General conditions

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1. The competition

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1.1 >>venture>> is an annual startup competition run by the >>venture>> foundation c/o Knecht Holding AG, Schwimmbadstrasse 1, 5210 Windisch (CHE-132.172.568). The >>venture>> foundation is a not-for-profit organization and participation in the competition, and its events is free of charge for all participants.

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1.2 The 2027 >>venture>> startup competition starts on October 1, 2026, and ends with the Award Ceremony on June 22, 2027. The deadline for the online entry form is November 30, 2026 at 23:59 CET. Only entries that address all questions of the online entry form and meet its minimum length requirements are considered.

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1.3 The competition is open to innovative and scalable startups or startup ideas across six verticals: Business & Finance, Consumer Solutions, Industrials & Engineering, Medtech & Healthcare, Pharma & Biotech, Social & Environmental Impact. Each startup or startup idea may only be entered once per competition edition and in only one of the six verticals. Participants propose their vertical of choice; >>venture>> makes the final assignment decision to a vertical.

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1.4 Participants in any of the six verticals can additionally take part in the annual Spotlight Award as advertised on www.venture.ch.

1.5 Selected semi-finalists (see 4.1) in any of the six verticals enter the Audience Award as advertised on www.venture.ch.

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1.6 The competition is held in several rounds. Participants enter by submitting the online entry form (see 3.1). After each round, the jury selects the participants who advance to the next round. The competition timeline and the requirements for each round are published on www.venture.ch and communicated to participants participating in later rounds via email.

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2. Entitlement to participate

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2.1 Participation is limited to Swiss startups:

Participation is open to individuals who are at least 18 years of age and to teams that include at least one such individual, provided that the startup or startup idea has a present link to Switzerland [or the Principality of Liechtenstein]: (a) the startup is registered in the commercial register; (b) at least one founder has their primary residence there or is enrolled at or employed by a higher education or research institution there; or (c) the entry is endorsed by Swissnex and at least one founder is a Swiss national. Swiss customers, investors, sales offices or advisors who are not founders are not sufficient.

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In addition, participants must declare in the online entry form that the startup is or will be incorporated in Switzerland or the Principality of Liechtenstein and will carry out the majority of its research and development there.

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2.2 Startup ideas that have not been incorporated yet can take part. If incorporated, the startup must not have been registered in the commercial registry before January 1, 2025. Research-intensive startups may have been incorporated on or after January 1, 2023, provided that, if incorporated before January 1, 2025, they have raised no more than CHF 2 million in funding. >>venture>> grants exceptions only in justified cases.

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2.3 Purpose of the startup:

• The startup shall not pursue an illegal business.

• The startup shall not focus on a religious purpose, and benefits must be offered to stakeholders regardless of their religion.

• The startup shall not focus on political lobbying or the direct exercise of political rights (e.g. no initiative committees, election campaigns).

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2.4 Participating again in the competition:

Participants are allowed to re-enter the competition with the same startup or startup idea in subsequent editions, unless they have been selected as a finalist (see 6.1). Finalists are allowed to re-enter the competition with a different startup or startup idea. Participants who re-enter with the same startup or startup idea must show in their entry the progress made since their previous participation (for example in product development, market validation, team or financing). Entries that are substantially identical to a previous entry may be excluded from consideration by the jury.

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2.5 The >>venture>> office reserves the right to refuse participation to anyone for any reason deemed applicable by the >>venture>> office.

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​​​​3. Conditions and forms of participation

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3.1 Conditions and deadline to submit:

Participation requires completion of the online entry form on the >>venture>> awards platform by 23:59 CET on November 30, 2026.

Participants selected to advance to a subsequent round must submit the further documents required for that round (such as a startup plan or a pitch presentation) in the form and by the deadlines published on the >>venture>> awards platform and communicated to them by e-mail. All document submissions must be completed via the >>venture>> awards platform in English.

>>venture>> at its own discretion, may extend the deadline for submissions in exceptional cases.

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3.2 Ownership of information:

Documentation, patterns and models submitted for the competition shall become the property of >>venture>>. There is no entitlement to the return of such items at the conclusion of the competition. Any intellectual property rights (including copyrights) in the entries and documents submitted shall remain with the participants, but >>venture>> shall be entitled to use such intellectual property rights for the purpose of the competition and for its own research on the startup ecosystem. >>venture>> publishes research results only in aggregated form that does not identify individual participants or startups. For research purposes, >>venture>> may also share information about the startups and startup ideas, including startup details from the entry form (such as funds raised) and jury scores, but not the answers to the screening questions or the full startup plans, with public research institutions among its co-organizers and the institutions represented in its Advisory Board, as described in the privacy policy. These institutions must keep the information confidential, may not attempt to identify individuals and may publish results only in aggregated form that does not identify individual participants or startups.

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3.3 By registering on the >>venture>> awards platform, the participant agrees to be bound by these General Conditions.

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3.4 >>venture>> may unilaterally amend these General Conditions. Amendments will be notified by e-mail to the participants in the current competition edition and apply to them from the date of notification. Participants who do not agree to an amendment may withdraw from the competition.

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​4. Mentoring

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4.1 Semi-finalists (Top 10) of each vertical will have the opportunity to connect with one or multiple mentors.

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4.2 The extent and duration of the mentoring shall be determined by the participant(s) and the mentors. Mentors work on a pro bono basis. >>venture>> instructs mentors to commit at least three hours to any semi-finalist team for the duration of the competition upon request by the team. Mentors may decline requests. Mentors are asked by >>venture>> to answer to team requests for two years beyond the end of the competition edition the team participated in on an ad-hoc basis. Any subsequent supportive relationship that goes beyond the suggested time investment by >>venture>> shall be subject to an agreement between mentor and team.

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5. The jury's decision​

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5.1 The jury shall deliberate in private.

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5.2 Formal requirements:

Entries that do not meet the formal requirements of the competition may be excluded from consideration by the jury. The formal requirements for consideration by the jury are the complete and timely submission of the online entry form and of any further documents required under 3.1.

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5.3 Originality of idea:

Entries based on ideas that have already been implemented in identical or similar fashion, or that do not differ from an already implemented idea in any significant aspect, may be excluded from consideration by the jury.

Entries that are based on a startup or startup idea already entered in a previous >>venture>> competition by a different team may be excluded from consideration by the jury.

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5.4 Jury’s feedback:

Each participant shall receive online access to the comments made by the jurors, with the exceptions of comments made by the members of the Advisory Board in the Finals, before the end of the competition. Jurors shall remain anonymous unless they explicitly agree to the publication of their name.

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5.5 The jury’s decision is final. No correspondence shall be entered into and there shall be no recourse to legal action against the decision by the jury.

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​6. Prizes

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6.1 The jury will select three finalists (top 3) per vertical, out of which the advisory board selects one winner (top 1) per vertical. The winner team in each vertical will receive CHF 50’000, and the two remaining finalist teams in each vertical will receive CHF 10’000 in prize money.

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6.2 The jury will also select one Grand Prize winner out of the six winner teams across the six verticals. The Grand Prize winner will receive an additional CHF 100’000 in prize money.

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6.3 The winner team of the Spotlight Award will receive CHF 50'000 in prize money. In case a finalist or a winner team in one of the six verticals wins the Spotlight Award, the prize money for the Spotlight Award will be awarded in addition to the prize money in the vertical.

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6.4 The winner team of the Audience Award will receive CHF 10,000 in prize money. This amount is in addition to the prize money awarded for being selected as a finalist or winner in a vertical.

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6.5 The prizes will be paid by bank transfer to the winners chosen by the jury within one month after the receipt of a valid bank relation by the >>venture>> office from the winner.

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6.6 Participants in the competition are not entitled to compensation for expenses of any kind.

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​​​7. Communication and publication

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7.1 >>venture>> may publish the following information about participants in the media and in >>venture>> channels, such as the >>venture>> website, newsletter and social media: (a) for semi-finalists, the startup name or provisional project name, the short description of the startup or startup idea as entered in the online entry form, the startup website, the vertical, and their team picture, logo and email address; (b) for the finalists (top 3) of each vertical, a video about the team and its project, which >>venture>> may record; and (c) photos, videos and contributions from events and the award ceremony, which are also followed by the media. Participants agree to these publications.

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7.2 Apart from this, no participant, team or entry-related data shall be published or disclosed without the explicit agreement of the participants, except as provided in these General Conditions (in particular Sections 3.2, 8.2, 8.3, 9.2 and 9.3) or where disclosure is required by law. In particular, answers to the screening questions, startup plans and other documents submitted in later rounds are not published.

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7.3 The winners of the competition promise to mention their successful participation in >>venture>> in their own communications in the future.

 

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​8. Alumni

 

8.1 >>venture>> semi-finalists, finalists, and winners, including winners of the Audience Award and the Spotlight Award, become part of the >>venture>> alumni community following the conclusion of the competition edition they entered.

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8.2 Members of the >>venture>> alumni community are listed in the alumni directory on www.venture.ch. Only information compliant with Section 7.1 of these General Conditions is published in the directory.

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8.3 >>venture>> stays in touch with its alumni after the competition. It follows the development of their startups, may invite them to events, and may put them in contact with other startups, corporates and investors. >>venture>> may share lists of alumni (name, startup, short description, sector, competition edition, round reached, and business contact details) with its co-organizers and institutions on its Advisory Board as published on www.venture.ch, so that they can contact alumni about support offers, collaborations or investments. Alumni can ask >>venture>> at any time not to be included in these lists. Alumni can leave the alumni community at any time by notifying >>venture>>.

 

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​​9. Data protection and confidentiality

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9.1 >>venture>> processes participants’ personal data as described in its privacy policy.

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9.2 Confidentiality:

>>venture>> treats participant and entry-related data as confidential and ensures that its staff do the same. Mentors, industry contacts, jurors, experts at events, advisory board members, and other persons involved in the competition who have access to confidential participant or entry-related data, shall commit themselves toward the participants to the maintenance of confidentiality by means of a confidentiality declaration. Service providers that host or process entries and startup plans on behalf of >>venture>> (listed in Section 8.1 of the privacy policy) are bound by contractual confidentiality and data protection obligations.

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9.3 Data sharing with organizing institutions:

Participants agree that >>venture>> may share their contact details, together with the startup name or provisional project name, the short description of the startup or startup idea as entered in the online entry form, the startup website and the vertical, with the co-organizing institutions of >>venture>> (ETH Zurich, McKinsey & Company, Knecht Holding, Innosuisse and EPFL) and the organizations represented in the Advisory Board as listed on www.venture.ch, so that they can inform participants about their own startup support offers and contact them, including by email, to explore collaborations. This is a condition of participation in the competition, which is free of charge. For research purposes, >>venture>> may also share information about the startups and startup ideas, but not the answers to the screening questions, the full startup plans or the names and contact details of participants, with public research institutions among these institutions (Section 3.2). In addition, participants can opt in to share their full entry and startup plan data with research departments of ETH Zurich and EPFL. This opt-in is voluntary and has no effect on participation in the competition. Details are set out in Sections 5.4 and 5.6 of the privacy policy.

 

​10. Online registration with >>venture>>

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10.1 Users of the >>venture>> online tools (in the following: user(s)) agree to the following provisions. How >>venture>> processes users’ personal data, including through the service providers that host the online tools, is described in the privacy policy. Where an online tool requires users to accept the provider’s own terms of use, those terms also apply to the use of that tool.

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10.2 Users are responsible for the content of their online profiles and for the information they provide, and they declare the particulars they supply are true and correct. Users who provide personal data of team members or other third parties confirm that they are entitled to do so and that they have informed these persons about the privacy policy.

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10.3 Users are obligated to keep the password of their online profiles confidential. Users are not allowed to transfer or make their online profile available for use to third parties.

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10.4 Users are obligated not to misuse the >>venture>> online tools, in particular not to:

• Distribute defamatory, offensive or in any other way unlawful material or any similar material. In particular, this refers to pornographic, racist, inciting or similar contents.

• Bring onto the >>venture>> online tools computer viruses (infected software) or software or other material that could in any way damage hardware or software of >>venture>>, other users of the platform or third parties.

• Publish data that is copyright protected, unless the user is in possession of the usage rights.

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10.5 >>venture>> reserves the right to expunge contents of the >>venture>> online tools without offering reasons, to change the entire platforms or parts thereof, or to cease their operation.

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​11. Liability

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11.1 To the extent permitted by law, >>venture>>, its organizers and the members of the advisory board exclude any liability for loss or damage in connection with the competition, including loss or damage caused by employees or other auxiliaries. Liability for intentional acts and gross negligence remains unaffected.

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11.2 Subject to Section 11.1, >>venture>> is not liable for the possible misuse of user data by third parties.

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