Zurich is Switzerland’s leading startup hub

The startup hub of Zurich saw great growth in 2019. The number of funding rounds rose from 26 to 92, which is the strongest rise of all major hubs in Europe, according to a report from corporate consulting firm EY. Based on the number of funding rounds, only Munich, Stockholm and the three capitals of Berlin, Paris and London come ahead of Zurich. In the previous year, Zurich had been ranked 26th.

Growth is even stronger in the volume of funding: while Zurich startups had raised €77 million in 2017, this has risen to just €405 million only a year later. Zurich is therefore one of the top ten cities, leaving behind places such as Cambridge in the UK.

Through WayRay, Zurich also accounted for the third largest individual funding round in Switzerland. The company develops technology that displays information on the car windscreen. In September, it raised 80 million Swiss francs through investors such as Porsche, Hyundai Motor and Alibaba. Two further companies from the Greater Zurich Area made it into top five startups in Switzerland: the Dfinity Foundation with 102 million francs and Seba Crypto AG with 100 million francs, both from Zug. Only Roivant Sciences GmbH in Basel took in more new money, raising 200 million francs in November.

With 242 funding rounds in 2018, Switzerland ranked fifth behind Sweden. Its funding volume of €1.3 million even puts it at number four, after France, Germany and the UK.

“In the last year, Swiss startups from a wide range of industries and fields have received funds through venture capitalists,” Roger Krapf commented in a EY press release. “This shows that Switzerland has a broad foundation of talented entrepreneurs,” says the partner and leader of EY’s startup initiative in Switzerland. He anticipates that this trend in Switzerland will continue into 2019 as well.