New batch selected for the Kickstart accelerator

Kickstart Innovation is an open innovation program designed to foster collaboration between startups and corporate organizations. Over the past decade, the program has built a track record that saw alumni startups raise over CHF 2.8 billion by 2024, this year’s cohort is set to rethink topics such as health, nutrition, and technology in a profound, data-driven, and consciously responsible way through partnerships with major Swiss employers, including AXA, City of Zurich, Coop, la Mobilière, MSD, PostFinance/VNTR, Swisscom, and more.

For this year’s edition, one quarter of the cohort are Swiss startups, many originating from university spin-offs and tech hubs. International startups from the USA, Hong Kong, the Netherlands, the UK, South Africa, and Australia also joined the cohort to establish a market entry in Switzerland, underscoring the country’s global appeal as a thriving ecosystem for innovation, collaboration, and business growth.

The new cohort comprises the following startups:

Fintech & Insurance

UMushroom (Switzerland) – wants to make investing accessible by offering professional tools, educational resources, and a collaborative community to help users learn, practice, and enhance their financial skills.

Aurigin.ai (Switzerland) – specializing in real-time detection of deepfakes, synthetic speech, and AI-generated content across audio and video, providing over 98% accuracy and instant notifications for organizations and individuals.

Fini (Netherlands), Legora (Sweden), Hello Customer (Belgium), Almanax (USA), Superlikers (USA), Datactics Ltd (uk) and Meeco (Australia).

Food and Retail

Food Brewer (Switzerland) – produces cultivated cocoa and coffee powder using plant cellular agriculture as an alternative to conventional farming.

Fruitful (Switzerland) – develops AI-powered optimization software for greenhouses and vertical farms, helping growers improve crop quality while reducing resource use and operational costs through data-driven decision-making.

Others: Pacifico Biolabs (Germany), WeShop AI (Hong Kong), Circly (Austria), Green Spot Technologies (France)

Health and Wellness

Genknowme (Switzerland) – offers an epigenetic blood test revealing biological age and stress-related changes, positioning Switzerland at the forefront of the global longevity medicine market.

Maven Health (Switzerland) – developed a Metabolic Insights test that uses Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) technology to analyze saliva samples and measure 47 metabolites, helping healthcare providers identify early signs of metabolic dysregulation.

Others: VivoSensMedica (Germany), Traverse Health (Netherlands), Opmed.ai (Israel) and Spearfish Corporation (USA)

Smart Cities

mygrid (Switzerland) – offers energy solutions for residential and commercial buildings, focusing on integrating electric vehicle charging infrastructure seamlessly.

FindMee (Switzerland) – offers innovative tracking solutions designed to help businesses easily locate and secure their assets, vehicles, or machinery. Their Findmee app provides real-time monitoring, maintenance alerts, and automated reporting, helping companies manage their operations more efficiently and transparently.

WattAnyWhere (Switzerland) – converts ethanol into clean electricity through a fuel cell-based generator. Their pollutant-free, compact, and transportable generators provide high power output (300 kW) with zero harmful emissions, making them ideal for diverse industries.

Other: Infrared City GmbH (Austria)

New Work and Learning

Evolve (USA), digemy.com (South Africa), Mindstone (UK), zick learn (Ireland) and Scholé (USA)

Intrapreneurship teams
Five teams from corporate organizations have also been selected to further advance their solutions. KUORI (HSG START Accelerator), SecondWave (CSEM), SmartHear (CSEM), HELIOW (CSEM) and NEEDLESS (CSEM).

(Press release/RAN)