product-market fit but also inspired us to set and pursue ambitious goals. Venture Kick has indeed kicked us forward, encouraging us to think big and act boldly,” highlighted Robert Schreiber.

AlpinaSana’s team: Gommaar D’Hulst, Robert Schreiber, Raban Iten, and Jotam Bergfreund

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Startups developing AI-based nutritional tracking, decarbonized amonia production, a technology to uncover underground corrosion, restoration of soil health, and painless delivery of injectable drugs each win CHF 10,000 AlpinaSana's profile on Venture Kick

Identifying unknown molecules in drug, nutrition, or pesticide development is crucial but often lengthy and unsuccessful. Leveraging 20 years of research, Isospec Analytics founders Ahmed Ben Faleh, Stephan Warnke, and Thomas Rizzo, fused technologies from analytical chemistry, photonics, and cryogenic materials to create a tool that rapidly generates new insights into molecular structures.

Isospec Analytics raised USD 1.9M in pre-seed funding led by Founderful (formerly Wingman Ventures), with Tiny.vc, another.vc, and Venture Kick also participating. The funds will fuel the company through its commercial phase.

The company's tech quickly identifies unknown molecules, transforming months into minutes. It's revolutionizing molecular identification, especially in food and agritech for quality control and R&D. But its true potential lies in discovering new biomarkers for therapy and diagnostics. The team is currently working on the scalability of their platform, introducing automation at every step and implementing machine learning tools for data analysis and insight generation.

Isospec Analytics won the last stage of Venture Kick and participated in Venture Leaders Biotech in 2023.

“Venture Kick was instrumental in the development of Isospec Analytics. The funds from previous stages allowed us to acquire our first customers and further develop the technology and applications. Beyond the financial contribution, it provided us with the kick we needed to move fast via the different camps, workshops, and programs,” said Ahmed Ben Faleh, CEO of Isospec Analytics.

                                
            Isospec Analytics Co-Founders Thomas Rizzo, Ahmed Ben Faleh and Stephan Warnke

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Isospec Analytics wins CHF 150,000 to empower biotechnologies through molecular intelligence Isospec Analytics' profile on Venture Kick

Bcomp offers innovative flax-based fabrics, powerRibs™ and ampliTex™, as substitutes for traditional materials like carbon, glass, or plastic. These fabrics provide lightweight, stiffness, and safety advantages over synthetic composites, including high-vibration damping and impact resistance. By using these sustainable solutions, CO2 emissions can be significantly reduced throughout the lifecycle of products.

The company's innovative materials significantly aid decarbonization. For automotive interiors, they cut plastic use by up to 70% and reduce weight by 50% compared to traditional materials. These natural, high-performance materials can lower CO2 emissions by up to 60% from production to delivery. Plus, parts are recyclable, offering a second life. With certifications like IATF 16949 and ISO 9001, the thermoplastic range seamlessly integrates into mass production processes.

The funding round was led by EGS Beteiligungen AG (EGSB), a major Swiss institutional investor focused on growth-stage companies. Verve Ventures, Zürcher Kantonalbank, and RKKVC are additional new investors. It also saw a group of Series A and Series B participants deepen their investment in Bcomp, including Generali and Airbus Ventures, in addition to strategic investment funds associated with high-profile OEMs such as BMW i Ventures, Porsche Ventures and Volvo Cars Tech Fund.

The funding will boost Bcomp's production capacity, aiding its expansion into new markets in Asia and North America. With proven applications at Volvo and Polestar, the Swiss company aims to solidify its bio-composite leadership by introducing sustainable solutions across various sectors like rail, buses, aviation, aerospace, and consumer goods.

Besides being ranked among the TOP 100 Swiss Startups from 2011 to 2016, Bcomp participated in Venture Leaders Technology in 2012 and won the last stage of Venture Kick in 2011.

"I am probably one of the first-generation babies of Venturelab and its ecosystem, and I am a very good example of Venturelab’s work. I already felt 10 years ago that Venturelab had done a great job in structuring the ecosystem and there were a lot of tools out there. It has grown much more mature—from an already very mature situation back then," highlighted Christian Fischer, Bcomp's Co-Founder and CEO.

Bcomp's Co-Founders: CEO Christian Fischer and CTO Julien Rion

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Bcomp closes CHF 32 million Series B with mobility- and impact venture capital including BMW i Ventures Bcomp's profile on Venture Kick

The potential pain during IUD insertion impacts millions of women worldwide, largely due to the use of the century-old cervical tenaculum in gynaecological procedures. Carevix™, the suction cervical stabilizer, provides an appealing alternative to currently available tenaculum, filling an important unmet need and has demonstrated clinical effectiveness in reducing both pain and bleeding.

This Swiss collaboration combines Bayer (Schweiz)’s expertise in contraceptive solutions with ASPIVIX’s commitment to modernizing gynaecology. Bayer is a globally recognized leader in women’s health solutions and is one of the world’s top producers of IUDs and their shared goal is to offer women a more comfortable and efficient gynaecological experience, reducing the cases of pain associated with IUD procedures.

ASPIVIX was ranked among the TOP 100 Swiss Startups in 2020, won the last stage of Venture Kick, and participated in Venture Leaders Life Sciences in 2018.

Aspivix's team: Evmorfia Kilimtzidi (Quality Assurance Specialist), Eric Lluvich (Senior Manager Global Operations), Mathieu Horras (CEO and Co-Founder), Julien Fincin (CTO and Co-Founder), and Lara Piers (R&D Project Manager)

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Aspivix's profile on Venture Kick ASPIVIX closes Series A+ funding round with USD 5 million and wins EUREKA-EUROSTARS grant

Fibrosis represents a significant unmet medical challenge, contributing to over 45% of deaths in the developed world. Progressive fibrosis leads to the disruption of organ function and represents a significant cause of morbidity and mortality globally. Tandem Therapeutics aims to go beyond conventional cell targeting by harnessing the unique "mechanical fingerprint" of the extracellular matrix, known to drive disease progression.

Leveraging successful proof-of-concept data and with the support from Wyss Zurich, Tandem Therapeutics aims to develop lead candidates to treat progressive lung fibrosis, a devastatingly fatal disease with no available cure.

Tandem Therapeutics won Venture Kick and participated in Venture Leaders Biotech in 2023.

“Venture Leaders is a fantastic program for Swiss startups to understand entry and growth in the US market. The highly action-packed roadshow helped us sharpen our value proposition, bring in broad perspectives on the opportunities and a peer-network worth it’s value in gold. It should be a high priority for every biotech entrepreneur’s journey!” commented Mamta Chabria, CEO and Co-Founder of Tandem Therapeutics.

Tandem Therapeutics' Co-Founders: Prof. Dr. Viola Vogel, Dr. Mamta Chabria, and Dr. Martin Behe

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Tandem Therapeutics wins CHF 150,000 to advance fight against fibrotic cancer Tandem Therapeutics' profile on Venture Kick

Aquaculture is growing at substantial rates mainly due to ocean depletion and changes from meat to a healthier diet. However, the aquafeed supply is under pressure and is in search of sustainable solutions. Meanwhile, agricultural sidestreams accumulate or end up in landfills. That’s where Kidemis swings into action, by offering a proprietary fermentation tech to convert these sidestreams into affordable and high-quality nutrition for feed or food.

Kidemis is developing innovative solutions for the aquafeed sector. Their plant-based ingredient is targeted to replace fish biomass — also known as fishmeal — in current feed formulations for aquafarming. As the global market size of aquafeed is already approaching CHF 80 billion per year and is expected to grow further, the need to replace fishmeal is becoming critical. The urgency is driven by the contraction of ocean biomass and the increasing demand by global aquafeed players, who are Kidemis’ target customers.

Kidemis will invest CHF 150’000 from Venture Kick to advance its product development in collaboration with BFH/HAFL, where they currently run intensive live fish trials focused on product fine-tuning and productivity enhancement.

The founding team comprises CEO Constantin Marakhov, CSO/CTO Sean Wassermann, and John Ericsson, responsible for Finance and Strategy.

“Dealing with Venture Kick was an ultimate pleasure. The whole ecosystem is topped up with coaching and networking. During the three stages, we learned a lot and it helped us to sharpen our business model and market positioning,” highlighted Constantin Marakhov.

Kidemis’ team: CEO Constantin Marakhov, CSO/CTO Sean Wassermann, and Finance-Strategy Advisor John Ericsson

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Kidemis' profile on Venture Kick CHF 40,000 for aquafarming using mycellium technology, regeneration through protein engineering, and a vital patient data stream

   
Samuel Läubli, Co-Founder and CTO of Textshuttle, is taking the helm of Supertext’s management as its CEO immediately. Laura Fernández, CEO of Supertext Corporate, and Lucas Seiler, CEO of Textshuttle, will join the newly formed Executive Board.

Supertext blossomed within the nurturing environment of IFJ and Venturelab, where its journey of innovation and excellence began in 2005, while Textshuttle won the second stage of Venture Kick in 2009. 

"With Textshuttle, Venture Kick has supported a Swiss pioneer in Artificial Intelligence – more than 10 years before the technology became widespread. That's what I call foresight, which has given Textshuttle an important boost to start,"

commented Samuel Läubli, Co-Founder of Textshuttle and the new CEO of Supertext.

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Textshuttle's profile on Venture Kick

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Volumina Medical's profile on Venture Kick Volumina Medical closes its Series A funding to further develop its lead product Adipearl

Nerai Bio: Unlocking the full potential of CRISPR therapies
Today, 1 in 10 people worldwide suffer from a genetic disease, caused by a mutation in their DNA. Only 10% of these diseases have a treatment option available and even then, these treatments are directed at managing the disease instead of curing the underlying genetic cause. Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR) is poised to change that. It can be programmed to find a specific location in DNA and make an edit there, reverting the disease-causing mutation to its healthy state again. However, current CRISPR tools have major limitations around their targeting range, efficiency, and specificity. 
During their research, Sasha Melkonyan, Lukas Schmidheini, and Kim Marquart have built a high-throughput, AI-assisted protein engineering platform using a combination of directed evolution, lab automation, and machine learning to screen billions of proteins per day for a specific function. They are now using this platform to develop a new set of CRISPR tools that unlock the full potential of CRISPR therapies.
Venture Kick Stage 2 funds will help them to develop the business case for their product, find potential clients, and design their IP portfolio. 

Sentinus: Deep learning-based smart camera systems for automated quality control in manual assembly
Manual assembly is error-prone, especially in high-mix, low-volume production. Errors and error prevention create costs - costs that can be reduced by implementing deep-learning-based automated quality control. 
Sentinus develops smart cameras that can detect manual assembly steps during live production, allowing for automated documentation, feedback on realized steps, and instructions on upcoming steps. The smart cameras are developed as add-ons to existing digital worker guidance systems, widening their application range. Around 50 million people are working in manual assembly. With some projections, the SOM is estimated at 500’000 workstations that would greatly benefit from camera-based support systems. The Sentinus founding team comprises CEO Jonas Conrad and CTO Felix Schnarrenberger. Jonas is currently finalizing his PhD at ETH Zurich, where he is researching deep-learning applications in manual assembly. With a focus on machine learning for computer vision applications, Felix is in the final steps of his Master's in robotics at ETH Zurich.
With the Venture Kick funds, they will realize pilot projects to gain early feedback and develop the first product version.  

TofuPilot: Accelerating Hardware Innovation
The world needs hardware innovation now more than ever, but bringing new products to market remains too slow. Hardware product teams looking to innovate quickly find traditional industrial approaches limiting and agile methodologies inadequate for hardware's unique challenges.
The TofuPilot platform redefines hardware project collaboration, making project data actionable and speeding up development cycles. Founded by hardware veterans—Julien Buteau, Charlotte Evéquoz, and Félix Berthier—TofuPilot has met its early growth goals from Venture Kick Stage I and is gaining traction with hardware teams across Switzerland, Germany, and the United States.
With the support of Venture Kick Stage II funding, TofuPilot is on track to significantly cut time-to-market for new technologies, establishing itself as a crucial tool in the rapidly evolving hardware industry.

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The Series B2 funding round represents a significant step forward for hemotune, following the successful completion of preclinical development for its HemoSystem blood purification platform. This substantial investment will now allow the platform to move into clinical trials, marking a crucial phase in its development. The investment was led by Belmondo and existing investors including VP Venture Partners, HEMEX, OCCIDENT, Zürcher Kantonalbank, and joined by EFI.

The HemoSystem stands out for its ability to effectively remove large biomolecules directly from patients' bloodstreams, offering a unique approach to implement precision medicine multi-target treatments which would not be possible through drugs. Initially focusing on treating sepsis-related immune suppression, hemotune also plans to explore other potential uses for the platform in the future. Given the serious impact of sepsis, which leads to around 11 million deaths annually and is a major economic burden, the potential benefits of this innovative technology are significant for patients and healthcare systems alike.


hemotune's team

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hemotune raises CHF 7.25 million Series B1 funding for the development of their disruptive blood purification platform hemotune's profile on Venture Kick