Discover the highlights of the Top100 Swiss Startup Award 2025

What began in 2011 as a ranking to bring Switzerland's most promising startups to the international stage has, over the past 15 years, evolved into one of the country's key platforms for high-tech innovation. Corintis (1st), DePoly (2nd), and DeepJudge (3rd) lead this year's Top100, which has grown into the centerpiece of a dynamic ecosystem that gives visibility to founders and provides targeted support. The 15th edition, organized by Venturelab in collaboration with presenting partner UBS and gold partner SIX, brought together founders, investors, and ecosystem partners to celebrate the startups shaping the future of Swiss tech.

Initiated by Beat Schillig and Jordi Montserrat, Top100 has evolved under the leadership of Program Director Stefan Steiner into a central driving force of Switzerland's startup scene. What began as a simple ranking is now a comprehensive innovation network: with events, targeted investor matchmaking, a multilingual magazine, and an active community. Top100 offers far more than visibility – it creates real connections and opportunities.

Startups like Climeworks, GetYourGuide, MindMaze, On, Scandit, and SOPHiA Genetics were identified early on as Top100 startups and have since become global market leaders, with offices on multiple continents, strategic partnerships with major corporations, and multi-billion-dollar valuations. Their journeys demonstrate how Top100 has not only shaped the Swiss ecosystem but also opened doors to the international stage. The platform has seen 100 successful exits and 10 IPOs, proving that early-stage innovation can lead to global success.

"The Top100 proves that startups are the best asset to invest in for Switzerland, not only as financial assets but also to build the next global market leaders and a moral duty for the future generation,” highlights Jordi Montserrat, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Venturelab.

Over the years, the Top100 has become the heartbeat of Switzerland's innovation ecosystem - spotlighting 638 startups, creating over 20,000 jobs, and attracting CHF 17.8 billion in capital. And with CHF 1.47 billion in venture capital flowing into Swiss startups in the first half of 2025 - the third-best result ever, investors are clearly taking notice.


Jordi Montserrat (Venturelab), Patrick Forte (UBS), Remco van Erp (Corintis), and Stefan Steiner (Venturelab)

The Top100 Swiss Startup Ranking showcases the 100 Swiss startups with the greatest potential. A jury of one hundred startup investors and experts select the 100 startups that are not older than five years. The podium places in the Top100 Swiss Startup Ranking 2025 come from three different sectors: engineering, cleantech, and ICT.



The Top100 Podium

#1: Engineering startup Corintis wins the Top100 Swiss Startup Award 2025
#2: DePoly ranks second at the Top100 Swiss Startup Award 2025
#3: DeepJudge ranks third at the Top100 Swiss Startup Award 2025

"The 2025 ranking reflects the strength, diversity, and innovative power of Switzerland’s startup ecosystem," says Stefan Steiner, Top100 Program Director. "Startups contribute directly and indirectly to our country’s prosperity—especially in a rapidly changing world." Discover all 100 awarded startups that the investor jury has seletected.

This year's 15 years jubilee program at the ice hockey stadium in Zürich Altstetten looked back to its very beginnings: Optotune, the winner of the first ever Top100 ranking in 2011, returned to the stage. Together with Venturelab managing director Jordi Montserrat, the company reflected on how the award influenced its trajectory and voiced encouragement for the new generation of "rookies" entering the ranking for the first time.

Special guest Livia Altmann, member of Switzerland's women's national ice hockey team, drew a link between sports and entrepreneurship, emphasizing resilience, teamwork, and performance under pressure. "Building a startup takes time — much like training to become a medalist, it requires endurance and resilience,” highlights Livia.


From top right to bottom left: Manuel Aschwanden (Optotune), audience, Livia Altmann, new startups ranked in 2025

Top100 alum Araris Biotech, a Swiss biotechnology company known for developing next-generation antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs), was acquired by Taiho Pharmaceutical for 1.1 billion this spring. The founders shared their lessons learnt with the audience. “You need the mindset that it’s possible. Our seed round took a year and a half to close," says Co-Founder Philipp Spycher.

Each year, the TOP 100 Swiss Startup Award celebrates the most innovative and promising startups in Switzerland selected by a panel of 100 leading investors and industry experts. The Top100 Public Voting gives the public a vote to select the winner per category. The Public Voting winners have been awarded on stage. Discover all 10 Top100 Public Voting winners 2025.


Araris Co-Founders and new startups ranked in 2025


The Top100 Magazine 
Since 2011, we have celebrated the most promising Swiss startups at the Top100 Award Night, followed by the publication of the Top100 Swiss Startup Magazine in English, German, French, Chinese, and Japanese. Presenting the Who’s Who of the Swiss startup ecosystem, the magazine portrays the most promising Swiss startups, which were selected by the Top100 Jury. Additionally, the publication analyzes the rankings and features interviews with key personalities of the ecosystem. This year we are also providing a deep dive into robotics. The digital version of the Top100 Swiss Startup Magazine is available for free in English, German, French, Chinese, and Japanese.


Magazine team: Markus Diem Meier (German), Elisabeth Kim (French), Stefan Kyora (English), Carol Pan (Chinese), Emi Naganuma and Felix Mosner (Japanese)


The Top100 Jury
Meet the jury: Find out which 100 experts, investors, and entrepreneurs choose the startups that made it into the Top100 Ranking this year.

The Top100 Swiss Startup Award 2025 was organized by Venturelab and supported by presenting partner UBS, gold partner SIX, and the event partners Canton of Zurich, Vaud, Gebert Rüf Stiftung, Walder Wyss, Handelszeitung, PME, Startupticker.ch, startup.ch, Venture Kick, and IFJ.



The Top100 hashtag
Browse the #TOP100SSU, and find out what the investors, startups, and partners have to say about the Top100 Swiss Startup Award 2025 on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram.