July 19, 2021 12:46 PM
The Swiss Environment and Energy Innovation Monitor of the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW) documents that the pandemic had a negative impact on 58 percent of the start-ups in the sector last year. 15 percent were “very negatively” affected. 18 percent stated positive effects. But according to one Press release The ZHAW also shows regional differences. In Ticino, at 67 percent, significantly more start-ups felt negatively affected by COVID 19 than the Swiss average. In western Switzerland, too, the value is 61 percent above the average.
As the ZHAW also reports, of the 126 start-ups that took part in the survey, 34 percent survived the crisis without external help. 56 percent received support through loans or short-time work. But here, too, the level of satisfaction with the support services is distributed differently: in German-speaking Switzerland, almost 60 percent of the start-ups felt well supported. In the rest of Switzerland, this only applies to around 30 percent.
As the ZHAW also reports, start-ups that address private individuals as customers seem to be less affected by the pandemic than start-ups whose partners are energy suppliers or authorities. Some expansion plans abroad have also been thwarted. A third of expanding companies said the crisis had slowed or stopped their related activities. Investment talks would have lasted longer or investors canceled their planned financing.
Around half of the start-ups that needed funding could have secured investments in the past three years, and 20 percent even three years in a row. “Overall, we estimate the investments of the 51 successful start-ups in this survey at more than 100 million Swiss francs,” said the announcement. mm
–
