Ten Swiss technolgy startups have been selected for venture leaders Technology 2017 among more than 100 applications. They’re traveling through Silicon Valley since March 26 and had the opportunity to meet investors and experts. This visit should help them accelerate their expansion on the US market. The reactions were overwhelming.
’Incredibly intense, fast paced & full of knowledge! To be in what is considered the Mecca of entrepreneurship with direct access to top VC’s is priceless. I would highly recommend and push other startups to pursue this opportunity, it will make you see your startup in a different way and will allow you to execute much faster.’ says Alex Just of PapayaPods.
A similar statement from Evelina Georgieva of Pryv (picture), the ‘team captain’: ‘The venture leaders Technology program in the Silicon Valley is a must have experience for Swiss entrepreneurs who have a global vision and the confidence to scale-up. It’s impressive how many investors I met in such a short time.’
Jordi Montserrat, the Managing Director of venturelab, agrees. ‚There is no faster way to bring your startup story to the next level than being challenged by great Valley doers and investors. It forces you to sharpen your focus and get to the essence of what really makes you a winning company.‘
Learn fast in short time
Also Mark Sandmeier of Picstars takes away lots of valuable inputs. ‘The venture leaders roadshow to the Silicon Valley brought me a lot of insights to the startup world in the US and the thoughts of VC’s. Thanks to a lot of valuable contacts to mentors and coaches, organized by the venturelab, I could improve my pitch of Picstars within one week by miles. I would absolutely recommend the roadshow to everyone who wants to learn fast in short time.’
And Nilson Kufus of Nomoko sees a tremendous development of all participants. ‘Venture Leaders is the perfect opportunity to get a first exposure to the culture and ecosystem of Silicon Valley. It has been amazing to see the evolution and learning curve of everyone being part of the group.’
Succesful Swiss startups
Half of the startups are from the Zurich region: The ETH software company CatchEye is represented by Claudia Plüss. Vit Prajzler travels for LORIOT (Internet of Things, IoT) from Thalwil to the US. Also a IoT startup, Nomoko is represented by Nilson Kufus. Piavita is working in the medtech area and Picstars with mobile solutions. The two Zurich startup sent Dorina Thiess and Mark Sandmeier to this journey.
The rest of the participants are from the Lausanne region. The cleantech startup Insolight, Papayapods a software provider, Pryv with its ehealth solution and Olympe and TasteHit, both software providers.
Next to this one week roadshow to Silicon Valley the venture leaders program offers similar trips for startups working in other areas. Life Science startups go to Boston, Fintech Startups to New York and startups working in all areas are traveling to China.
