DePoly comes first in TOP 100 Swiss Startup Award 2024

The 14th edition of the TOP 100 Swiss Startup Award has named the greatest startups in Switzerland as per a jury of 100 people. According to a press release, the cleantech company DePoly from Sitten in the Swiss canton of Valais took first place, followed by the engineering company Corintis from Lausanne in the canton of Vaud. The fintech company Yokoy from Zurich came in third. The awards were presented in Lausanne on September 4.

The three highest-ranked companies in the TOP 100 Swiss Startup Ranking 2024 come from three different industries: cleantech, engineering, and fintech. DePoly is breaking new ground in the recycling of plastic products. Corintis’ microfluid-based cooling system provides an efficient approach for semiconductor cooling. Yokoy helps large companies to lower costs using intelligent expense management. Stefan Steiner, the director of the TOP 100 program, commented: “The ranking reflects the strength of the Swiss startup ecosystem and showcases the diversity and strong high-tech background.”

There were 16 representatives from the cleantech industry in the TOP 100, showing a positive trend starting a few years ago with Climeworks, a startup from Zurich that specializes in the removal of carbon from the environment. Climeworks has since become a unicorn, a term used to describe startups that are valued at over one billion US dollars.

Gina Domanig from the Zurich-based venture capital company Emerald commented on this in her keynote speech: “As an investor, I've learned five lessons to succeed in cleantech: you need industry experts on your team, focus on growing sectors, prioritize sales, manage cash carefully, and choose investors who can help you break even quickly.”

The 14th edition of the TOP 100 Swiss Startup Award was organized by Venturelab from Schlieren in the canton of Zurich in collaboration with the major Zurich-based bank UBS, SIX Swiss Exchange, and Swiss Venture Club. ce/gba