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Swiss private equity and venture capital in 2026
CHF 2.95 billion marks the end of the funding winter
Swiss startups raised CHF 2.95 billion across 354 financing rounds in 2025, according to the Swiss Venture Capital Report 2026, a 23.9% year-over-year increase and the first annual rise since 2022, decisively ending a two-year funding contraction. Under the broader methodology used by EY's Startup Barometer, the figure reaches CHF 3.3 billion across 515 rounds, a 44% YoY jump from CHF 2.3 billion in 2024. The recovery was front-loaded: H1 2025 alone recorded CHF 1’474 million across 124 rounds, the strongest first half since 2021.
The most striking signal was the surge in early-stage capital. Seed and Series A investments hit a record CHF 1’116 million, up 73% year-over-year. Seven of the 20 largest rounds in 2025 were early-stage, compared to just two in 2024, indicating a fundamental return of risk appetite after the correction period.
Biotech dominated with a record CHF 946.4 million, 25% above the previous 2020 peak, with Basel-Stadt alone attracting CHF 572 million, of which 95% flowed to biotech companies. ICT staged a dramatic recovery, nearly tripling to CHF 773.6 million after a difficult 2024. Fintech was stable at approximately CHF 295 million for the full year (EY methodology), up 93% in H1. Cleantech drew CHF 386 million, though approximately one-third went to a single company (Climeworks). The most transformative cross-sector trend was AI: 163 AI startup funding rounds occurred in 2025 (up from 112 in 2024), representing 32% of all deals and approximately CHF 1.1 billion in investment volume, a 206% year-over-year surge.
Marquee deals and milestone exits defined 2025
The largest rounds illustrate Switzerland's deep-tech DNA. Energy Vault led with CHF 241.8 million, followed by Windward Bio at CHF 160 million (a $200 million Series A for immunological disease therapies), Climeworks at CHF 130 million (extending its cumulative funding past $1 billion), Distalmotion at CHF 120.7 million (surgical robotics), and GlycoEra at CHF 113.3 million (biotech). Other notable rounds included Cequr (CHF 109 million, medtech), Ecorobotix (CHF 84.5 million, agtech), and Auterion (CHF 83 million, drone software). In fintech, Sygnum Bank raised $58 million in January 2025, achieving unicorn status at a $1+ billion valuation. Switzerland's 14th unicorn, while managing $5 billion in client assets across 2’000+ institutional clients.
The exit environment was equally notable. Three of Europe's six billion-dollar exits in 2025 were Swiss: Nexthink (EPFL spin-off) sold a majority stake to Vista Equity Partners at a $3 billion valuation, u-blox (ETH spin-off) was acquired by Advent International for CHF 1.05 billion, and Araris Biotech (ETH/PSI spin-off) was sold to Japan's Taiho Pharmaceutical for $400 million upfront plus up to $740 million in milestones. A record nine trade sales exceeded CHF 100 million. Two Swiss startups, Bioversys and MindMaze, completed IPOs in 2025 after a year without any.
Switzerland punches well above its weight in European VC
In absolute terms, Switzerland ranked 4th in European VC in 2025 with approximately $3.6 billion, behind the UK (~$17 billion), France ($8.5 billion), and Germany ($8.4 billion), but ahead of the Netherlands ($3.4 billion). Switzerland's 44% growth rate was the strongest among major European markets. Per capita, the picture is even more impressive: Switzerland is #1 in Europe for VC-funded spinout value creation per capita (European Spinouts Report 2025) and #1 globally for deep-tech VC share, 60% of Swiss VC flows to deep tech, compared to 49% in Israel, 44% in Sweden, and 43% in the US. The total Swiss deep-tech ecosystem is valued at approximately $202 billion (Dealroom).
ETH Zurich ranks 3rd and EPFL 4th in Europe for deep-tech spinout value, behind only Oxford and Cambridge. Swiss universities have collectively produced CHF 44.6 billion in spinout enterprise value. The DACH region surpassed the UK and Ireland for the first time as the leading European VC fundraising geography, capturing 26.9% of total European fund commitments.
Zero rates and strategic initiatives create a supportive deployment environment
The SNB completed six consecutive rate cuts between March 2024 and June 2025, bringing the policy rate from 1.75% to 0.00%, where it has been held for three consecutive meetings through March 2026. SARON has dipped slightly negative at -0.04%. Swiss inflation touched 0.0% in November 2025 and briefly went negative (-0.1%) in May 2025. The market consensus is that rates remain at zero throughout 2026, with the first hike expected no earlier than H2 2027.
The zero-rate environment directly supports private-market deployment by lowering financing costs and narrowing bid-ask spreads in buyouts, while eroding real returns on fixed income and encouraging institutional allocation to alternatives. Swiss M&A volumes surged 465% to $16.7 billion through August 2025 (Bloomberg), with PE accounting for approximately 26% of all Swiss M&A. Over 114 active PE/VC/angel funds now operate in Switzerland.
A recognized gap persists in domestic late-stage capital, nearly 96% of late-stage deep-tech financing in Switzerland is led by foreign investors (primarily US and EU). The Deep Tech Nation Switzerland Foundation, backed by Swisscom, UBS, Swiss Re, Rolex, Julius Bär, and SIX, aims to mobilize CHF 5 billion in annual funding over ten years, with 50% from Swiss investors. Venture Kick targets supporting 3’000 startups by 2035 with CHF 50 billion in follow-on investments. The Swiss Startup Association published its Startup-Agenda Schweiz in February 2026 with 20 proposed reforms for scaling, and the Operator Circle, a network of 35+ Swiss scale-up executives, launched in March 2026 as an operator-led investment vehicle.
Author
Dylan Figueiredo
CIO | Haute Capital Partners SA
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