Winner of the SWISS STARTUPS AWARDS 2015
Start-up entrepreneurs prove their innovative strength at the SWISS STARTUPS AWARDS 2015, which presents awards to the four best Swiss business ideas. The winners each received seed capital of 50,000 CHF (Swiss francs) to successfully implement their business idea. The winners were Theran Optics, Smart-Me, Yeahgoods and TECHNIS.
Around 300 start-up entrepreneurs submitted their business plans in order to be awarded the prize for the best Swiss business ideas. The awards ceremony took place on Thursday evening and was moderated by Christa Rigozzi at Stage One in Zürich-Oerlikon.
Following the prize giving, Danish start-up investor, Morten Lund, held a talk about Europe’s seed investors in the digital economy sector. Lund is an enthusiastic entrepreneur himself and has already founded (or financed as co-investor) more than 40 enterprises. His most famous investment was to support Niklas Zennström and Janus Frilis, who founded the Skype IP-telephone service in 2003.
SWISS STARTUPS AWARDS 2015
A total of four different awards were presented. The winners of the individual awards each received seed capital of 50,000 CHF (Swiss francs) for their innovative business ideas:
- Theran Optics won the “AXA Innovation Award”, which was presented for the fifth time. The two founders, Bastien Schyrr and Johannes Mosig, optimise sustainability in the management of chronic wounds. They developed flexible and mini fibre-optic sensors, which are used in conventional dressings to monitor the wound healing process in-situ.
- The “Axpo Energy Award” was presented for the third time, for start-ups in the energy sector. Smart-Me, a simple and cost efficient device used for smart-metering, was the winner. The Smart-Me devices, such as (for example) electricity meters, are directly connected to the cloud and can be analysed or controlled from anywhere in real time by a computer, tablet or smart-phone!
- The “PostFinance Digital Business Award” was presented for a start-up in the digital business category. The award went to Ubaldo Piccone and Tanja Höhn from YEAHGOOD, which creates content via app, blog and community management that can be used by advertisers. Alerts brief relevant user groups who can upload pictures and receive a fee as consideration for each picture chosen. This fee can be paid out or donated.
- TECHNIS was presented with the “Startups.ch Award”. The prize is awarded by STARTUPS.CH and its partner, Swisscom, in the small business sector. STARTUPS.CH is the initiator of the Swiss Startups Awards and its prize was awarded for the sixth time. The prize was awarded to TECHNIS, which is developing a new generation of tennis courts that are touch-sensitive and recognise what is happening on the surface. The technology makes it possible to exactly record the ball’s position or follow the players’ movements.
