Beyond Berlin: The Evolving DACH Startup Ecosystem - and Why Switzerland is the Next Big Thing

While Germany remains DACH's dominant force (67% of funding), its startup capital is shifting. In 2024, Bavaria overtook Berlin (EUR 2.3bn vs. EUR 2.2bn), driven by Munich-based successes like Helsing, The Exploration Company, and Isar Aerospace, alongside rising stars like RobCo and Avelios. This decentralization extends to Dresden (Staffbase), the Rhine-Neckar region (DeepL, Bezahl.de), Frankfurt (Qualifyze), and even Hamburg (1KOMMA5). Beyond location, AI is key. DACH's AI sector saw 114% YoY funding growth to $1.38B in Q1 2024, with 477 startups and 561 rounds, becoming the unifying thread across sectors like semiconductors and cybersecurity.

Creandum's commitment to the DACH region is deeply rooted, with around 30% of our investments directed towards DACH ventures in the past five years. Our recent activity reflects the region's evolving dynamics. While Berlin remains a crucial hub for emerging tech companies, we recognize the rise of other key centers where great companies are founded.

As AI reshapes industries across Europe, it's also redrawing the startup map within DACH. While Germany’s ecosystem is evolving through decentralization and sectoral shifts, a new leader is emerging: Switzerland. Long known for its stability and deep-tech expertise, the country is rapidly positioning itself as the region’s premier startup hub—especially in AI.

This shift signals more than just Switzerland's rise—it marks a fundamental rebalancing of DACH’s startup ecosystem. Let’s take a closer look into what is driving this ecosystem to the forefront.

Switzerland's startup scene is on fire. With per-capita funding of $392, it ranks 4th globally–surpassing the UK's $281 and trailing just behind Sweden's $463. Boasting more unicorns per capita than any other country in Europe, Switzerland proves that entrepreneurial success isn't determined by size.

Nicknamed “Silicon Limmat” in insider circles,  Switzerland has become a thriving hub for AI startups, fueled by world-class institutions like ETH Zurich and EPFL Lausanne, as well as top business schools like University of St. Gallen. The presence of global tech giants such as Google and OpenAI, both with offices in Zurich, combined with a dense network of research labs, such as the ETH AI center and the newly established Swiss National AI Institute drive rapid technological advancement and attract top talent, investors, and pioneering startups.

ETH Zurich leads Europe in university spinoffs, with 615 companies launched to date, as well as many companies being founded by alumni outside the university programs. Behind it’s success lies a combination of an incredibly strong research basis, as well as a supportive ecosystem. 

ETH Zurich ranks 11th on the world's top universities. It’s computer science programme is even among the top 5, squeezed between well known peers MIT and Stanford, and its Data Science & Artificial Intelligence programme is among the top 10 globally. 

While ETH currently trails US giants like Stanford and MIT in producing global tech giants, the university has laid the right fundamentals to build the next generation of European tech leaders, building global category-defining companies.

In addition to its official study programs and research labs, ETH Zurich benefits from a strong support system. Entrepreneurship is a top priority throughout the academic journey, making it a viable career path alongside traditional Big Tech jobs. Initiatives range from guest lectures by founders to the ETH Pioneer Fellowship Program, which provides AI researchers with dedicated lab space, equipment, and a platform to turn their ideas into real-world products.

A key strength is the university's focus on empowering founders with business skills and fostering VC connections, ensuring high spinout survival rates. Successful companies like Climeworks, and Sensorion have emerged from this system.

Three main hubs stand out in Switzerland’s ecosystem:

• Zurich: The leading startup center with strengths in fintech and deep tech.

• Lausanne: Experiencing impressive growth with a 63% funding increase, fueled by EPFL's expertise in robotics and life sciences.

• Basel: A thriving biotech hub, benefiting from the presence of pharmaceutical giants like Roche and Novartis.

Scanning the ecosystem’s most up and coming startups, we have identified a few companies (amongst many many others) we’re really excited about in these three main sectors:

• Logicstar.ai, founded in April 2024 by a team of experts from ETH Zurich and INSAIT, including Boris Paskalev, Dr. Mark Niklas Müller, and Dr. Veselin Raychev. The company focuses on developing an agentic AI platform that autonomously validates, reproduces, and fixes software bugs with high precision, allowing engineering teams to concentrate on innovation and new features. Northzone recently led their $3M round.

• Scalera is another ETH-spinnoff based in Zurich, founded in 2023 by Sven Affeltranger, Leonard Reinhard and Federico Gossi. It’s an AI-based software provider offering tender assistance solution for the construction industry. Scalera is still in its early days and hasn’t announced any institutional funding yet.

• Zenline, another company out of Zurich, founded by former ETH students Arber Sejdiji, Minh-Kha Nguyen, and Gerrit Merz in 2024. Zenline operates as an AI based product portfolio optimization platform, helping businesses such as FMCG companies find the right portfolio mix and new growth opportunities. The company went through the Microsoft for Startups accelerator program.

• Adaptyvbio: A biotech startup specializing in AI-driven protein design and engineering, co-founded by Julian Englert and Daniel Nakhaee-Zadeh Gutierrez. The company offers a cloud-based platform that enables researchers to design, build, and test novel proteins efficiently. By integrating generative AI with automated laboratory processes, Adaptyv Bio aims to revolutionize the development of new proteins for applications in medicine, manufacturing, and energy. To date, the company has raised $3.21M in a pre-Seed round led by Founderful in 2022 and the team went through Y-Combinator back in 2021.

• Convoke.bio: The company was founded in 2024 by former Swiss life sciences consultant Alex Telford in 2024, who ran projects in neurology, oncology, rare diseases, and novel treatment modalities and writes about trends in BioPharma on his blog. Convoke is building better software to help drug developers plan for clinical development, launch, and commercialization.

• Entyre: health tech company founded in 2018. The company focuses on enhancing home-based patient care by providing software solutions, regular visits from care advisors, and multi-channel support. Their platform enables patients and caregivers to competently perform care tasks, ensuring efficient interaction with relevant stakeholders such as physicians, pharmacies, and health insurers. Entyre raised a growth round in 2024 led by HV Capital.

• Nsave: The Geneva-based fintech provides a digital banking services platform that offers a secure way to save. It also offers services such as financial inclusion without account restrictions that allow customers to get global safe accounts for their money with the utmost financial security. Nsave went through Y Combinator, Sequoia led their Seed round and their $18 million Series A funding round was led by TQ Ventures.

• Bling is reinventing Retail-Banking for families, co-founded by Nils Feigenwinter but operating out of Berlin. Bling provides educational, family-friendly digital solutions in the areas of payment, investment, and mobile communications. Their app combines pocket money, cell phone tariffs and easy investing for the whole family in one app. The company’s mission is to help families to understand, manage and grow money by creating an ecosystem for family finances by using simple visualisations and educational information in the app and on social media. Their 2022 seed round was led by La Famiglia and they closed their $12M Series A round led by Owl Ventures in 2024.

• Ledgy is a Zurich-based startup that provides an equity management platform for high-growth companies. Founded in 2017 by Yoko Spirig, Ben Brandt, and Timo Horstschäfer, the company helps businesses manage their capitalization tables and employee equity more efficiently. Ledgy recently secured €22 million in a Series B funding round led by New Enterprise Associates (NEA), with participation from Sequoia Capital, Speedinvest, and others. The platform simplifies complex equity processes, supports companies across 45 countries, and serves over 2,500 businesses, helping them attract, motivate, and retain top talent through transparent equity ownership.

We’re excited to see Switzerland, especially Zurich, becoming a real hub for entrepreneurs and innovation. The energy here is incredible, and the world is starting to take notice.

We're actively seeking visionary founders across Switzerland (and the entire DACH region) who are building the next generation of category-defining companies globally. If you're building something unique, we'd love to hear from you!