The Venture Leaders Technology impress Silicon Valley investors 

The Venture Leaders Technology roadshow 2021 brought 15 entrepreneurs to Silicon Valley. The selected startups strengthened their entrepreneurial network through exchanges with their peers in the team and benefited from valuable market exposure, pitch sessions with investors and experts, and hands-on business development. 

The Venture Leaders—the Swiss National Startup Team members—envision themselves as global players and want to take the next step towards international expansion. Venturelab has been organizing international roadshows for the Swiss National Startup Teams for 16 years. The ambitious entrepreneurs and their promising startups are introduced to high-class investors and potential customers in leading technology hubs such as Silicon Valley, Boston, New York, China, Hong Kong, and Barcelona.  
 
The Venture Leaders Technology roadshow offers a one-week deep dive into the Silicon Valley startup ecosystem. The trip includes several pitch sessions to US investors, expert workshops, and industry insights. The participants will not only build a strong network in the United States but also be part of a team of entrepreneurs who share the same objectives and challenges. Alumni comprise high-flying startups such as Lemoptix and Composyt Light Labs (acquired by Intel), Faceshift and Fashwell (acquired by Apple), HouseTrip (acquired by TripAdvisor), Kooaba (acquired by Qualcomm), Tastehit (acquired by Selligent), and Dacuda (acquired by Magic Leap). 
 

 

Swiss technology startups connect with Silicon Valley investors and experts

The week-long roadshow in and around San Francisco included investor pitch and feedback sessions with Toni Schneider from True Ventures, Philipp Stauffer from Fyrfly Ventures, Gran Allen from SE Ventures, Ben Narasin from Tenacity Venture Capital, and Chris Kim from Union Labs.  
  
“It was great to spend one week in the Bay Area with a diverse group of entrepreneurs, learning more about their ambition in an inspiring environment. Also, being directly exposed to globally leading corporations and VCs helped me to evolve as a person.” –Maximilian Groth, Co-founder and CEO of Decentriq 


  
Furthermore, the founders built their legal knowledge on setting up shop in the US and how to scale the team and their startup in expert workshop sessions. The group also participated in business development sessions with Google, Morrison & Foerster, Simon Kutcher, JJ Human Capital, and Swiss Business Hub USA. 

“The Venture Leaders program was the perfect opportunity to present our startup to the American market. We got the chance to pitch in front of well-known Silicon Valley investors and participated in in-depth training around typical startup challenges. Thank you for a fun week with amazing coaches, inspiring personalities, and ambitious startup leaders who strive for the sky,” said Liliane Ableitner, Co-founder and CEO of Exnaton. 



“The Venture Leaders roadshow offers a unique opportunity ‘to get a foot in the door’ of the Silicon Valley ecosystem. The blend of valuable topic sessions with the opportunity to pitch Veertly to top-tier US investors as well as exchanging with other successful Swiss Entrepreneurs is simply perfect. This fantastic experience inspired me even more to think big in the long term, but it also gave me a very clear picture of the required steps to enter the US market and how to attract American VC firms for Veertly. Many thanks to the whole Venture Leaders team for making this possible!” – Alex Spahn, Co-founder and CEO of Veertly 
 
Mid-week, the Swiss National Startup Team pitched before an audience of Bay Area guests at swissnex San Francisco. The Swiss Startup Night was one of the very first in-person events since the COVID-19 pandemic in San Francisco and showcased Switzerland’s technology potential. 
 


Stefan Steiner, co-managing director at Venturelab summarized the roadshow as follows: “Switzerland can be proud of the Swiss National Startup Team. The Venture Leaders Technology selection has excited investors, and I am convinced that we will hear about financing rounds shortly.”


 
 
The Venture Leaders Technology 2021 program is organized by Venturelab and supported by dpd Switzerland, EPF Lausanne, ETH Zurich, Intel, Kellerhals Carrard, Morrison & Foerster, Rothschild & Co, and the Canton of Vaud. 




For a summary of the roadshow, check out some of the week’s highlights: 

Good morning everyone. Discover the best impressions from the Venture Leaders Technology roadshow from last week: https://t.co/x8RUCbscBJ #VleadersTech @Aero41O @cysecsystems @decentriq @exnaton_tech @EyewareTech @SkribbleHQ @smarthelioIOT @Foodetective_ @veertly @xorlab

— Venturelab (@venturelab_ch) November 8, 2021


 

Learn more about the Venture Leaders Technology that traveled to San Francisco: