A Surprising Record Sparks Optimism

On 3 February, the Venture Capital Report was published, analysing investments in Swiss start-ups in 2025. Despite growth of 24 per cent, the total capital invested did not reach a new record high. The situation is different when it comes to the volume of early-stage investments, which set a clear new high at over CHF 1.1 billion. This gives cause for optimism.

In 2025, VCs invested 23.9% more capital in Swiss start-ups than in 2024, with a total of CHF 2.95 billion. This growth marks a turnaround after the financing crisis of the past two years, which followed the excesses of 2022 and 2023. A historical comparison illustrates how much the total has risen: more than 27.1% higher than the pre-pandemic year of 2019 and more than three times as high as in 2016.

By international standards, the growth rate of 23.9% for 2024 to 2025 is high. In other major European countries such as the UK and Germany, the growth rate is in the single digits, according to Crunchbase.

The picture is also positive when it comes to the number of financing rounds. In Switzerland, there was only a very slight decline of 0.8% to 354 investments. In most other countries, however, the number decreased significantly.

The positive development in Switzerland in 2025 is illustrated by the achievement of several new records. At CHF 946.4 million, investors put more money into Swiss biotech start-ups than ever before, with the total about 25% higher than the previous record set in 2020. After a third year of growth, this sector is showing continued strong momentum.

Financing rounds of more than CHF 20 million also set a new record, with 32 investments surpassing this threshold. This result highlights the growing number of growth companies in Switzerland.

The number of exits remains at a low level. At first glance, the trend in exits does not look particularly encouraging; however, this changes when one looks at the valuations. In 2025, nine trade sales took place in which the companies were sold for more than CHF 100 million – another record.

These records were basically to be expected. It was clear after several large financing rounds that the biotech sector was thriving again. The progress made by the Swiss ecosystem in terms of growth and larger exits was also already discussed last year.

Risk appetite meets attractive start-up pipeline

In contrast, one high achieved in 2025 comes as a surprise: namely, that for early stage rounds. At CHF 1,116.8 million, about three-quarters more was invested in series A funding than in the previous year (2024: CHF 647.2 million). This 73% increase is more than three times higher than the 23.9% increase for Switzerland as a whole and represents the most significant jump in Series A volume since 2018.

The record is surprising, as one might expect money to flow into less risky, more mature companies given the uncertain political and economic environment. But despite this environment, risk appetite is back.

Digging a little deeper, it becomes clear that high-risk projects can attract large sums of money in two sectors in particular: biotech and AI start-ups. AI start-ups offer a wide variety of products. Two companies, DeepJudge and Unique, which use AI to make processes in legal practices and in asset management and banking more efficient, have completed large financing rounds. Two other start-ups with high investment sums – Flexion Robotics and Gravis Robotics – use AI to make heavy construction machinery and humanoid robots autonomous outside controlled environments. Finally, Corintis is developing a new technology for cooling chips, which could be particularly beneficial for AI chips.

While the growing early-stage investments show that investors’ risk appetite is back, they also show that Switzerland has attractive start-ups in sought-after technology fields and markets. Therefore, the record in early-stage investments is particularly encouraging. It gives reason to believe that the amount of money invested will continue to grow in 2026.