The Greater Zurich Area once again recorded the largest share of investments in Swiss startups in 2023. This is the finding of the Swiss Venture Capital Report 2024, which startupticker.ch and the Swiss Private Equity & Corporate Finance Association (SECA) published on January 30.
The canton of Zurich remains the frontrunner, with 167 startups raising a total of 872 million Swiss francs. Wefox, which was established in 2014, singlehandedly accounted for 99 million francs, while GetYourGuide, which was founded in 2008, received 77 million francs. However, Zurich-based startups recorded a decline overall: in 2022 they raised over 2 billion francs in total.
The canton of Zug is now ranked second in terms of investment volume, with 34 startups attracting a total of 457 million francs. Zug-based cleantech company Atlas Agro, which was established in 2021, received the largest single investment of any Swiss startup in 2023 (283 million francs). “Zug has established itself as a new hotspot for startups”, said Stefan Kyora, editor-in-chief of startupticker.ch, presenting the report in Zurich.
Overall, the volume of investments in the Swiss startup landscape fell by 34.8 per cent to 2,588 million francs, which is still higher than in the pandemic-dominated year of 2020.
The largest sector, IT, recorded the sharpest decline in investments (down 62 per cent to 786 million francs). Cleantech was in second place with 630 million francs invested, while investments in biotech startups climbed 22 per cent to 492 million francs.
Pascale Vonmont, Director of the Gebert Rüf Stiftung, stressed Switzerland's quality as a location in her presentation of the report. “Switzerland has developed a stable ecosystem with a growing number of high tech startups.” ce/stk
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