As investment continues to fuel startup growth, female-founded companies across sectors – particularly those leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) – are drawing increasing attention from investors. One of such companies is Sparkli, an AI-based platform that gives users the platform to build their own interactive learning expeditions for children ages 5 to 12 on any topic in minutes, secured a pre-seed round of $5 million to scale its generative learning engine and prepare for a private beta launch. Another company in the AI learning space is Lausanne-based company Scholé by Vinitra Swamy and Paola Mejia. Based on 10+ years of AI and education research, the founding duo has built an AI-native learning platform that delivers personalized, context-aware training leveraging each company’s tools, workflows, and materials. The recently obtained funding of $3 million will be used to support further advancements and international growth. Ex Nunc Intelligence is building a new category of legal intelligence focused on reliability, traceability, and professional secrecy. With already several legal professionals relying on its Silex platform, the company will use the fresh capital increase of $2.15 million to support further developments.
The Female-led team at FluoSphera, the company redefining how new drugs are tested for safety and efficacy, obtained CHF 1.15 million in a new funding round to scale commercial collaborations, grow its business development team, and expand its AI and automation capabilities for large-scale imaging analysis. Materials specialist Noriware, which developed a plastic-free packaging solution, norifresh, which is anticipated to launch this year, garnered the attention of investors, securing CHF 4 million seed funding.
Non-dilutive funding also plays an essential role in accelerating innovation, and two companies are leveraging this funding channel. Femtech startup Momm Diagnostics, in partnership with the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, has been awarded with the Gates Foundation Global Grant Challenge in the “Preeclampsia Burden” category. The competition offers up to $500,000 to winning projects, disbursed over two years. Babylat secured a three-year Swiss Polish grant to advance their device, the Babylat Enricher, designed for human milk protein and fat enrichment for neonatal diets.
Further transactions came from company exits, with Pupsic, co-founded by Vanda Jászai, joining the Kainjoo family. Founded as a revenue operations agency, Pupsic will transfer ownership of its client portfolio of over 40 active organizations across Europe, proprietary revenue operations tooling, and distributed engineering teams of 28 professionals across four countries.
Numab Therapeutics received a milestone payment from its partner Boehringer Ingelheim. The two companies have been collaborating since 2020, with a worldwide licensing agreement on two projects, one aiming at novel therapies for patients with wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a progressive, irreversible retinal disease, and the second aimed at difficult-to-treat lung and gastrointestinal (GI) cancers.
Growth and development milestones
Bee People, co-founded by Marie So and Daniel Meyer, are making strides in the bee business. Backed by the latest in science and technology, the founding duo produces and commercialize natural health supplements derived from bee products like organic honey and propolis. The startup has made a strong market debut – its products are available in 20 pharmacies, drugstores and Health-&-Wellness stores just five months following its market entry. Biotech startup Virometix spear-headed by Anna Sumeray achieved positive results in Phase 1 trial of its lead asset V-212, a fully synthetic, serotype-independent, peptide-based vaccine designed to prevent pneumococcal disease caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae infections. The company is now set for the next stage.
Awards and recognition at home and abroad
The 2026 Ypsomed Innovation Award presented seven finalists of which two are female led companies. Visienco AG, cofounded by Edwige Guinet, Lucie Jandet and Jonas Goldowsky, combines robotics and artificial intelligence to automate the production and application of organoids. Greta Preatoni of Mynerva is developing a neurostimulating medical device (Leia) to reduce chronic pain and to restore the sense of touch in patients suffering from diabetic neuropathy. In the finale, Visienco secured the first-place final prize of CHF 50,000.
AgroSustain, provider of natural biological treatments that support the healthy development of plants and help prolong the shelf life of crops after harvesting and Vivent, which translates plant signals are among the 12 startups representing Switzerland in the FoodTech500 program. Vivent was again recognized in the Professor Szczepan A. Pieniążek Competition, a coveted award in Polish Agriculture competition.
SimplexDNA, the company was selected as the winner in the Innovate for Nature program in vertical Sustainable management of ecosystems. Led by Kristy Deiner, the company provides next-generation sequencing solutions such as its Environmental DNA (eDNA) analysis for environmental monitoring. Giovanna DiPasquale, CEO and founder of HeroSupport, received the “Mérite de Veyrier” prize from her hometown of Veyrier in the canton of Geneva. Composite Recycling CEO Smaranda Jun earned first prize in the yeswetrust School of Impact pitch contest. She won the opportunity to present her company at the House of Trust global stage during the World Economic Forum in Davos. Vaud-based Composite Recycling has developed a thermolysis-based technology to recycle glass and carbon fiber, diverting hard-to-recycle waste away from landfills and into new high-quality composites or decarbonized plastics.
Role models
Petra Duda is the new Chief Medical Officer at GlycoEra, a biotech startup pioneering best-in-class extracellular protein degraders. Bringing more than 20 years of industry experience, Petra will lead all clinical development and medical strategies as GlycoEra advances its pipeline of precision immune therapies.
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