The dice have been cast and our STAGE UP 2023 winners have been announced. The grand finale of the STAGE UP competition was held at the Award Night on May 14th. The five finalist teams pitched for the last time in front of the jury – on the big stage at Bierhübeli in Bern. Here you can review the competition again:
Enzoxa is a pharmaceutical project aimed at developing a new treatment against Helicobacter pylori, a stomach pathogen that infects about half of the world’s population.
Team:
Siegfried Hapfelmeier
Matheus Notter
Christelle Robert
Inverto
Through the use of customized technology combined with drones Inverto automates mangrove restoration as a service faster and more cost-effectively than alternative options.
Team:
Cameron Dowd
Jürg Germann
CALDRE
CALDRE has developed an innovative solution for the treatment of cholestasis that targets a protein of the blood-bile barrier. The induced inhibition dilutes bile and relieves the liver of cytotoxic components.
Team:
Felix Baier
Niclas Melin
Deborah Stroka
Sincly
Sincly is the social Swiss surf brand that aims to simplify the lives of surfers.
Team:
Mark Hayoz
Gabriela Wüthrich
Simon Wüthrich
Terra Preta
By building a network of low-tech pyrolysis plants operated by local people, Terra Preta transforms agricultural waste into biochar. This enables rural communities in Latin America to contribute to and benefit from climate protection.
Team:
Lorenz Buser
Juan David Gonzalez
Thomas Käslin
Press reports
TOP 13
Auto-Mate Robotic
Auto-Mate Robotics aims to provide innovative solutions to make high volume and low volume production automation affordable. They develop solutions that allow companies which have no experience in robotics to learn the skills to develop their own affordable ad hoc solutions.
Team:
Charly Blanc
Lucas Renfer
Christian Wyss
castor
Castor carbon is developing a solution to offer negative emissions on a large scale. Through a closed-loop process that combines technology, renewable energy and the potential of natural resources, CO2 is removed from the air and the sea.
Team:
Valerio Arquint
Mario Straub
Enchar
Enchar is a B2B market platform for biochar. It offers a comprehensive platform for the sale and procurement of biochar including supporting expertise for buyers.
Team:
Charles Peurois
Jenny Peurois
Christian Wurzer
HammerDrum AG
HammerDrum AG aims to produce and sell geothermal energy competitively.
For this purpose, a machine was developed that is located in the borehole and has all the necessary technologies to perform the drilling automatically, more automated and in a smaller space than before.
Team:
Nicola Nyffeler
Oliver Rau
Duarte Santos
Implanz
Implanz offers an efficient virtual testing procedure for the new development of dental implants.
Team:
Nicolas Gasser
Patrik Wili
NanoDecoder
NanoDecoder is developing portable devices that enable real-time, on-site molecular sequence verification by non-specialists and is currently testing applications for the detection of DNA, RNA, synthetic polymers, peptides and proteins.
Team:
Chan Cao
Sailan Shui
PetConvey
PetConvey offers an innovative automatic feeder for cats with an integrated cooling system that can deliver fresh wet food on a schedule or on command. The owner can fill the feeder in advance and activate the feeding schedule remotely using the mobile app.
Team:
Linah Charif
Minh Nguyen
Till Zaugg
Sprechende Bilder
Talking Pictures is developing a prototype digital, image-based communication aid to assist with language barriers in pediatric emergencies. The communication aid also allows for better and more efficient communication between patients and health professionals.
Team:
Beatrice Kaufmann
Loraine Olalia
François von Kaenel
NETWORK
JURY
With evidence of their achievement with their own business activities and public commitment, a prestigious jury of well-known personalities from the business community, independently assessed the business ideas and models of the participating teams. The jury assessed the quality and potential of the business idea or business model in both the first (elevator pitch) and second (STAGE UP award ceremony) evaluation rounds.
People with many years of practical experience and a connection to entrepreneurship support the qualified participants in the development of the idea into a business model. As sparring partners they accompany the participants and are available for specific questions regarding the positioning of the project in the market and the next steps towards success.
Experts share their specific knowledge and valuable tips & tricks on topics such as financial planning, legal issues and design in our workshops and are available in the evenings for general exchange, targeted professional feedback or further recommendations.
The experts bring along practical knowledge and experience in start-up support. They support the jury in the evaluation of the business models and their feedback benefits the further development of the projects
The STAGE UP competition served as the optimal gateway for transitioning from our medical device idea to embarking on our business journey. The coaching sessions gave us invaluable guidance and feedback, aiding in the strategic planning of our business project. The award ceremony and the happiness of winning the 2024 edition will surely be an unforgettable experience for us!
Team Pathy
Aous Khadhraoui, Nhi Luong, Rina Mehmeti, Oussama Ben Ghorbel, Alumnae & Alumni STAGE UP 2024, Co-Founders "Pathy"
STAGE UP has been a great opportunity of gaining valuable knowledge and support for our entrepreneurial path. We are especially thankful for having a dedicated coach for our team, whose advice helps unlock valuable insights and refine our business plan. The award night was a recognition we will always cherish and appreciate whenever we look back in our journey!
Team KIDEMIS
Sean Wasserman (l.) & Constantin Marakhov (r.), Alumni STAGE UP 2024, Co-Founders "KIDEMIS"
“STAGE UP really amazed us on how well organized everything was, everything worked like the finest Swiss watch! Also what we really liked was that it didn’t really feel like we were competing, but rather that all participants were part of a great entrepreneurial family. We definitely recommend STAGE UP to all entrepreneurs.”
Team TasteMatch
David Kilchenmann, Alumnus STAGE UP 2024, Co-Founder "Taste Match AG"
“Thank you very much for letting us be there. We have learned an enormous amount and benefited a lot from this format.”
Christelle Robert
“The STAGE UP program granted us the opportunity to share our vision and to fine-tune our business strategy. The victory of ENZOXA garnered substantial visibility among stakeholders, and created invaluable connections with key players in the field. Overall, STAGE UP has accelerated our development in developing a novel plant-based medicine targeting H. pylori.”
Jürg Germann
“STAGE UP challenged us, inspired us and fortunately also awarded us! The serious feedback from seasoned entrepreneurs is a highlight, and the networking is super valuable. Getting all this support for our mission to restore wetlands gives us momentum and extra motivation to push forward on our journey to help solve the climate and biodiversity crisis.”
Felix Baier
“The STAGE UP program and competition brought our team in contact with experts, which helped us to improve our financial plan and pitching skills. We also established valuable connections within the Swiss start-up ecosystem. The final pitch competition was a great opportunity to promote our project to the public and receive feedback from the jury.”
Jonas Urwyler
Alumnus STAGE UP 2022, Co-Founder "Capt'n Greenfin"
«Thanks to STAGE UP, we were able to make our vision known. Renowned personalities from the bernese business community have approached us and assured us of their support. From that point of view, the prize is a door opener.»
Noemi Zbären
Alumna STAGE UP 2022, Co-Founder “ATANIS Biotech”
«The coaching, the workshops, the pitch opportunities; the whole STAGE UP process gave us a lot of new inputs. It allowed us to refine our allergy test and our strategy. For us it was a fantastic experience, a great opportunity to build a broad network inside and outside the Swiss startup scene and to popularize our technology.»
Peter Brunner
Head of Research Berner Fachhochschule
«With STAGE UP, our talents from the technical disciplines get the tools they need to become entrepreneurs and they can also present their innovations.»
Virve Resta
Expert in Innovation Promotion, Office of Economic Affairs of the Canton of Bern
«The Bernese Business Creation Competition «STAGE UP» offers you as a star-up learning and coaching opportunities and a great Award Ceremony with the Bernese start-up scene.»
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
