Venture has selected the finalists for the venture competition 2025 from a record number of applications. A jury of 215 people selected ten projects from each of six sectors. The second jury round with mentors and pitch training now awaits them. Startups from Technopark Winterthur and RUNWAY Startup Incubator are also among the finalists.
Venture has announced this year’s 60 finalists. According to a press release, 396 applications were received for this year’s competition, more than ever before. The award ceremony will take place on 23 June 2025 at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH).
The competition supports aspiring entrepreneurs in developing their business ideas into successful start-ups. Each of the submissions was assessed by experts from science, business and investment. The 215 jury members applied criteria such as innovation, market potential, feasibility and team strength.
Ten of the finalists are active in each of the six venture sectors: Health and Nutrition, ICT, Finance and Insurance, Industry and Engineering, Retail and Consumer Services and Social and Environmental Affairs. According to the information provided, the applications came from almost all parts of Switzerland and a particularly large number from Zurich. Three start-ups from the Züri Innovationspark (BZI) office are taking part, including the DNAir team, which moved in this year and specialises in biodiversity monitoring. A total of seven start-ups are former or current participants in the RUNWAY Startup Incubator, a programme run by the Center for Entrepreneurship at the Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW). They include the agrifood data company Terensis and Ionic Wind, whose founding team has developed a new cooling technology.
In the coming weeks, the finalists will be brought together with mentors and will be able to network with each other as well as with other experts. Pitch training will prepare them for the final presentation of their business idea. Finally, three projects from each of the six competition sectors will emerge as venture winners.
Venture was founded in 1997 by Dr Thomas Knecht. As a joint initiative of ETH and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne, McKinsey & Company, the Knecht Group and Innosuisse, venture has been managed by the Venture Foundation since 2013. Like the Knecht Group, it is based in Windisch. ce/mm
