Founder Institute Zurich Spring 2020 Produces 15 New Technology Companies

The Zurich Founder Institute, the local chapter of the world's largest pre-seed startup accelerator, is proud to announce the newest Alumni from the Founder Institute Zurich Spring 2020 program.

Over 200 people applied to the program, and after an intense four months of aggressive business-building sprints and constant evaluation and feedback from investors and mentors, just 15 companies were able to make it through. 

Each of these Founders have demonstrated a high level of perseverance and creativity, and their businesses have been thoroughly vetted and supported by a panel of Switzerland's top startup experts and investors.

Please join us live on October 8th for the Founder Institute Switzerland Startup Showcase & Demo Day (Online Event) to watch presentations from these entrepreneurs building the next generation of great Swiss companies.

Without further ado, we present the newest Alumni of the Zurich accelerator program: 

• AVEC-SAVE - offering inclusive finance products to serves the financial needs of the ultra poor
  
• Ayola - providing quality haircuts for a low cost, wherever and whenever the customer books the service
• BRU AG - giving customers the best tea making and drinking experience possible through patented technology that makes tea preparation more convenient, consistent and sustainable
• Ecomap.io - a website to help market researcher to provide insights into fragmented business ecosystems in an easy-to-update, content-rich and visual way
• EKAMOU - providing assistance to SMEs in the Beauty and Wellness industry, through a monthly subscription on a 3-legged social beauty mobile platform called IWE, to reach a wider market and increase their capital income
  
• Oregami - offering reusable packaging-as-a-service to meet the needs of consumers to be ecological, as well as more enjoyable than single-use packaging
• Ravel - a platform simplifying travel planning by helping travellers get inspired by others, as well as create unique trip itineraries and share experiences in order to save time and money for vacations
  
• REBELS 0.0% - developing truly alcohol-free 0.0% spirit alternatives to mix sophisticated drinks with, focusing on millennials who consume 20% less alcohol than previous generations but still want to go out and be social, without having to justify for not drinking
  
• Seniors Agenda - a platform leveraging seniors' potential by enabling them to gain new skills, knowledge and share time with others
• Sesam - offering a platform where people can easily find a curated yoga teacher for tailored classes, online or offline
  
• Sharing Tribe - enabling companies to attract and retain female data scientists by matching them to talent in a job-sharing model
• Sleepboo - multi-vendor sleep online community and marketplace to boost sleep quality through expert content and wide selection of product offerings
• WOM - a social media platform where users share their recommendations with their friends on their interests and experiences: music, sports, books, travelling, sciences, technology, the list is endless
• Zoob - a mobile application enabling an entire funnel of small tokens for gift giving, such as a coffee from someone's favorite cafe
• Zuckerpak - turning bagasse into compostable pulp and packaging to help the food industry with their pledge to reduce non sustianble packaging

The Founder Institute Zurich Spring 2020 program would not have been possible without help, because it truly takes a city to raise a startup. We would first like to thank the Local Leaders of the Zurich Founder Institute: Athanasios Ladopoulos (MOOCTORS), Christina Senn Jakobsen (Vertical Lead Food & Retail Tech, Kickstart Innovation), Daniel Boehi, Ingeborg Gasser Kriss (21st century innovation agent, Agent21), Thomas Ackermann (Managing Director, Glowbase). Our Local Leaders play an incredibly important role in building the local Founder Institute program, and creating an environment and network in Zurich that is conducive to building to great companies.

In addition, the Founder Institute Zurich Spring 2020 program program was supported by some of Zurich's top technology organizations, including:

Some of Switzerland’s top startup mentors helped our founders in the program, including:

In the Founder Institute's pre-seed accelerator program, early-stage entrepreneurs and teams build their business alongside a critical support network of local startup experts that share equity in their success, and through a structured and challenging business-building process that has helped alumni raise over 2BN. 

After Graduation, the new Zurich Founder Institute Portfolio Companies now have a fast-growing company that has been fully validated by experienced startup founders, with access to the Founder Institute's global network and post-graduate support programs to continue building their business. 

Leaders of the world’s fastest-growing startups have used the Founder Institute to raise funding, get into seed-accelerators, generate traction, recruit a team, build a product, transition from employee to entrepreneur, and more. Based in Silicon Valley and with chapters across 200+ cities and 100+ countries, the Founder Institute’s mission is to Globalize Silicon Valley and empower talented and motivated entrepreneurs to build companies that will create one million new jobs.

The next Zurich Founder Institute program is being planned now. If you are interested in being notified when applications open, visit FI.co/apply/zurich.

Alumni of the Founder Institute are creating some of the world's fastest growing startups, having raised over 2BN in funding, and building products people love across over 200 cities worldwide.

See the most recent news from our Grads at FI.co/news, or learn more about their stories at FI.co/journey.