The Swiss Oscars for start-ups
At the 12th edition of the Top 100 Swiss Startup Awards, the most innovative and promising young companies in Switzerland were celebrated. The start-up Yokoy, which specialises in spend management, came out on top.
Every year, the TOP 100 Swiss Startup Awards presents the 100 most innovative and promising Swiss start-ups, selected by a 100-member jury of leading investors and experts. The 12th edition, often referred to as ’The Swiss Oscars for start-ups’, took place last week in front of a selected audience of start-ups, investors and key partners.
Fintech start-up tops this year’s ranking
With Yokoy, a fintech start-up took first place for the first time since the ranking was established. Zurich-based start-up Yokoy was founded in 2019 and uses artificial intelligence to automate processes for corporate spending and corporate credit cards. Together with the runners-up – Planted Foods and Ledgy – the ranking represents the diversity and potential of Swiss start-ups: they have, on average, been set up within the last three and a half years, have already created over 420 new jobs, and have raised a cumulated CHF 153 million.
Strong influence for the Swiss economy
The 512 Swiss deep tech start-ups that have been featured in the TOP 100 ranking over the past 12 years have created 16,149 jobs and raised CHF 11.1 billion. 71 exits and eight IPOs top off the achievements of these innovators.
With a record CHF 2.6 billion in venture capital already invested in start-ups during the first half of the year in Switzerland, it is an Olympic share, and we aim to continue on this track, despite the current crises affecting the global economy.
100 experts nominate their favourites
The award ceremony is organised by the Venturelab programme, which aims to promote Swiss start-up talent and to make it ready for investors. A jury of 100 investors and start-up experts selected the 100 most innovative and promising Swiss start-ups. Each jury member nominates ten Swiss start-ups that are less than five years old and show the greatest commercial potential. The first-placed company receives ten points, the second-placed nine, and so on. All these individual scores result in the final ranking.
Who becomes the next unicorn?
In parallel to the TOP 100 award, the best Swiss scale-up companies, which are between 5-10 years old and show the greatest potential to become a unicorn one day, are presented before a renowned jury. Below we present an infographic with the 25 best scale-up companies in 2022: