Swiss startups record 44 percent more investment - AI boom drives growth

After a downward trend observed since the second half of 2022, Swiss startups recorded a significant increase in financing rounds and investment volumes again in 2025. In 2025, 515 financing rounds were registered for startups, which corresponds to a marginal increase of two financing rounds compared to 2024 (513). The volume invested in startups has also increased: Swiss startups generated a financing volume of CHF 3.3 billion last year, which is 44% higher than in 2024 (CHF 2.3 billion).

"After a few challenging years, we are seeing a clear stabilization in the Swiss startup ecosystem in 2025. Both the number of financing rounds and the capital invested have increased again. We are particularly pleased with the strong momentum in future-oriented areas such as AI and health, which are driving growth significantly," says Milja Vulin Petrovic, Head of Startups and Scaleups at EY Switzerland.

AI financing more than tripled

The progress of artificial intelligence is also clearly visible among start-ups: the number of financing rounds for AI-oriented start-ups rose to 163 in 2025 (2024: 112), which corresponds to an increase of around 46%. Compared to 2023, the number has almost tripled - despite a decline in the total number of financing rounds from 550 to 515. As a result, AI startups accounted for a total of 32% of all financing rounds last year (2023: 10%; 2024: 22%).

The increasing importance of AI in the Swiss startup ecosystem is particularly evident when looking at the financing volumes: investments in AI startups increased by 206% - from CHF 345 million in 2024 to around CHF 1.1 billion in 2025. The share of AI startups in the total financing volume thus rose from 5% to 32% within two years.

Healthcare sector remains the highest-volume area

With 147 financing rounds (2024: 134) and an investment volume of around CHF 1.5 billion (2024: around CHF 1.0 billion), the healthcare sector remains the strongest industry. This sector thus accounts for 44% of the total venture capital volume in Swiss start-ups. Software & Analytics follows with CHF 924 million and a market share of 28% (+133% compared to the previous year). FinTech/InsurTech (9%) and hardware (7%) occupy the other places, while the energy sector recorded a significant decline in investment volume of 55%.

A closer look at the healthcare sector shows that biotech start-ups account for the largest share with a volume of CHF 818 million (2024: CHF 703 million), followed by medtech with CHF 369 million (2024: CHF 275 million) and care with CHF 272 million (2024: CHF 26 million).

Mega deals increase fivefold

A total of 515 financing rounds were recorded in 2025 (2024: 513), with information on the financing volume available for 436 transactions (2024: 462). With the exception of smaller financings of up to CHF 1 million, all size categories recorded more deals than in 2024. The number of mega deals over CHF 100 million increased fivefold (2024: 1; 2025: 5), with their total volume rising from CHF 158 million to CHF 747 million. The increase in the total financing volume from CHF 2.3 billion to CHF 3.3 billion is therefore mainly due to the higher number and significantly increased volume of these mega deals.

Top ten startup financings

When looking at the ten Swiss startups with the largest financing deals in 2025, it is particularly noticeable that the healthcare sector is attracting the largest investments, as it did last year: Once again, six of the ten largest deals go to companies operating in this sector. The first four places are occupied entirely by start-ups from the healthcare sector: In first place is Sanoptis (235 million francs), followed by Windward Bio (173 million francs), Distalmotion (120 million francs) and Glycoera (112 million francs). It is followed by General Intuition from the Software & Analytics sector (CHF 107 million).

The top ten is completed by the AgTech/FoodTech startup Ecorobotix (CHF 84 million), the software & analytics company Auterion (CHF 84 million), Neural Concept (CHF 80 million) and the two healthcare startups Nuclidium (CHF 79 million) and Rhygaze (CHF 74 million).

Slight decline in female start-up teams

As part of the EY Startup Barometer Switzerland, a total of 447 Swiss startups that conducted at least one financing round in 2025 and for which the composition of the respective founding team was made public were recorded. 26 of these startups were founded by all-female teams (6%), while at least one woman was involved in a further 75 teams (17%). The majority (346 start-ups; 77%) were founded by all-male teams. Compared to the previous year, the proportion of all-female teams fell slightly from 7% to 6%.

The e-commerce sector recorded the highest proportion of female founders at 28%; at least one woman was represented in the founding team of 32% of the financed start-ups. This is followed by the healthcare sector with a female founder share of 19%. In a country comparison with Germany and Austria, Switzerland had the highest proportion of female founders among startups with at least one financing round last year at 11.9% (122 out of 1025).

Switzerland leads the DACH comparison

Compared to Germany and Austria, the number of financing rounds in Switzerland remained stable to slightly higher (+0.4%; from 513 to 515), making it the only one of the three countries to record an increase. Germany, on the other hand, recorded a decline for the fourth time in a row (-5.2%; from 755 to 716). Austria also reported a slight decrease (-2.0%; from 151 to 148).

There was a significant increase in the volumes invested in startups in Switzerland: the financing volume rose by 47% to around 3.5 billion euros (2024: 2.41 billion euros). Germany also recorded an increase of 19% to EUR 8.4 billion (2024: EUR 7 billion), reaching the third-highest level in the period under review. In Austria, on the other hand, the volume fell significantly by 56% to EUR 253 million (2024: EUR 579 million).

"The development of financing rounds in Switzerland indicates a clear stabilization at the previous year's level. In contrast to Germany and Austria, the local market is therefore proving to be more robust and is cautiously returning to a growth path," says Petrovic.