Swiss National Startup Teams Welcomed by Chinese Ambassador After Their Roadshow to Hong Kong and China

On January 8th, 2020, the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China to Switzerland hosted for the first time the Venture Leaders graduation ceremony. The Swiss National Startup Teams for China and FinTech were celebrated by Ambassador GENG Wenbing after their successful roadshows across Mainland China and Hong Kong in 2019. The event reflected on the strong ties between Switzerland and China while showcasing Switzerland as a breading-ground for disrupting technologies.

"I believe that one day you will be the new ABBs and Nestlés of Switzerland!"

  Following insights into Chinese programs to foster innovation and the financial environment provided by the Embassy, the China Development Bank and CCBI Capital, the Venture Leaders 2019 teams gave a short pitch highlighting the impact of their Chinese roadshow before receiving the Venture Leaders diploma.

The two teams went through the program comprising the kick-off to prepare for the roadshow, the Startup Champions events in Switzerland where they pitched to the Swiss startup community and then went to explore the Chinese economy and connect with the Venture Capital scene across various Chinese cities, and Hong Kong. Since the roadshow, several startups had already found Chinese business partners and investors and opened local offices in China.
 

Congratulations Venture Leaders #Fintech!
Welcoming the Swiss National Startup Team at the official Graduation Ceremony of the Chinese Embassy in Berne, received by Ambassador Geng Wenbing.#SwissStartups #VLeadersFintech pic.twitter.com/zgSocH8pDC

— Venturelab (@venturelab_ch) January 8, 2020

Venture Leaders China is co-organized by Venturelab and swissnex China, and supported by digitalswitzerland, EPF Lausanne, ETH Zurich, Gebert Rüf Stiftung, Vischer, Canton de Vaud, and Canton Zurich.

The 10 selected startups in 2019 attended a ten-day business development and investor roadshow to Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Shenzen and Hong Kong that included an official visit to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange and the participation to the Annual Meeting of the New Champions by the World Economic Forum in Dalian 2019.

Read more about the experiences of the Venture Leaders China in Dorina Theiss' blog.

Participants of Venture Leaders China in June 2019: 
Beekeeper; Exploris; Flybotix, holo|one; IDUNTechnologies; LORIOT; Lymphatica; Piavita; tomplay; Touchless Automation. 


Venture Leaders FinTech is co-organized by Venturelab and swissnex China, and supported by digitalswitzerland, EPF Lausanne, ETH Zurich, IMMOMIG, PostFinance, Redalpine, Walder Wyss, and Canton Zurich.

The 10 selected startups in 2019 attended a week-long business development and investor roadshow to Hong Kong, including a participation at the FinTech week - the world's first cross-border financial technology conference - and various private and public pitching events.

Read more about the experiences of the Venture Leaders China in Penny Schiffer's reflection.
Participants of Venture Leaders Fintech in November 2019: 
Billte , Crypto Finance , loanboox , ORCA , PEXAPARK , Raized.AI , tokenestate , turicode , vestr , vlot.


Interested? - Apply now for Venture Leaders China 2020

Preparations for the the selection of the Swiss National Startup Team 2020 are already underway. For Swiss tech startups that are ready to grow internationally, the next China roadshow will take place from June 1 – June 10, 2020. Applications are open until March 1st. For all details on how to apply, check our event page.