EY Startup Barometer Switzerland 2025

EY’s analysis of Swiss startup funding reveals trends in region, gender and industry, and explores financing for startups using AI.

Download the EY Startup Barometer Switzerland 2025

In brief

• CHF 2.3bn was invested in Swiss startups in 2024 but the number of funding rounds and the invested volume have declined for the second consecutive year.
• As in the previous year, biotech companies attracted the largest share of venture capital, securing CHF 0.7bn across 63 deals.
• The number of financing rounds for startups with an AI component in their business model doubled in 2024, with financing volume, reaching CHF 345m (+134%).

In 2024, over CHF 2.3 billion was invested in Swiss startups, marking a 15% decrease compared to 2023 and representing the lowest amount in the past four years. This financing decline follows a peak of nearly CHF 3.9 billion in 2022, despite an increase in the total value of venture capital investments in the second half of 2024 for the second consecutive period. Additionally, there were considerable monthly fluctuations in deal volume, including a slow August (CHF 82 million) offset by two of the top five deals in June (CHF 427 million).

The year 2024 saw 513 financing rounds, a 6.7% decrease from the previous year, according to the EY Startup Barometer. Activity slowed down somewhat in the second half of the year, with 225 funding rounds compared to 288 in the first half.

The multi-year trend points to a financing decline overall – both in terms of number and volume of investment rounds for startups.

Six of ten largest financings for healthcare startups

As in the previous year, startups in the health sector (biotech, medtech, care, life sciences, digital health, fitness, beauty) claimed the largest share of total financing in 2024, securing approximately CHF 1.0 billion, or 45% of all funds invested in Swiss startups. Seven health-related startups featured in the top ten (by volume), with four of the top five involving biotechs.

The growing significance of artificial intelligence is becoming increasingly evident in startup financing volumes: investments in innovative Swiss startups that embrace AI – defined as those with an AI-driven offering or an AI component in their products or services – surged by 134%, from CHF 148 million in 2023 to CHF 345 million in 2024

The development in the number of registered financing rounds for startups with an AI focus was also impressive in 2024, doubling from 56 to 113, even as the total number of financing rounds decreased from 550 to 513. This means that over one in five financing rounds (22%) in 2024 involved an AI-focused startup, more than twice the level of 2023 (10%). Activity was higher in the first half of the year (63 rounds) compared to the second (49 rounds) and it will be interesting to observe whether the trend picks up pace over the course of 2025.

Focus on female founders

Of the 431 Swiss startups (excluding corporate startups) with known founding teams that secured at least one financing round in 2024, 30 had founding teams composed exclusively of female entrepreneurs. This means that the majority – 325 startups – had exclusively male founding teams. Another 76 Swiss startups included at least one woman on their founding team.

Startup teams in scope of this study comprised 919 individuals, including 130 women and 789 men. This results in a female founder proportion of 14%. The health sector saw the highest proportion of female founders, with 21% of health startups that secured funding last year having women on their founding teams. In the Software & Analytics sector, the share of female founders was 11%, and the hardware sector had 18% female founder participation.