15 Swiss VCs Actively Funding Startups in 2026
Founder at Peony — building AI-powered data rooms for secure deal workflows.
Connect with me on LinkedIn! I want to help you :)Last updated: April 2026
TL;DR: Swiss VC hit CHF 2.95B in 2025 (+24% YoY), with early-stage rounds reaching a record CHF 1.116B (+73%). AI startups captured CHF 1.1B (+206%), biotech had its best year at CHF 946M, and ICT rebounded +150%. Swiss VC funds vintage 2020-2024 returned 12% IRR vs 2% for the European benchmark. Key fund closes: Redalpine AUM CHF 1.3B, Founderful $140M Fund II, b2venture EUR 150M Fund V (hard cap), VI Partners CHF 150M new fund, Constructor Capital EUR 92.8M debut. Organise your materials in a Peony data room with page-level analytics, NDA gates, and AI auto-indexing.
I built Peony to help founders share deal materials securely, and I regularly see how Swiss startups structure their fundraising data rooms. Switzerland punches well above its weight: world-class university spin-out infrastructure (ETH Zurich produced 192 VC-backed deep-tech startups since 2020 — ahead of MIT and Stanford), deep corporate VC networks across pharma, banking, and telecom, and a public funding stack through Innosuisse and Venture Kick that extends runway without dilution.
This guide does three things for you:
- shows how to shortlist fast,
- gives concise, source-backed profiles of 15 active Swiss VCs,
- closes with five pitch tips tuned to the local market.
How to Pick the Right Swiss Investor
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Match your bottleneck to their superpower.
- Pre-seed / company builders: Founderful ($140M Fund II), Serpentine Ventures (Rookie Fund), Constructor Capital (EUR 92.8M debut). (Tech Funding News)
- Deep tech / university spin-outs: Verve Ventures, Voima-style diligence from Redalpine, VI Partners (CHF 150M new fund). (verve.vc)
- B2B SaaS / data: b2venture (EUR 150M Fund V), OpenOcean (cross-border). (b2venture.vc)
- Fintech / insurtech: TX Ventures (CHF 100M), Helvetia Venture Fund, UBS Next (USD 200M). (fintechnews.ch)
- Life science / medtech: Novartis VF (>USD 750M), Roche VF (CHF 750M evergreen), Endeavour Vision ($375M). (Novartis)
- Corporate distribution: Swisscom Ventures (enterprise/telecom), Helvetia (insurance). (Swisscom)
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Stack Switzerland's public edge. Pair VC with Innosuisse coaching, Venture Kick tranches (up to CHF 150K), and canton-level support. Note: Eureka Clusters funding suspended for 2026, but EIC Accelerator access restored for Swiss companies as of January 2025.
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Blend independent VC plus CVC. Swiss rounds often pair an independent lead (who sets terms) with a corporate CVC (who opens distribution). Plan your syndicate intentionally.
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Signal real PMF math. Lead with activation to 30/60/90 retention, payback by channel, and 12-18-month milestones tied to this round.
Organise your materials in a secure data room so investors can review your pitch deck and technical documentation without email back-and-forth.
The 15 Investors
For each firm: Center, Stage & typical ticket, Why them, They scrutinise, How to approach.
1) Redalpine (Zurich, London, Berlin)
Center: One of Europe's best-known Swiss-rooted firms. Thesis at the intersection of software plus science. AUM now CHF 1.3B across seven funds, targeting CHF 2B+ by end of 2026. Fund VII closed at $200M in August 2024. (Reuters)
Stage & ticket: Multi-stage across seed to growth; leads and co-leads.
Why them: Portfolio includes N26, Proxima Fusion, Lunaphore, Araris. Deep thesis-driven diligence with years of support. Portfolio company Sanity Group acquired by Organigram for up to EUR 227M in February 2026.
They scrutinise: Discontinuity themes (AI, energy transition, food security) and next fundable proof.
Approach: Tie your wedge to one of their discontinuity themes and show the milestone ladder for 12-18 months. Share your deck through a data room with page-level analytics so you know which sections each partner reviewed.
2) Founderful (Zurich, formerly Wingman Ventures)
Center: Switzerland's dedicated pre-seed specialist. Fund II closed oversubscribed at $140M (target $120M). Fund I fully deployed across 40 startups. (TechCrunch)
Stage & ticket: Pre-seed to seed; typical ~$1M at pre-seed, up to ~$2M at seed. 64 portfolio companies.
Why them: Formation, hiring, first customers; close ties to ETH/EPFL labs. Led Sparkli's $5M pre-seed (January 2026) and participated in Chiral Nano's $12M seed (February 2026, ETH spin-off).
They scrutinise: Beachhead customer clarity and 6-9 month milestone plan.
Approach: Lead with the first paying customer and a de-risking roadmap for the first cheque.
3) b2venture (St. Gallen, formerly btov)
Center: Swiss-rooted European firm investing pre-seed to Series A alongside a curated angel community. Fund V closed at hard cap EUR 150M in January 2026 — their largest ever. (Tech.eu)
Stage & ticket: EUR 250K-5M initial tickets; average ~EUR 1M. Global alumni: DeepL, 1KOMMA5.
Why them: Deep DACH presence, large angel network, operator matching. Already deploying Fund V: co-led Sitegeist's EUR 4M pre-seed (autonomous construction robots, February 2026) and participated in PAVE Space's $40M seed (orbital transfer vehicles, March 2026).
They scrutinise: Design partners, LOIs, and clear path to recurring revenue.
Approach: Bring design partners or LOIs and a plan to recurring revenue — not just pilots.
4) Verve Ventures (Zurich)
Center: Deep-tech VC investing through curated platform plus in-house team. Invests EUR 60-70M per year, among the top decile most active investors in Europe. 171 portfolio companies, 1 unicorn (Climeworks). (verve.vc)
Stage & ticket: Pre-seed/Seed to Series A; typical EUR 500K-3M initial. (verve.vc)
Why them: Technical diligence speed, co-investor syndication, and cross-border follow-ons. Three deals in February 2026 alone: led Haelixa's EUR 2M pre-series A (ETH spin-off), follow-on in Metafuels' $24M Series A-II (synthetic aviation fuel), and follow-on in Axelera AI's $250M+ Series C.
They scrutinise: Technical moat with early customer proof and regulatory/certification path.
Approach: Show IP edge plus pilot results and co-investor candidates. Organise lab reports and IP documentation with AI auto-indexing so reviewers can search across your entire filing history.
5) VI Partners (Zurich)
Center: One of Switzerland's longest-standing VCs. First close of a new CHF 150M (EUR 161M) fund. Portfolio exits in 2025: Nexthink and Araris both achieved billion-dollar exits.
Stage & ticket: Seed and early-stage; typically leads or co-leads. Tech and HealthTech with Swiss university spin-out heritage.
Why them: Trusted with Swiss deep-tech diligence and public-research linkages. Two billion-dollar exits in a single year proves the model.
They scrutinise: Technical truth, university IP quality, and scalable go-to-market.
Approach: Show TRL progress, named pilot partners, and regulatory milestones.
6) Swisscom Ventures (Zurich)
Center: Strategic but financially driven CVC of Swisscom with a full-time VC team. 4 new deals in 2025 including leading Amnis's CHF 10M Series B.
Stage & ticket: Early through growth. Cloud/networking, enterprise software, fintech, climate/energy, Industry 4.0 — aligned with Swisscom's enterprise footprint.
Why them: Corporate access to Swiss enterprise customers, B2B distribution lift, and strong local brand.
They scrutinise: Path to Swiss enterprise adoption or infrastructure relevance.
Approach: Show a clear enterprise pilot tied to Swisscom's business lines. Use screenshot protection when sharing sensitive product architecture during CVC diligence.
7) Novartis Venture Fund (Basel & Cambridge, MA)
Center: One of the most established life-science investors globally. Over USD 750M committed, 40+ active companies. 8 investments in 2025.
Stage & ticket: Seed to later stage biotech and biopharma with hands-on board work.
Why them: Deep downstream partnering routes and clinical expertise. Basel HQ plus Cambridge office gives transatlantic syndication.
They scrutinise: MOA clarity, clinical plan, IP/FTO, and manufacturability.
Approach: Lead with Phase I design and named KOLs. Share regulatory documentation through a data room with NDA gates before counterparties access sensitive clinical data.
8) Roche Venture Fund (Basel & South San Francisco)
Center: CHF 750M evergreen CVC spanning pharma, diagnostics, and digital health. Participated in SpliceBio's $135M Series B.
Stage & ticket: Financially driven with active portfolio support. Disciplined co-investor syndicates.
Why them: Deep clinical, regulatory, and diagnostics know-how. Basel plus South San Francisco presence covers both European and US markets.
They scrutinise: Clinical differentiation, regulatory strategy, and fit within Roche's therapeutic and diagnostic areas.
Approach: Demonstrate clinical and commercial synergy with Roche's pipeline without requiring exclusivity.
9) TX Ventures (Zurich)
Center: TX Group's independent VC arm. CHF 100M FinTech Fund I. Strong bias to fintech and data/AI in financial services. 23 portfolio companies. Participated in Sinpex's EUR 10M Series A (January 2026, AI-powered KYB compliance). (fintechnews.ch)
Stage & ticket: Pre-seed/seed to Series A; cheques around CHF 500K-3M.
Why them: Bank/fintech distribution and regulatory nuance; TX Group media/marketplace DNA helps with brand.
They scrutinise: Money flow clarity, risk location, and compliance posture.
Approach: Demo the money flow (who pays, where risk sits, compliance posture) in under 90 seconds. Protect your IP with password protection and link expiry.
10) Endeavour Vision (Geneva)
Center: Growth-stage medtech and digital health specialist. Medtech Growth II closed at $375M (2021). Also raised a dedicated EUR 250M European vehicle (2023). Deploying from Fund II; no Fund III announced yet.
Stage & ticket: Growth; typical CHF/EUR 10-20M investments.
Why them: Pure-play scale-up partner for commercial-stage healthcare tech with US and EU go-to-market depth.
They scrutinise: Revenue traction, regulatory clearance, and reimbursement pathway.
Approach: Show commercial metrics (revenue, pipeline, regulatory status) and US/EU expansion plan.
11) Constructor Capital (Zurich — NEW)
Center: New entrant. Debut EUR 92.8M ($110M) fund closed February 2026. Backs deep-tech, software, and EdTech at early stage. Affiliated with Constructor (formerly Jacobs University).
Stage & ticket: Early-stage; first deployments underway.
Why them: Fresh capital, no legacy portfolio conflicts, and academic network through Constructor ecosystem.
They scrutinise: Technical differentiation and commercial viability.
Approach: Bring working prototype and early traction — they are building their portfolio from scratch and looking for conviction bets.
12) Serpentine Ventures (Zurich & Bern)
Center: FINMA-licensed venture asset manager under Swiss Ventures Group. Runs focused funds including a pre-seed Rookie Fund and thematic vehicles (e.g., Diabetes Venture Fund). Portfolio includes Voltiris (#4 in 2025 TOP 100 Swiss Startup Awards). (serpentine.vc)
Stage & ticket: Pre-seed to Series A; cheques typically CHF 250K-5M.
Why them: Venture-client intros, Swiss co-investor access (SICTIC, BAS, angels), and thematic fund alignment.
They scrutinise: Pilot-to-repeatable path and fit within thematic fund mandates.
Approach: Propose a pilot plan (site, metrics, timeline) that maps to their thematic focus.
13) Helvetia Venture Fund (St. Gallen / Luxembourg)
Center: CVC of Helvetia insurance. Focus on insurtech and adjacent fintech, mobility, and trust-tech. Typical ticket CHF 0.5-2M. Investments include neon (Swiss mobile banking) and Skribble (e-signature).
Stage & ticket: Early to growth; insurtech value chain.
Why them: Deep insurance distribution knowledge and bancassurance hooks via Helvetia's brands.
They scrutinise: Insurance value-chain fit and distribution leverage.
Approach: Show how your product reduces claims costs, improves underwriting, or opens new distribution for Helvetia.
14) Alpana Ventures (Geneva, Sion)
Center: Early to growth with focus on digital deep-tech (AI/data/SaaS/healthtech). Switzerland-first with US bridge. Portfolio includes Beekeeper, Lunaphore, Voliro, LEND, Resistell.
Stage & ticket: Hands-on with governance and go-to-market for ETH/EPFL spin-outs maturing commercially.
Why them: Geneva presence gives access to Western Swiss ecosystem and international organisations.
They scrutinise: Governance quality and commercial go-to-market beyond the lab.
Approach: Show commercial traction beyond technical milestones — revenue, pipeline, enterprise LOIs.
15) UBS Next (Zurich)
Center: UBS strategic venture and innovation unit. USD 200M program investing in fintech and enterprise tech. Portfolio includes ConsenSys, Trust & Will, BigPanda. 12 total investments since 2020 — selective pace.
Stage & ticket: Strategic fit required; deep banking platforms and global distribution.
Why them: If your product integrates into UBS's global banking infrastructure, the distribution leverage is massive.
They scrutinise: Strategic alignment with UBS business lines and enterprise readiness.
Approach: Lead with integration architecture showing how your product fits UBS's platform — not just financial metrics.
Five Quick Tips for Pitching Swiss Investors
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Lead with proof, not narrative. Open with 3 hard metrics (NRR, sales cycle, unit economics). Swiss partners interrogate operating rigour before story.
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Show your Switzerland-plus plan. Most firms help you scale beyond CH. Name the next two markets (DACH/France/UK or US) and which partner or LP can open doors.
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Come enterprise-ready. DPA/GDPR documentation, SSO/SCIM, procurement timeline, and a named security owner shorten cycles with Swiss corporates (and CVCs like Swisscom). Keep your compliance documentation in a secure, organised data room rather than scattered across Google Drive.
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Cite the non-dilutive stack. Innosuisse coaching, Venture Kick tranches, canton support — pairing these with a VC round makes your runway go further and signals you know the terrain.
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Keep your data room boring (that is a compliment). Clean index, cap table, IP/FTO, customer letters, cohort analysis, and a milestone-indexed budget. Use Peony to organise your startup data room and track which investors actually read your materials. Peony's AI Q&A lets investors ask questions and get instant cited answers, cutting days off the diligence timeline.
How Peony Helps Swiss Startups Raise Capital
I built Peony specifically for the fundraising workflow. Swiss founders use it to:
- Organise deal materials in minutes. AI auto-indexing sorts your uploaded documents into a searchable data room in under three minutes. No manual folder creation needed.
- Track investor engagement at the page level. Page analytics show which investors opened your deck, which sections they spent time on, and when they came back for a second look. Time your follow-ups to the people who are actually reading.
- Protect sensitive IP. Dynamic watermarks print each viewer's identity on every page. Screenshot protection blocks and logs capture attempts. NDA gates require signatures before access.
- Execute documents in-platform. Built-in e-signatures with AI field detection let you close NDAs, term sheets, and side letters without switching to a separate signing tool.
- Control access after sharing. Link expiry, password protection, and instant access revocation keep stale versions from circulating after your round closes.
Peony Business at $40 per admin per month includes AI auto-indexing, screenshot protection, dynamic watermarks, advanced Q&A, and multi-level gating for syndicated rounds. Pro at $20 per admin per month covers core analytics and document sharing for single-lead setups.
Set up your Swiss fundraising data room - ready in under five minutes.
Frequently Asked Questions
I'm a 3-person ETH spin-out raising CHF 2M seed — should I approach Founderful or Redalpine first?
It depends on your stage and round size. Founderful (Fund II, $140M, oversubscribed) is Switzerland's pre-seed specialist — they write first cheques up to around $2M and provide hands-on formation support including hiring, first customers, and university lab connections. If you are still at MVP with no revenue, Founderful is the natural first call. Redalpine (AUM CHF 1.3B, targeting CHF 2B+ by end of 2026) operates across seed to growth with thesis-driven bets in AI, energy transition, health, and food security. If you already have pilot partners and need a CHF 2M seed with strong follow-on reserves, Redalpine gives you multi-stage coverage. For a 3-person deep-tech team with patent filings and pilot data, your data room needs to handle both IP documentation and commercial validation. Peony AI auto-indexing organises patent families, lab reports, and pilot agreements into a searchable structure in under three minutes — traditional data rooms like Intralinks charge per-page upload fees and take days to index the same volume.
We're a B2B SaaS startup with CHF 1M ARR raising a CHF 8M Series A — which Swiss VCs actually lead A rounds?
Three funds regularly lead or co-lead Series A in Switzerland. b2venture (Fund V, EUR 150M at hard cap, January 2026) writes EUR 250K–5M initial tickets and has backed global winners like DeepL and 1KOMMA5°. Verve Ventures invests EUR 60–70M per year and is among the top decile most active investors in Europe, with deep-tech and SaaS in their thesis. VI Partners (new CHF 150M fund in first close, with Nexthink and Araris both achieving billion-dollar exits in 2025) has decades of Swiss university spin-out heritage. For your CHF 8M round, prepare a clean data room with cohort metrics, pipeline by persona, and an 18-month milestone ladder. Peony page-level analytics show you exactly which partners spent time on your NRR waterfall versus your product roadmap, so you time follow-ups to the people who are actually engaged. Google Drive gives you nothing beyond whether the link was opened.
Our biotech startup has Phase I data and is raising CHF 15M — which Swiss investors specialise in life sciences?
Switzerland has three dedicated life-science investors. Novartis Venture Fund (over USD 750M committed, 40+ active companies) backs seed through later-stage biotech and biopharma with hands-on board work and downstream partnering routes. Roche Venture Fund (CHF 750M evergreen) invests across pharma, diagnostics, and digital health with deep clinical and regulatory expertise. Endeavour Vision ($375M Medtech Growth II fund) specialises in growth-stage medtech and digital health with US and EU go-to-market depth. For a CHF 15M biotech raise with Phase I data, regulatory documentation, and clinical protocols, your data room needs multi-level access gating so different investor groups see different disclosure levels. Peony Business at $40 per admin per month includes NDA gates, dynamic watermarks with reviewer identity on every page, and screenshot protection that blocks and logs capture attempts — critical when circulating sensitive clinical data to competing pharma CVCs simultaneously. Google Drive and Dropbox lack NDA gates and document-level permission tiers entirely.
We're a 4-person fintech team in Zurich raising CHF 1M pre-seed — should we target fintech-specific VCs or generalist early-stage funds?
Target fintech-specific first. TX Ventures (CHF 100M FinTech Fund I) is your top pick — they have direct distribution relationships with Swiss banks and led fintech rounds including Particula's $5.5M. Helvetia Venture Fund invests CHF 0.5–2M in insurtech and adjacent fintech with deep insurance distribution knowledge. UBS Next (USD 200M) targets fintech and enterprise tech with strategic partnerships across UBS's global banking platform. For a CHF 1M fintech pre-seed, you want investors who open regulated-partner intros, not just write cheques. b2venture is your backup because their angel network includes fintech operators who become your first design partners. Set up your data room on Peony Business ($40 per admin per month) with NDA gates so only investors who sign your terms can access sensitive compliance documentation — a security layer that basic file-sharing tools like Google Drive simply do not offer.
I'm a first-time founder in Switzerland with a prototype but no revenue — who will actually take the meeting?
Three paths are designed for your stage. Founderful (Fund II, $140M) is Switzerland's dedicated pre-seed leader — they write first cheques up to $2M and provide formation, hiring, and first-customer support. Serpentine Ventures (FINMA-licensed) runs a pre-seed Rookie Fund with cheques of CHF 250K–5M and venture-client intros through the Swiss Startup ecosystem. Constructor Capital (NEW, EUR 92.8M debut fund closed February 2026) backs deep-tech, software, and EdTech at early stage. For all three, prepare a 90-day build-and-ship cadence, design-partner letters, and a milestone ladder tied to this raise. Organise everything in a single data room rather than scattered email attachments. Peony lets you set one up in under five minutes with password protection and NDA gates so only serious investors access your materials — Box and Dropbox have no built-in NDA workflow at all.
Can I stack Innosuisse grants with a Swiss VC round to extend runway?
Yes, and this is one of Switzerland's biggest fundraising advantages. Innosuisse coaching cheques, Venture Kick tranches (up to CHF 150K across three stages), and canton-level support all pair with VC rounds to extend runway without dilution. Note that Innosuisse suspended Eureka Clusters funding for 2026, but EIC Accelerator access was restored for Swiss companies as of January 2025 — check eligibility before planning your non-dilutive stack. The playbook: secure your VC lead first, then layer Innosuisse and Venture Kick on top. For a round involving multiple funding sources, organise all term sheets, grant documentation, and milestone budgets in one data room. Peony e-signatures let your VC lead and grant administrators all execute documents inside the same platform where they reviewed your materials — most founders juggle a separate DocuSign thread alongside their data room, which fragments the audit trail.
How do Swiss corporate VCs differ from independent VCs, and should I include both on my cap table?
Swiss corporate VCs (Swisscom Ventures, Novartis VF, Roche VF, Helvetia, UBS Next) bring distribution, pilots, and strategic validation but often require strategic alignment reviews that slow decisions. Independent VCs (Redalpine, b2venture, Verve, Founderful) move faster on conviction and usually set terms. Many Swiss A rounds blend an independent lead with a strategic CVC — the independent sets valuation and governance, while the CVC opens enterprise distribution. For a CHF 5M seed with 2 CVCs and 1 independent VC in the syndicate, you need separate share links with different permission sets so each party sees appropriate disclosure. Peony Business at $40 per admin per month handles this natively: each link gets its own access tier, analytics dashboard, and dynamic watermarks. SharePoint and Google Drive require separate folders with separate share links, losing all consolidated analytics.
How should I organise my data room before approaching Swiss investors?
Swiss investors expect five core sections: a clean cap table, cohort metrics with activation through 30-day, 60-day, and 90-day retention plus CAC payback by channel, IP and FTO documentation if you are deep tech, proof points like design-partner letters or pilot results, and a milestone-indexed budget for this raise. Life-science founders should add a regulatory section with CE marking timelines, clinical trial design, and named KOLs. For a 5-person startup raising a CHF 3M seed with 150 documents across financials, IP, and customer evidence, keep folders organised by section, not chronologically. Peony AI Q&A lets investors ask questions in plain English and get instant answers with cited page numbers, so you avoid the multi-day email chains that slow diligence. Traditional data rooms like Intralinks charge per-page upload fees and take days to index the same volume that Peony handles in minutes.