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🚀 Introducing The Starting Line!

Applications for the 2027 >>venture>> competition open on October 1 — and this year, we’re kicking things off differently.

On October 5, join us at EPFL to discover what it takes to make it to the Top 200 and get a first taste of the new >>venture>> experience.

Watch real jurors score startups live, discover the six criteria they’ll be looking for, and put your own thinking to the test.

✍️ Writing Room: work on your own answer to one of the six jury criteria, with practical prompts and guidance to help you structure your thinking.
💡 Clinics: get your answer challenged by experienced mentors, and ask questions before submitting your application.
🤝 Apéro: meet fellow founders, the >>venture>> team, and members of our expert community.

Whether you have a startup, a side project, or just an idea, The Starting Line is for you.

And with the 2027 edition marking 30 years of >>venture>>, there’s never been a better time to join us.

🔗 Find out more about the event and register by following the link in our bio.

📅 October 5, 2026 | 6:30 PM
📍 EPFL, MED Building (Lausanne)
🎟️ Free to attend

6 criteria. 200 spots. One form. Do you have what it takes?

Exciting changes are coming to the >>venture>> 2027 application process!

The application now begins with only a short online form. It opens October 1 and closes November 30. From every team that applies, 200 move forward to the full startup plan.

Six criteria decide who makes that cut: Innovation, Team, Technology & Product, Market, Sustainability & Impact, and Business.

We put the whole thing on one page so you can get a head start on your free application.

No fee. No 20-slide deck. Only one short form.

📄 Download our free one-pager and we will tell you the moment applications open: venture.ch

☀️ Summer Series | Pharma & Biotech

What if one of the biggest threats to modern medicine could be tackled with a vaccine?

For Ulrich Wuellner, Director External Innovation at @jnj, that's what makes a biotech startup compelling: identifying a problem that truly matters and showing how your solution could make a difference for patients.

In this year's Pharma & Biotech vertical, that ambition was everywhere. Baxiva, Isospec Analytics and Santella made it to the finals, tackling very different challenges across healthcare and life sciences.

But Baxiva's mission speaks directly to a growing global challenge: antimicrobial resistance.

The @ethzurich spin-off is developing vaccines against infections caused by Gram-negative bacteria, starting with extraintestinal pathogenic E. coli (ExPEC)—a major cause of urinary tract infections and a potentially life-threatening cause of sepsis. Despite the scale of the problem, there is currently no approved vaccine against ExPEC.

And as Bettina Ernst, CEO of PRECLIN Biosystems, reminds us, solving a problem this complex takes more than promising science. It takes a team with the expertise, passion and determination to bring it to the market.

That combination ultimately earned Baxiva the Advisory Board's selection as the Pharma & Biotech winner.

A bold scientific challenge. A significant unmet need. And a team determined to turn the two into a solution.

Congratulations to Baxiva, and to Isospec Analytics and Santella for making it to the finals. 👏

#venture #SwissStartups #Pharma #Biotech #Vaccines #Innovation

☀️ Summer Series | Medtech & Healthcare

During Jury Round 2, our Medtech & Healthcare jury listened to the pitches of 10 semi-finalists before selecting Actival, Emerstat and @reliyoo as this year's three finalists.

🎥 In this video, Arnd Kaltofen-Ehmann, Managing Partner at VI Partners, and Claudine Blaser, Managing Director at @medgate_ch, reflect on what made this year's vertical so compelling: strong founder teams, high-quality projects and a remarkable breadth of technologies and industries.

For Claudine, bringing together jury members with different perspectives is a key part of the process. Their discussions don't just help identify the strongest startups—they also give founders valuable insights and perspectives to take forward.

Actival is a great example of what can emerge from this kind of cross-disciplinary environment. Later selected by our Advisory Board as the Medtech & Healthcare winner, the @csemtech spin-off brings together expertise in dentistry, science, engineering and business to rethink the dental aligner. Its Active Aligner uses patented 3D-printed microchannels to deliver antibacterial and other beneficial fluids directly where they are needed, addressing oral-health challenges associated with conventional aligners.

From 10 semi-finalists to 3 finalists, the quality of this year's vertical made the choice a difficult one. And, as Arnd put it, there were several startups he could genuinely imagine investing in.

Congratulations once again to Actival on winning the Medtech & Healthcare vertical, and to Emerstat and RELiYOO for making it to the finals. 👏

#venture #SwissStartups #Medtech #Healthcare #Innovation #Entrepreneurship

🚀 Looking for another opportunity to showcase your startup?

While applications to our competition open on October 1, our partners at the @eth_entrepreneurclub are already accepting applications for the LAUNCH Startup Pitching Competition, taking place at LAUNCH 2026 on November 3 at @ethzurich. As Zurich's largest startup conference, @launch_ethec brings together founders, investors, and innovators from across Europe for a day dedicated to entrepreneurship.

The top 7 startups will pitch live in front of founders, investors, and industry leaders, competing for:
🏆 The >>venture>> mentorship programme
💼 Up to CHF 20,000 in EMBARK Law legal packages

The competition is open to ambitious pre-seed and early-seed startups from across Europe, with a preference for technology-driven ventures in AI, climate, fintech, health, software, and more. No university affiliation is required.

⏳ Applications are reviewed on a first-come, first-served basis and close on September 1. Submit your 2-page pitch deck early to maximize your chances.

👉 Apply now by following the link in our bio.

#Startups #Entrepreneurship #LAUNCH2026 #ETHEntrepreneurClub #StartupPitch #Innovation #Founders

🚀 From cutting plastic waste with scissors to building an industrial recycling plant.

Every startup has a moment when an idea starts to become something bigger.

For @depoly.sa, that journey began with a simple but ambitious question: Could plastic waste be transformed back into its original building blocks?

After hundreds of experiments—and countless setbacks—the team proved it could.

Winning >>venture>> in 2019 marked an important milestone.

As CEO and co-founder Samantha Anderson recalls: "For us, it was a decisive moment—it showed we were on the right track."

Since then, DePoly has continued to scale its technology, moving from laboratory experiments to industrial production and bringing the vision of a truly circular plastics economy one step closer to reality.

Stories like DePoly's remind us that breakthrough innovation rarely happens overnight. It takes persistence, resilience, and a community that believes in bold ideas.

📖 Read the full interview with Samantha Anderson in our 2025 Annual Report—find it at venture.ch under About > Press & Media.

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NEWS

Groam: the revolution of the foam industry

From car parks to renewable energy

Recycling boats becomes possible with Composite Recycling

A chat with Alex Osterwalder, inventor of the Business Model Canvas

2022 >>venture>> Finalists Prepare to be Pitch Perfect

>>venture>> 2022 Early Bird Winners

A Leading Female Perspective on Swiss Female Entrepreneurship

>>venture>> Partners with SEIF to Introduce New Evaluation Criterion

>>venture>> Celebrates its 25th Anniversary with an Early Bird Offer for Startups

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NEWS

Groam: the revolution of the foam industry

From car parks to renewable energy

Recycling boats becomes possible with Composite Recycling

A chat with Alex Osterwalder, inventor of the Business Model Canvas

2022 >>venture>> Finalists Prepare to be Pitch Perfect

>>venture>> 2022 Early Bird Winners

A Leading Female Perspective on Swiss Female Entrepreneurship

>>venture>> Partners with SEIF to Introduce New Evaluation Criterion

>>venture>> Celebrates its 25th Anniversary with an Early Bird Offer for Startups

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Instagram

About us

Resources

Contact us

Subscribe to our newsletter

Join our mailing list to learn about the competition, upcoming events, resources, and more.

Follow us

A joint initiative of