Switzerland leads the way in spin-offs

Switzerland leads the way in spin-offs
Post Author webadmin
2025-11-20

Switzerland leads the way in spin-offs

The European Spinout Report 2025 analyses European value creation and trends in spinouts, highlighting the region’s leading academic institutions, countries, sectors, and founders. Launched by a group of VCs focussed on Spin-offs together with Dealrom.co, the report provides a comprehensive analysis of the academic spinout sector across Europe.

On a par with France and Germany

Switzerland consistently scores well, whether in terms of the number of start-ups, investments or exits. Even insiders may be surprised at how well Switzerland performs as a small country when comparing absolute figures. In terms of the number of VC-backed spin-offs, Switzerland ranks third behind the UK and France but ahead of Germany. The same picture emerges when looking at total capital invested. The UK is clearly ahead, followed by a group comprising France, Switzerland and Germany. It is no surprise that Switzerland is well ahead of all other countries in a per capita comparison of all indicators.

For once, Switzerland also impresses in terms of exits. The authors have identified six spin-off exits with a valuation of over USD 1 billion in 2025. No fewer than three of these transactions involved Swiss companies, namely Araris, Nexthink and ublox.

Leading in robotics

Robotics is identified as a particular Swiss strength. ETH Zurich has produced 41 VC-backed spin-offs, EPFL a further 22. This puts the two universities in first and second place in the rankings for this sector. More robotics spin-offs were founded at ETH and EPFL than at the remaining eight European universities in the top 10 list combined.

Three Swiss universities in the top 10

Switzerland also ranks excellently in the university rankings across all spin-off sectors. ETH Zurich is in third place, followed by EPFL in fourth. The University of Zurich is another Swiss university to make it into the top 10, coming in at eighth place.

Great importance for the economy

Overall, the report shows the economic impact of spin-offs.

  • Deep tech and life sciences spinouts from European universities are worth $398 billion, having created over 167,000 jobs across more than 7,300 startups.

  • Since 2015, value creation has accelerated, with 39% of all spinout value deriving from companies founded thereafter.

  • M&A activity for Deep Tech and Life sciences spinouts reached its highest level in 2024-2025, while IPOs all but disappeared after 2021.

  • 2025 is projected to be the second-strongest year for exit value, led by six $1B+ exits. Switzerland, UK and German universities made up all six $1B+ exits in 2025 among ETH, Oxford, EPFL, and the University of Tübingen

  • Spinouts have become a larger part of the wider technology ecosystem, accounting for 40% of new deeptech and life sciences startups since 2019, 80% more than 2010-2018.

However, the report also shows that the European investor scene is not yet able to keep up with the quality and quantity of European spin-offs. At the early stage, 86% of the capital for these companies came from within Europe, but nearly 50% of late-stage funding for European deep tech and life sciences spinouts comes from outside Europe, mainly from the US.

The report can be downloaded for free. 

(Stefan Kyora)
Picture: Fotolia / Vasyl