The TOP Swiss Engineering Startups 2021

With EPF Lausanne and ETH Zurich, Switzerland boasts some of the world’s most prestigious engineering institutions. It should come as no surprise that the country also provides an ideal environment for entrepreneurs wanting to advance engineering innovations in various industries—from aerospace to nano-technologies. Learn more about the 13 engineering startups that impressed the TOP 100 Jury and the public the most in 2021, and find out how they improve our lives with innovative devices, processes, and materials.

The TOP 100 Swiss Startup Award showcases the most promising Swiss startups. The annual ranking has become a benchmark in Switzerland’s startup ecosystem—and beyond. Every year, a panel of 100 leading investors and startup experts chooses the 100 most innovative and promising Swiss startups. Each jury member nominates 10 Swiss startups that are less than five years old and show the greatest commercial potential. The first-placed company gets 10 points, the second nine points, and so on. The individual rankings are compiled to generate the final TOP 100 Swiss Startup Award ranking. In parallel, the TOP 100 Public Voting allows everyone with a LinkedIn account can cast one vote and choose the most promising startup per vertical.
 
In 2021, the TOP 100 Jury and the public selected 13 engineering startups to be among the TOP 100 Swiss Startups:



3. 9T Labs
9T Labs creates a new way of manufacturing carbon composites. The Zurich-based startup offers a manufacturing solution that makes performance parts easily accessible: The all-in-one hardware, software, and material solution provide customers with an inexpensive and easy way to design and mass-produce ultra-lightweight parts in areas such as the medical industry, aerospace, and automotive markets. 9T Labs was founded in 2018 by Martin Eichenhofer, Chester Houwink, and Giovanni Cavolina.

4. CREAL
CREAL is committed to bringing an accurate third dimension to augmented and virtual reality. The startup develops a near-eye light-field display that recreates light just like in the real world. CREAL’s technology brings true optical depth and immersion into virtual and mixed reality while avoiding eye strain, nausea, or dizziness.

22. Miraex
Miraex sensors use photons instead of electrons and can, thus, be used under the toughest conditions; for example, as ultra-reliable measuring devices for the nuclear and space industries. The heart of the sensors are chips that can also be used to make quantum computers more powerful—considered to be a potential key technology of the 21st century.

28. Microcaps
Tiny but highly accurate: Microcaps produces capsules that can release a drug in the body in precisely dosed quantities. The ETH spin-off has won multiple awards and raised CHF 5 million in a seed financing round in January 2021. The company intends to use these funds to drive the expansion and commercialization of the products.

38. Nanoleq
Nanoleq, an ETH spin-off, caused a sensation with its stretchable cables—silicone threads studded with tiny metal particles. The Zurich-based company entered the market as a development partner for third parties and then, in March 2021, presented its first product: a shirt that measures the heart rate through a continuous electrocardiogram. Shortly before then, a financing round took place that included Mammut CEO, Oliver Pabst.

39. Haelixa
Haelixa’s DNA marker is an aqueous solution sprayed onto the raw material during a product’s manufacture. The marker is colorless and odorless and ensures that the goods can be clearly identified at all times, for example, as genuine or in conformity with the designation of origin. The Zurich startup has already gained a foothold in the textile and gemstone market—gold can be traced across the entire supply chain—and ZKB has also been one of its customers since April.

41. Qnami
Qnami’s quantum microscope technology is able to control and measure the state of a single electron. In the semiconductor industry, this type of quantum sensor technology enables error analysis to be conducted in a previously unknown spatial resolution. In the medium term, the construction of quantum computers and spintronics devices may be possible. In May, the Basel startup announced the completion of a Series A financing round of CHF 4 million.

44. matriq
For medical and safety-critical plastic parts, traceability and counterfeit protection play a central role. matriq, founded by researchers at the Interstate University of Applied Sciences Buchs (NTB), has developed a solution that stamps an individual serial number in the form of a 2D code on every plastic component during the manufacturing process in the injection mold, deep drawing, or embossing. In August 2020, the St. Gallen team completed a Series A round of CHF 1.75 million.

69. Synthara 
Synthara, a spin-off from the Institute of Neuroinformatics (INI), is developing a new generation of semiconductor chips. The AI chips are tailor-made for applications with intelligent sensors that generate a highly dynamic calculation effort, for example, in the areas of wearables, IoT, and monitoring. In December, Manu V Nair, founder and CEO of Synthara, completed an oversubscribed seed round; investors included High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) and Zürcher Kantonalbank (ZKB).

82. INERGIO Technologies 
The fuel cell is considered to be one of the most promising technologies on the way to a sustainable future. INERGIO, a spin-off from EPFL and the School of Business and Engineering Vaud, has now successfully miniaturized one of the most efficient fuel cell technologies—the solid oxide fuel cell. The result is an autonomous power storage system with 20 times the energy density of a lithium-ion battery.

83. Capskin
When a shoe pinches, the wearer feels pain. How this happens and what exactly happens inside the shoe have not yet been established. But now, ETH spin-off Capskin has developed a sock equipped with thin, stretchable 3D motion detection sensors that record in detail what is happening under the leather. Potential customers are the shoe industry and manufacturers of special orthopedic shoes.

85. CompPair Technologies 
Fiber-reinforced plastics (FRP) are used when a component must have low weight with high rigidity. However, unfortunately for engineers, parts made of FRP are also very sensitive. EPFL spin-off CompPair, founded in 2020, wants to change that. The Lausanne team has developed an FRP that can heal itself: Fatigue cracks and impact damage can be repaired in just one minute through the application of heat.

91. AVAtronics
AVAtronics’ Digital Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) technology suppresses unwanted and annoying audio noises in hearing aids, headphones, and speakers. At CES 2021, the Vaud firm showed that its solution is also suitable for upgrading conference calls: It cuts out the noise of tapping keyboards, air conditioning, and squeaking chairs.

Public Voting: Synthara 
The Zug-based startup was a double winner this year: Synthara was chosen as a TOP 100 Swiss Startup by both the expert jury and the public! For more information, see the description above.