Successful Premiere of Swiss Growth Stage Summit Connects Swiss Scale-ups with International Growth Investors
More than 120 investors, founders and ecosystem leaders convened in Lausanne for the inaugural summit focused on turning Swiss innovation into global growth.
Lausanne, 17 September 2026 – The first Swiss Growth Stage Summit brought together more than 100 participants, including national and international venture capital investors, family offices, institutional investors, scale-up founders and key representatives of the Swiss innovation ecosystem in Lausanne. International investors travelled from across Europe and from as far as Australia and Brazil, underlining the global interest in Switzerland’s growth-stage companies.
Initiated and organised by SICTIC, with the support of the Canton of Vaud and in collaboration with UBS, Swisscom Ventures, Innovaud, FIT and Deep Tech Nation Switzerland, the new summit was created to strengthen the connection between Switzerland’s most promising growth companies and the capital and networks they need to scale internationally. Switzerland Global Enterprise (S-GE) supported the initiative as a supporting partner. The unlimitrust campus and EHL Hospitality Business School supported the summit as venue partners.
Under the theme “Scaling Swiss Innovation Globally”, the summit focused specifically on companies that have moved beyond the early startup phase, demonstrated product-market fit and are entering their next stage of growth.
Switzerland is internationally recognised for its strong innovation ecosystem and its ability to create world-class technology companies. Yet accessing sufficient growth capital and building strong connections to international investors remain key challenges for companies entering the scale-up phase.
The Swiss Growth Stage Summit was created to help close this gap.
Rather than focusing on volume, the inaugural event was deliberately curated to enable high-quality interaction between founders and investors, combining thought leadership, selected scale-up pitches, targeted matchmaking and opportunities for direct conversations between investors and founders.
“Switzerland has an outstanding innovation pipeline. But creating great companies is only the first step. We also need to make sure that promising Swiss scale-ups have access to the capital, networks and international connections they need to become global leaders. With the Swiss Growth Stage Summit, we wanted to create exactly that bridge,” says Christina Kistler, Vice President Partnerships & Ecosystem at SICTIC.
From Swiss innovation to global scale
The main summit on 16 September at the unlimitrust campus in Lausanne brought together entrepreneurs who have successfully built and scaled technology companies with experienced national and international growth investors.
The programme featured contributions from Andy Yen, CEO and founder of Proton; Dominique Mégret, CEO of Ecorobotix; Sami Arpa, CEO and co-founder of Largo; Frédéric Wohlwend, Managing Partner at Forestay Capital; Antoine Trannoy, Managing Partner at Jolt Capital; Jean-Philippe Fricker, co-founder and Chief System Architect at Cerebras Systems; and Jennifer McCloskey, Investment Director at Swisscom Ventures.
Throughout the day, speakers and investors addressed a central question: What does it take to turn outstanding Swiss innovation into globally successful companies?
Discussions covered the challenges of building and financing high-growth technology businesses, accessing international markets and capital, and creating the conditions that allow more Swiss companies to scale globally.
First Swiss Scale-Up Report reveals the scale of the opportunity
A highlight of the summit was the presentation of the Swiss Scale-Up Report 2026, published by Deep Tech Nation Switzerland, Swisscom Ventures, SIX Swiss Exchange and Startupticker.ch.
For the first time, the report establishes a nationwide benchmark for Switzerland’s growth-stage ecosystem. It identifies 265 Swiss scale-ups with a combined estimated valuation of CHF 26.6 billion. Of the identified companies, 64% are deep tech and 43% are spin-offs from Swiss universities or research institutions.
The findings also highlight a significant financing challenge. Swiss scale-ups have raised more than CHF 13 billion in later-stage capital since 2012, but Swiss investors accounted for only 13% of attributed later-stage capital in 2025, compared with 27% between 2019 and 2022. At the same time, 76% of surveyed scale-ups generate the majority of their revenues abroad, demonstrating the international reach of Switzerland’s growth companies.
“The report shows just how strong Switzerland is at creating and growing innovative companies. But it also highlights where we need to do more. Our scale-ups are increasingly global, while Swiss participation in their later-stage financing is declining. Bringing more Swiss and international growth investors together with these companies is therefore essential. The Swiss Growth Stage Summit was an excellent platform to turn these findings into conversations and concrete connections, and I was impressed by the quality and energy of this first edition,” says Tina Willibald, Head of Portfolio Development & Partnerships at Swisscom Ventures.
Curated Swiss scale-ups meet growth investors
Direct investor access for selected Swiss scale-ups was at the heart of the summit.
Four companies were selected to present their businesses on the main stage: ASPIVIX, Voltiris, DPhi Space and Sensoryx, representing sectors ranging from healthtech and cleantech to space technology and advanced computing.
A further group of high-potential companies was selected for targeted investor matchmaking and one-to-one meetings, including Enlightra, HYDROMEA, Metafuels, Swisspod Technologies, BRUSA, Smeetz, CCRAFT and Flybotix.
The selection reflected one of the central principles behind the new summit: signal over volume. Instead of maximising the number of pitches, the organisers focused on bringing relevant investors and companies together based on growth stage, funding requirements, investment strategy and sector interests.
A platform for meaningful connections
The Swiss Growth Stage Summit extended beyond the main conference programme.
The summit opened on 15 September with an invitation-only Investor & Partner Dinner at Domaine de la Crausaz, hosted by the Canton of Vaud, FIT and Innovaud. On the morning of 16 September, investors had the opportunity to meet founders and visit Flyability, where they could experience and pilot the company’s industrial inspection drones first-hand, before joining the main summit.
Following the main event, participants continued their discussions during a campus tour and networking reception hosted by EHL Hospitality Business School, extending the opportunity to build relationships between founders, investors and ecosystem partners beyond the formal programme.
The combination of curated content, direct founder access and dedicated networking was designed to move beyond visibility and create connections that can lead to concrete investment discussions and long-term relationships.
Building a stronger bridge for Swiss scale-ups
The successful first edition demonstrated the value of bringing together the different actors required to help Swiss innovation scale internationally.
The collaboration between SICTIC, the Canton of Vaud and the summit’s partners combined investor networks, growth financing expertise, regional innovation support and access to high-potential companies, creating a platform that connects the Swiss ecosystem with national and international growth capital.
“The quality of the conversations and the level of engagement during this event confirmed that there is a real need for a dedicated platform connecting the Swiss growth-stage ecosystem with investors. International investors were deeply impressed by the expertise and ambition of the founders and by the diverse talent pool across Switzerland’s industries. We need to become more outspoken towards international investors and make access to Swiss scale-ups much easier in order to attract the growth capital needed to develop them into category leaders,” says Thomas Dübendorfer, President of SICTIC.
About the Swiss Growth Stage Summit
The Swiss Growth Stage Summit connects high-potential Swiss scale-ups with national and international venture capital investors, family offices and institutional investors. It focuses on post-product-market-fit companies seeking growth capital, particularly at Series A and B stage, and combines curated deal flow, investor matchmaking, one-to-one meetings, thought leadership and networking.
The inaugural Swiss Growth Stage Summit took place in Lausanne on 15 and 16 September 2026 under the theme “Scaling Swiss Innovation Globally.”
About SICTIC
SICTIC is Switzerland’s leading angel investment network, connecting innovative Swiss technology startups and scale-ups with smart money. Its growing investment community includes angel investors, family offices and venture capitalists from Switzerland and abroad.
Through its investor community, matchmaking activities, partnerships and ecosystem initiatives, SICTIC facilitates access to capital, expertise and networks and strengthens connections between founders and investors in Switzerland and internationally.