Swiss Venture Capital Report: CHF 1.1 Billion for Swiss startups

Swiss venture capital financing remained at the low level of the previous year in the first half of 2024, with CHF 1’082.4 Million going to 138 financing rounds. Nevertheless, there were also positive signs, such as an increase in investment in the biotech sector.

This half-year update to Swiss Venture Capital Report, published by the online news portal startupticker.ch and the investor association SECA in cooperation with startup.ch, shows that investors are more confident than a year ago.

In the first six months of the current year, Swiss startups generated a total of CHF 1,082.4 Million in venture capital. This represents a decline of 9.5% on 2023. The number of financing rounds also decreased, falling by 10.4% to 138. But although the figures are roughly similar to those of last year, analysis of investment by sector and maturity level of the startups shows clear differences and a contradictory picture emerges. Although young startups from some sectors or fields such as AI and energy generation and storage are able to attract investors, late stage investment is in short supply.

Biotech sector with strong performance

Biotech startups generated more than CHF 400 Million, the third highest amount ever, with four of the five largest financing rounds completed by these companies. On the other hand, the amount invested in fintech and other ICT startups fell by over 40% compared with the previous year. The ICT boom in the years since 2019 is definitely over.

The number of later stage financings fell drastically, probably due to the lack of sales of startups to existing companies. The number of exits remained – at 20 – at the low level of the previous year.

Innovations on trend topics

However, early stage financing rounds attracted about CHF 350 Million in investment, over 50% more than in the same period last year. One reason is likely to be that the startups have substantial innovations to offer on trend topics such as artificial intelligence, battery technology and weight loss medication.

Free funds for investment

A broad-based survey of about 100 Swiss startup investors, conducted by SECA, provides an outlook for the next 12 months. The results show that investors have ‘dry powder’; i.e. funds available for investment. The vast majority expect the number of investment opportunities and the number of investments to increase over the next 12 months.

In addition, opportunities for sale of startups from the portfolio should increase again over the course of the year. Recently, buyers of startups have been cautious, while impatience among investors has increased. On the whole, investors are more optimistic than they were a year ago – with one exception: they continue to see the fundraising environment for themselves as difficult.

Source: press release