i3 - March/April 2021 - 10

Tech

By CTA Library

I N T E R N AT I O N A L FO C US

Switzerland Tackles
COVID-19

Fintech Put Switzerland
on the Startup Map

Almost half of all Swiss startups surveyed (University of St.
Gallen) faced falling sales during the COVID-19 global pandemic. The survey found 7%
had to lay off employees, while
some were agile enough to
take advantage of new opportunities. The StartupBlink
Ecosystem Report 2020 lists
three Swiss cities in the top 80
ranking: Basel, Geneva and
Zurich. Some products from
startups will prove quite useful
in a post-pandemic world,
such as CleanMotion's self-disinfecting door handle, eliminating 99% of bacteria. HM
CARE has developed a mostly
transparent surgical mask,
HelloMask, and was one of the
startups hiring during the pandemic. Swiss researchers,
using artificial intelligence (AI),
were instrumental in developing several COVID-19 vaccines,
while collaborating with other
experts around the world.

According to Swisscom's
Fintech Startup Map, in 2020
Switzerland was home to at
least 376 financial technology
firms. Crypto Valley (a region
around the city and lake of
Zug) is home to at least 919
active blockchain or distributed ledger technology (DLT)
companies. Ethereum, whose
headquarters are in Zug, is the
second-largest cryptocurrency
by market capitalization, after
Bitcoin. One new addition is
Relai AG, a Zurich-based company working hard to make
sure investing in the cryptocurrency is as easy as possible.
2020 still marked substantial
growth across key areas such
as blockchain protocols and
financial services. Bitcoin
Suisse, GuardTime, Metaco
and SEBA Bank are the four
Swiss companies that made CB
Insights' inaugural Blockchain
50 - only the United States
had more.

INNOVATION
IN SWITZERLAND
Switzerland may be small in terms of population - they only have about nine million people
- but their innovation reach is far and wide.
For the ninth successive year, Switzerland was
named as the world's most innovative country
by the United Nations' World Intellectual
Property Organization (WIPO). And they aren't
leaving anyone behind. The Mastercard Index
of Women Entrepreneurs 2020 ranks
Switzerland as #3.

CES 2021'S SWISSTECH PAVILION HIGHLIGHTED 23 STARTUPS FROM SWITZERLAND

Swiss Startups Bringing on Real Competition
Switzerland has a thriving startup ecosystem because of its location, regulations and
taxes. The country ranked #8 for top countries for startups ((StartupBlink Ecosystem
Report), and Swiss startups employ some 50,000 people. MindMaze, which builds
Report)
intuitive human machine interfaces, was Switzerland's first tech unicorn (valued
at over $1 trillion). One of the most popular startups, Sportradar, collects and
analyzes sports data. Swiss startup CREAL (CES 2021 Swisstech Pavillion) is bringing
some serious competition to the XR market (encompassing augmented, virtual and
mixed reality technologies), as their light-field technology improves depth resolution
of virtual objects, reducing the eye strain of traditional products.
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MARCH/APRIL 2021

i3_0321_10_Tech_InternationalFocus.indd 10

Clockwise from top left: Courtesy of Clean Motion, Peter Hermes
Furian/Alamy, ETham Photo/Alamy, Courtesy of CREAL.

SWITZERLAND

I T I S I N N O VAT I O N

3/11/21 12:29 PM

https://www.crowdfundinsider.com/2020/12/170646-swisscom-adds-financial-tech-firms-allindex-relai-rockon-digital-evolution-to-its-fintech-startup-map-for-december-2020/ https://www.crowdfundinsider.com/2020/12/170646-swisscom-adds-financial-tech-firms-allindex-relai-rockon-digital-evolution-to-its-fintech-startup-map-for-december-2020/ https://about.crunchbase.com/blog/top-startup-ecosystems-in-2020-ranking-1000-cities-and-100-countries/ https://about.crunchbase.com/blog/top-startup-ecosystems-in-2020-ranking-1000-cities-and-100-countries/ https://www.mastercard.com/news/research-reports/2020/mastercard-index-of-women-entrepreneurs/ https://www.mastercard.com/news/research-reports/2020/mastercard-index-of-women-entrepreneurs/ https://www.mastercard.com/news/research-reports/2020/mastercard-index-of-women-entrepreneurs/ https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-hottest-swiss-startups-return-to-the-swisstech-pavilion-at-ces-2021-301204783.html https://www.startupticker.ch/uploads/File/Attachments/Startupticker%20Radar.pdf

i3 - March/April 2021

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