Focus Sectors
Robotics
Why Switzerland for robotics
The Swiss Drone Industry Map shows about 150 logos and a further 150 companies are active in other fields of robotics. The product range is extremely broad: in addition to robots that fly, walk, roll and dive, Swiss startups also produce sorting robots and exoskeletons, as well as important components that expand robotic areas of application, such as force torque sensors.
The wide range of robotics startups is not surprising: they benefit from a well-developed research landscape, with no fewer than 25 laboratories at well-known Swiss universities that conduct research in this field. The National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) Robotics supported research and transfer to industry for 12 years, and had a total budget of almost USD 90 million at its disposal from 2010 to 2022.
This expertise rooted in research means that robots from Swiss startups have unique capabilities. This is not about tricks, but about potential that offers real benefits. Voliro’s drone, for example, is able to remain stationary in the air in any position, allowing it to inspect areas of industrial plants that remain hidden from other drones. Tethys’ underwater robot can perform inspections and surveys even in turbid and rough waters, where human divers often face serious risks.
Data-based insights
Sector insiders invest
Investment in Swiss robotics and hardware startups is at a record level. In contrast to software and fintech companies, in 2024 both the amount invested and the number of financing rounds were higher than in the boom years of 2021 and 2022, with a total of almost USD 250 million invested in more than 30 startups.
If one takes a closer look at the investments, it is noticeable that a startup’s customers, such as companies from the aviation industry or corporations, are often among its backers. For example, Meteomatics attracted Lockheed Martin as an investor: the startup offers extremely precise weather forecasts with the help of its self-developed drones. Dufour Aerospace, which develops tilt-wing aircraft, numbers Vista Global Holding, a leading global private aviation group, among its investors.
Flyability’s collision-tolerant drones are suitable for confined space inspections. Its investors include three US companies that were initially customers of the Swiss startup: Chevron, Cargill and Dow. Chevron has also invested in SwissDrones, which develops twin-rotor unmanned helicopter systems to replace manned helicopters for a wide range of applications.
Think big and succeed
The story of the Swiss drone ecosystem began in 2008 at ETH Zurich. Students under the guidance of Lorenz Meier began developing drone and flight control software and hardware. They released the software as open source in order that others were able to develop autonomous flight using computer vision. It was a huge success: today, an estimated 80% of all drones worldwide are controlled using the software. In 2017, Meier founded startup Auterion, now the largest open source drone software company and supplier of an enterprise operating system for drones. Investors include top-class VCs from the US and Europe, as well as the former Google boss Eric Schmidt.
Other startups are on the way to global success. The most advanced is Zurich-based Verity: the company already has about 200 employees and has raised more investor money than any other Swiss startup, at USD 70 million. It was founded by Raffaello D’Andrea, who sold his first robotics startup, Kiva Systems, to Amazon back in 2012.
A constant stream of innovations
Every year, around 20 robotics startups are founded in Switzerland that are able to attract investors. In absolute numbers, Switzerland ranks fourth in Europe behind the big three countries UK, Germany and France. However, the gap is not particularly large and nowhere in Europe are more robotics startups launched per capita than in Switzerland, as an analysis based on the Swiss Startup Radar revealed.
The startup activities are creating a constant stream of innovations. It is remarkable how quickly they are making progress despite the complex technology. For example, Ascento was able to acquire its first customer abroad, just a few months after the company was founded. Ascento Guard, its Robotics-as-a-Service solution for autonomous outdoor security patrolling has been deployed at a university campus in Germany. Mimic Robotics is developing breakthrough collaborative robots with humanoid hands powered by generative AI to ease severe global labour shortages across industries. Shortly after its foundation, the startup secured USD 2.5 million in pre-seed funding from German, UK and Swiss investors.
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