Kickstart Innovation is one of the largest European innovation platforms aiming to support the startup ecosystem by building bridges between organizations such as startups, companies, cities, foundations and universities. Each year, Kickstart brings around 100 entrepreneurs to collaborate with key players for proofs of concepts, pilot projects and other innovation partnerships. Additionally, through the intrapreneurial program Kickstart helps established organizations to accelerate internal innovation.
Accelerator Strategy Overview
STARTUPS ELIGIBLE FOR ACCELERATION PROGRAM
Geography: The accelerator welcomes scaleups from all over the world for partnerships and market entry into Switzerland. The organization is based in Zurich, Switzerland (spinoff of Impact Hub - 100 global locations), however, about 70% of the portfolio startups are international.
Preferred industries: FinTech & InsurTech, EdTech & New Work, HealthTech, Food & RetailTech, Smart City & Technology, Circular Economy & Intrapreneurship.
Company stage: later-stage startups (scaleups)
Product stage: ready product, scaling
Product type: B2B, B2C, B2B2C, B2D, B2G
Revenues: Typically yes, but with exceptions
PROGRAM DETAILS
Duration: 3 Months
Participation fee: No
Equity Investment: No
Grant: Yes (amount with differentiation how much in cash and how much in services)
No of batches per year: 1
No of startups in a cohort: 190
Q&A with Katka Letzing, CEO
What are the 5 most important things you look for in a startup applying to your core program?
Kickstart is not a “classic” startup accelerator as it is a B2B initiative fostering open innovation by bringing together mature high-growth startups with established organizations & corporations. So the 5 most important criteria we take into consideration are:
- Scaleups have to be ready to collaborate on proofs of concept and commercial projects with the partners and have traction on the market as well as ideally traction connected to pilots.
- Scaleups should be in the growth stage (secured some funding or bootstrapped with revenues - ideally in the funding stage of Series A or Series B)
- Scaleups have to offer solutions to our collaboration opportunities identified by our partners. (Here you can find more details connected to each focus area of the open innovation platform).
- Scaleups should be focused on DeepTech or/and CE/Sustainable Solutions, as it’s our long-term goal to support such companies to thrive and help them to access customers and gain traction.
- We are looking for scaleups that are ready to make it happen :)
What startups should take into account before applying to your program?
We seek later-stage startups that aim to scale globally. Our mission is to bring together these entrepreneurs with industry partners to collaborate on Proofs of Concept (PoC), pilot projects, commercial partnerships, investments and other innovation opportunities.
Can you share some of the red flags that can disqualify a scaleup from joining your accelerator?
The scaleups need to have decision power to agree on pilots and investments - if they don't, it’s definitely a first red flag for us. Moreover, we don’t accept startups with conflicts of IP or ownership. Willingness to collaborate and being hands-on is also a very crucial factor that enables both sides to be satisfied. In addition, due diligence is implemented for each scaleup during the application process.
What are the most valuable skills that selected startups can develop thanks to your program?
Selected startups get wide access to organizations from the public and private sphere. Companies have a possibility to work with them closely which brings many great deals and learning opportunities. In addition, the scaleups gain a chance to share and deepen their knowledge in technology, and other fields that they are engaged in, while cooperating with a network of experts, investors, and advisors.
Over 100 workshops and events happen each year during our programs - which is also a great way to learn on different subjects like investments, business models, scaling and more.
How does your organization support startups during and after the program?
During the program, the startup gets from us:
- access to advisors and experts (tech, legal, field focus, etc.)
- support by Kickstart team to push for intros and other activities
- a chance to participate at events with investors and potential clients
- unique engagement CEO dinner (with CEOs of top organizations in Switzerland)
- speaking engagement at large events (i.e. Opening Ceremony with 400-500 participants; Investor Summit [200-300]; Closing Ceremony [400-500])
- PR & Comms exposure on the local and international level
After the program, the startups are supported by access to our expert and advisor network, investment opportunities, VIP events (as it fits), and PR assistance connected to success stories of investments and deals.
We like to spotlight and pair our community with leading advisors and investors as best we can. SideKick Health, for example, entered the Swiss market with Pfizer working on inflammatory diseases. The adviser that we paired its team with is now working with them as the commercial strategy and business Development Lead.
What are the best-performing companies in your portfolio?
We have a number of focus areas so there are quite a few success stories to celebrate - overall there has been over 200 scaleups and 170 deals. However, to kick off this answer here are some of the highlights from our FinTech & InsurTech, Food & RetailTech, HealthTech and EdTech & New work.
- One of our alumni, Veezoo providing AI solutions connected to Axa having pilots that scaled to commercial projects and scaled in all Switzerland engaging over 150 stakeholders using the technology on a daily basis.
- Planted, a scaleup providing plant-based meat substitutes, has built a connection to the Swiss biggest retailers (Coop and Migros) which resulted in pilot projects evaluating consumer demand and market readiness. After the very positive pilots, it moved to commercial projects. Recently the scaleup raised 14.6M EUR and its innovative products are sold in all stores.
- In EdTech & New Work, we helped Sharpist develop two Proofs of Concept in Switzerland with Coop and Swisscom, both centered around developing leadership in the face of the pandemic challenges whereby every employee can receive digital coaching tailored to their goals. Kickstart facilitated and supported both processes.
- Another great success story is Labster - already a rising star that gained a lot of traction after the Kickstart program in 2018 and established vocational training centers in Switzerland, securing $60M in 2021.
- In HealthTech one of the most recent development success stories goes to Onedoc. The company created a telehealth solution in under a month, integrated with Medbase during the 2019 Kickstart program and has been able to scale its venture nationally with over 1.2M vaccination appointments made via the platform.
- HelloBetter is a mental health startup with over 10M EUR in research funding working on different areas of mental health including female sexual health. The startup is in a commercial pilot with AXA and the City of Zurich via Kickstart. Moreover, it was singled out among the WEF’s Top 15 digital health innovators of 2020.
These are just some of the accolades from four of our focus areas, we have many more in Smart City and Technology, Circular Economy and Intrapreneurship.
What key lessons have you learned from projects that didn’t work out the way you expected?
We believe that there is always a lesson to be learned from every project whether successful it is or not. The opportunity of being part of our program opens a door for networking between partners and startups, which means exchanging experiences, insightful remarks and learning from others’ mistakes. From the feedback from our alumni, the connections they have made during Kickstart were very valuable and turned into promising cooperations.
Why, in your opinion, are accelerators or innovation programs like yours becoming more popular nowadays?
Kickstart is one of the leading open innovation programs in Europe, however, there are a lot of such programs available nowadays. We provide comprehensive support at every step of the way through our focus leads, program managers, experts, advisers, investor networks and partners - and that is what companies really appreciate. Ultimately, accelerators or innovation programs are a great opportunity to accelerate the crucial business connections - keeping on the pulse of technological advancement and company missions really requires a bridged conversation between corporations, institutions and startups.
What are the hottest markets you currently look at as an organization that accelerates innovation and where do you see the biggest hype?
Our program is open to the world with a strong focus on European innovations so far. We are hungry to find scaleups and partners from any country/region that can benefit and make the connections happen with the results in the form of scaling, deals and innovation that matters.
Do you have any predictions about the key trends that will shape the European accelerator scene in the near future?
We believe that DeepTech, Circular Economy and Intrapreneurship are hot topics. The areas that we are focusing on are all based on the traction of interest from our partners - FinTech, InsurTech, Cybersecurity, Food & RetailTech, HealthTech and Smart City & Technology.
The Circular Economy is moving organizations of different sizes towards rethinking the ways they do business, there is also a connection with consumers' demands for better products that do not negatively impact natural resources. Moreover, we see the intrapreneurship trend looming - it changes the culture of how employees in traditional organizations work and collaborate together and may have a huge positive impact on companys’ development.
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