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Switzerland is one of the world’s most innovative countries and the home of promising startups. This month marks the 10th anniversary of the TOP 100 Swiss Startup Award, which brings together Swiss founders, international investors and corporates to explore and celebrate Switzerland’s innovative strength.
The event is for the Swiss startup ecosystem and is run by Venturelab. The organisation holds programmes and provides support to help entrepreneurial talent and young companies get off the ground. The TOP 100 Startup Award was set up 10 years ago to highlight the best deeptech startups in the country.
On September 9 in Zurich, the invitation-only awards ceremony will be taking place in compliance with local guidelines around Covid-19. Additionally, for the first time, the event will be streamed live online.
The event aims to highlight the work and achievements by startups – also in a particularly challenging year like 2020.
“When the crisis arrived in the spring, first of all a fever of uncertainty gripped entrepreneurs and startups. Would investors suddenly withdraw as they had in previous crises? Should we expect a cascade of cancellations of financing rounds? Fortunately, these fears were unjustified,” said Venturelab co-founder and managing partner Jordi Montserrat.
Startups have needed to adapt fast to the crisis and adjust their businesses to the new normal and an uncertain future while the pandemic has accelerated digitisation in multiple industries. The challenges ahead are big but not insurmountable and opportunities are within reach.
The TOP 100 Swiss Startup Award recognises the startups taking these challenges head on. Startups that are five years or less are eligible to take part and have the chance to be recognised in the official jury ranking as well as the annual TOP 100 public voting.
The awards recognise both new and more mature companies alike. As part of the proceedings, the event organisers will also choose scaleup companies for the TOP 25 Scale-up ranking. These are companies that are between five and 10 years old with significant growth potential ahead of them.
Many of the companies that have previously taken part in the awards have gone on to have great success. The 2019 edition of the award was topped by EPFL spin-off Flyability, which builds inspection and exploration drones that safely fly in dangerous or inaccessible places. The company has raised $18 million from investors to date.
“Our position in the TOP 100 Swiss Startup Award in the last years helped us build credibility with prospective investors and customers,” said Flyability co-founder and CTO Adrien Briod.
Learn more and sign up for the TOP 100 Swiss Startup Award livestream here.
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