In 2021, CHF 3.1 billion have been invested in Swiss startups. What else is noteworthy about the latest report done by the investor association SECA, in cooperation with startup.ch?
In my view, there are five main takeaways from the Swiss Venture Capital Report 2022:
- 3.1 billion Swiss Francs have been invested into Swiss Startups in 2021. The increase of 44 per cent does not surprise me as there was a small decline in 2020 and we all have been waiting for a comeback since most key figures have hinted at one. But one should keep in mind that the latest number was pushed by Wefox' CHF 585 million Series C funding as well as by an increase in the number of large later-stage financing rounds. 28 companies raised more than CHF 20 million (it was 18 in 2019, for example).
- Not surprisinly, the ICT sector, including fintech, was primarily responsible for this increase as investments grew by CHF 799 million compared with 2020. If you take a closer look at investments by phase you will notice that the increase in the number of rounds was mainly due to seed investments having grown by two thirds. Thus Serpentine Venture's funds strategy seems to be on the right track.
- Traditional founders' hotspots Zurich and Vaud once again took significant steps. In Zurich, investment rose by 102.1% to almost CHF 1.3 billion, and in Vaud by 47.8% to CHF 605 million. But let us not forget about Ticino, Lucerne and Schwyz, each collecting more than CHF 100 million.
- As we keep saying at Serpentine Ventures: "Founders need funds." Thus we are glad to read that 35 new investment vehicles were established in 2021.
- Also worth mentioning: In 2021, 55 Swiss growth companies were sold to large firms, 11 Swiss start-ups went public. This is inline with our strategy as one of our portfolio companies did an IPO and another one did a trade sale in 2021.
