A few equity rounds came through this month. Zurich edtech Rflect, co-founded by Ella Stadler-Stuart closed a seed round of nearly CHF 1 million to build human-skill development into the programmes of more than 40 universities. Also in Zurich, Subatron secured CHF 150,000 from Venture Kick for wireless technology that transmits data underwater, where conventional systems lose their connection. Basel-based ClearideBio Therapeutics, which develops antibody-drug conjugates for solid tumours, raised a pre-seed led by Lotte Holdings‘ healthcare venture arm, while SCAIT, whose software helps construction firms process complex tenders, drew a six-figure sum from strategic investor Joachim Sorba and several Venture Kick jury members to begin scaling.
Crowdfunding was important this June, with ETH Zurich spin-off rrreefs opening a seed round on the OOMNIUM platform. Angels and family offices pledged more than CHF 620,000 at launch; the campaign has since reached about CHF 900,000, on top of a CHF 100,000 loan from the Alternative Bank Switzerland Innovation Fund, as the company targets break-even by 2027. Pet-insurance provider Calingo is chasing the same 2027 milestone, having raised about CHF 1.28 million from 199 investors — close to its CHF 1.5 million target — to launch an early-warning animal-health platform. And in Neuchâtel, the Swisstastic team followed its first scratch card, which sold more than 1,500 copies, with a large-format scratch-off Swiss Travel Map of all 26 cantons, funded through a WeMakeIt campaign that opened on 19 June.
Grants, however, did the heavy lifting. Three female-led companies secured R&D backing from different corners: AC Immune took USD 4 million from the Vijay and Marie Goradia Charitable Foundation, AveoliX won EUR 1 million through Eurostars and Combioxin drew CHF 1.1 million from the University of Bern. The Foundation for Innovation and Technology was also active, distributing a CHF 100,000 Tech Seed loan to Verretex for its process to recycle glass-fibre waste from end-of-life composites — later one of the names Vaud’s Global Impulse program picked to scale internationally — and a CHF 20,000 Digital Grant to athlete-tracking platform MYSTONES. Two female-led cleantech ventures, AMP IT and Vivent Biosignals, joined the 13 companies the Technology Fund has backed with loan guarantees since July 2025.
Growth and milestones
Geneva led growth news. ABILITY Neurotech, which is building a fully implantable brain-computer interface to restore autonomy for people with ALS, spinal-cord injury and stroke, secured Investigational Medical Device Dossier approval in the Netherlands to begin its first chronic implantation study. Across town, femtech TrialHer — led by founder and CEO Hyatt Antognini-Amin — started paid pilots with two femtech companies in the UK and Europe. TrialHer also won a place on the WHO/Europe Public Health Innovation Platform. Silex, the legal-research AI from Ex Nunc Intelligence — led by Kyriaki Bongard — was deployed across several internal teams at Banque Cantonale de Genève under an enterprise licence.
Across the country in Zurich, ETH spin-off CellX Biosolutions lined up eight pilot projects to test whether its microbes can break down PFAS — the „forever chemicals“ — in industrial wastewater and contaminated soil.
But not every story moved forward. Oculis reported that its Phase 3 trials of OCS-01 eye drops in diabetic macular oedema missed their primary endpoint in both studies; the company will refocus on its Privosegtor PIONEER programme in optic neuropathies and its Licaminlimab PREDICT-1 trial in dry-eye disease. And in the canton of Jura, shareholders of Creapole voted on 3 June to dissolve and liquidate the company: despite solid 2025 results, medium-term viability could not be assured, chiefly because its majority shareholder, the Canton of Jura, is cutting subsidies by 60 percent from 2026.
Awards and accelerators
With several events in the startup ecosystem this month, June was thick with recognition for female founded companies. At the Swiss Economic Forum, Swiss Cluster took the top spot in the Industry/Production category of the Swiss Economic Awards. Days later, the >>venture>> Awards handed out eight prizes before some 300 guests at EPFL’s Swiss Tech Convention Centre, with female-founded winners in three categories — RegCheck in Business and Finance, Actival in MedTech and Healthcare and Botana AI in Social and Environmental Impact — while Cinder took the Audience Award. At Tech4Trust, TofuPilot and KRAKINSIGHT finished second and third and MATIS won the Public Speaking Excellence Award. And in an eleventh edition, BLP Digital was named Growth Stage Startup of the Year at the Swiss FinTech Awards.
Several regional prizes were also handed out. Valais startup HooRa won the Prix Digitourism for reinventing its seasonal-recruitment process, while Bioscibex had a strong month on two fronts: the Monthey bioreactor company took CHF 25,000 at the 17th Prix Créateurs BCVS in Sion and was one of two Swiss picks — with Enantios — for the BioTools Innovator 2026 Accelerator. Cradle, which uses AI to design proteins, was the sole Swiss female-founded company on DigitalFoodLab’s FoodTech Europe Top 50.
Internationally, at VivaTech in Paris (17–20 June), 25 Swiss startups exhibited at the Swiss Pavilion — female-founded among them Diversity, Innopearl and Enerdrape, the last fresh from selection into Vaud’s Global Impulse scale-up program. NovoViz, days after making the three-company shortlist for Neuchâtel’s Prix BCN Innovation, carried its single-photon imaging to the same Paris pavilion, and Treeless won the CleanTech category of the Swisstech Pavilion’s deep-tech competition for turning organic waste into nanocellulose using microorganisms. The following week, the swisstech pavilion at BIO International in San Diego (22–25 June) featured 21 Swiss startups, with UNOMR, Om Pharma, iOnctura and Axpora being female led.
Accelerators opened up across verticals. MassChallenge Switzerland named 21 startups to its 2026 cohort from nearly 2,000 applicants, female-founded picks including DecodeNature, Santella, Capture and N23. The Google DeepMind Accelerator took 15 European robotics companies, two of the three Swiss names — Bubble Robotics and Forgis — are founded by women. GENILEM welcomed Orchestral to its three-year programme. Finally, ten medtech startups, four of which are female led — NeurodAIgnostics, Beyond Diagnostics, Optizone and Softletics — will head to Boston in October for the annual Venture Leaders Medtech roadshow.
Role models
For more than a decade, Nicole Herzog has invested in startups and backed founding teams at their earliest stage. Herzog started her business angel career after selling Umantis, which she co-founded in 2006. The Swiss Private Equity and Corporate Finance Association (SECA) recognised her long-standing work as an investor, mentor and facilitator in the Swiss ecosystem by celebrating Herzog as the “Business Angel of the Year 2026”.
Network
And finally, CoworkHer, a Switzerland-based mentorship and community platform founded by CEO Sophie Reymond, launched this month to widen access to mentorship beyond informal networks, proximity and luck.
