Switzerland
Introduction
With a population of 8.8 million – roughly the same as New York City – and a GDP of $800B – comparable to Taiwan -, Switzerland consistently ranks at or near the top of Europe’s benchmarks when it comes to prosperity, quality of life and innovation.
An attractive destination for VC investment, with a track record of successful startup successes – 29 unicorns were born in Switzerland – and a rich pipeline of promising gems, the Swiss tech ecosystem nonetheless remains too often overlooked.
Switzerland is home to over 3.5k+ funded startups which raised $2.8B in VC investment in 2023.
Venture Capital
By stage
In 2023, Switzerland raised $2.8B in VC investment, a fall on the two previous year highs.
Below we break venture capital into three distinct stages:
- Startup stage ($0-15M rounds)
- Breakout stage ($15-100M rounds)
- Scaleup stage ($100M+ rounds).
This provides more consistent and timeless segmentation of the startup & venture capital landscape (more so than self-reported round labeling, which are applied inconsistently, especially between business cycles).
Early stage
Access early-stage funding rounds into Swiss startups here on the Dealroom platform.
Breakout stage
Access breakout-stage funding rounds into Swiss startups here on the Dealroom platform.
Scaleup stage
Access scaleup-stage funding rounds into Swiss startups here on the Dealroom platform.
By industry
Industry VC investment
The leading industries in Switzerland for VC investment include Health, Fintech, and Energy startups that raised over two-thirds of all investment investment in 2022.
Sub-Industry VC investment
On a more granular level, looking at sub-industries it’s startups in biotechnology, crypto and insurance startups. who raised the most VC investments.
Sources of capital
Like many European countries, Swiss startups raise most of their VC investment from investors located domestically or within Europe itself with this making up on average at least 40% of their investor's source location.
However, 2022 saw a notably strong year for investment coming from the US and Asian investors in comparison to that of others.
International comparisons
Country benchmarking
Switzerland currently ranks within the top 5 countries in terms of VC investment in Europe alongside the likes of the Sweden and the Netherlands.
Compare the Swiss ecosystem against other European ecosystems down below or here on the Dealroom platform.
City benchmarking
Leading cities such as Geneva and Zurich are amongst the top 50 city ecosystems in Europe in terms of VC investment.
Compare Swiss startup hubs against their European and global counterparts here on the platform.
Investment by industries benchmarking
Since 2018, there has been more than double the proportionate amounts of VC investment into Healthtech startups in Switzerland compared to the European average as seen below. Enterprise Software, Robotics and Security startups in Switzerland also attract more proportional investment compared to the European average.
Investors
The most active Swiss VC is Lausanne-based Seed investors Foundation FIT. They are followed by Zurich-based Verve Venture, Venture Kick, ZKB - Zürcher Kantonalbank, and Swiss ICT Investor Club (SICTIC).
Explore the data for the most active investors into the Swiss startup ecosystem as well as the most active Swiss investors here on the Dealroom platform.
Spotlight: Patents
The combination of leading research institutions, business-friendly climate, reliable infrastructure, quality workforce, existing technology landscape, and intellectual property protection makes Switzerland an exceptional hub for startups to flourish and foster groundbreaking innovation within its borders.
As of 2023, there are over 900+ companies with at least one patent.
In Dealroom's most recent tech startup ecosystem benchmarking report, published in December 2022, we found that three Swiss cities feature in the top 20 global hubs for Patent density, which can be seen in the table below.
Basel, Zurich and Geneva are the leading three ecosystems in Switzerland by patents. Zurich and Basel’s most registered patent category is Life Sciences while it is Information in Geneva.
Related Content
Reports: The next generation of tech ecosystems report
Reports: The Swiss startup ecosystem in numbers
Dealroom Data: Explore all funded Swiss startups and scaleups
Dealroom Data: Explore all Swiss funding rounds