Impact partners
Our impact
Our impact encompasses innovation, sustainability and growth. Kickstart participants benefit from a collaborative, open innovation approach and access to a community of like minded entrepreneurs and innovators.
80% startup solutions in 2022 Smart Cities and Food & Retail verticals related to circular economy & sustainability. In addition 40% of deals overall (PoCs, Commercial Projects) are circular economy driven.
110+ Partner organizations actively engaged and helped to secure 270+ deals in form of proofs of concept and commercial partnerships since 2016
1000+ entrepreneurs supported through our innovation platform from 80+ countries
For entrepreneurs
Kickstart acts as both a launchpad for well-established startups from Switzerland aiming to scale, and as a landing pad for international scaleups looking to secure business opportunities in Switzerland and beyond. We provide fast-track access to relevant industry partners, and help test the scalability, application, and impact of innovations within a rigorous corporate environment. Startups can test their projects through proofs of concept, and further develop and scale to increase their market visibility. The credibility of these startups increases the more they can point to a track record of collaboration and pilot projects with established partners – opening doors to other potential clients and customers.
Kickstart is a spin-off of Impact Hub Zurich, and is part of a global community of over 100 hubs. Since our inception, our startups have raised over 2.5 billion CHF in investments.
For partner organizations
Kickstart works closely with organizations in the public and private sectors to support their innovation process – by helping them collaborate with carefully-selected startups in ways that create new business opportunities while helping young companies scale and gain new clients. Our process involves a careful focus on specific collaboration opportunities for each partner organization. We measure success in terms of the number, quality, and impact of partnerships developed between startups and partner organizations (in both the public and private sectors), factoring in proofs of concept (PoCs), commercial relationships, and other forms of collaboration. Many of our partners have been able to use this process to gain traction in their venture arms and other investment vehicles.
For the planet
Kickstart is increasingly placing its innovation focus on sustainability. When we work with organizations in both the public and private sectors, we use the Sustainable Development Goals as a guiding framework – alongside specific factors related to an organization’s core activities – as we devise pilots, commercial projects, and investments. To help us maintain our focus on circular economy practices, we have collaborated with the Mava Foundation, Impact Hub and others to include the right experts. Last year, over 40% of startups applied with solutions connected to the circular economy. Even we reflect a growing interest among our corporate partners in innovative solutions that can help ensuren their future success from both from an economic and a sustainability perspective, we hope that this can increase significantly in the next five years.
Testimonials
"Working with Kickstart is a key way for us at la Mobilière to develop internal innovations, invest in forward-facing business lines and advance intrapreneurship within our own ranks."
Andrea Kleiner, Head Business Development, La Mobilière
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