Venturelab’s Venture Leaders programme has supported Swiss technology companies over the past 20 years, with many companies facing challenges securing growth-stage capital after completing the programme.

To address this gap, Managing Partners Christian Winkler and Michael Wieser have announced the Swiss Champions Fund, a venture capital fund managed by TIE Capital Partners with a target size of approximately CHF 100 million.

The fund will invest exclusively in companies that have participated in Venturelab’s Venture Leaders programme.

It will focus on Series A and Series B rounds. As a lead or co-lead investor, it will typically make initial investments ranging from CHF 3 million to CHF 5 million.

The fund plans to build a concentrated portfolio and focus on this specific pipeline and stage of financing.

The launch comes as Swiss startups continue to see growth in venture capital investment. Total annual investment in Swiss startups has increased from about CHF 940 million in 2016 to nearly CHF 3 billion in recent years.

However, data from SECA and startupticker indicates that roughly 24% of this capital has come from Swiss investors over the past decade. In later-stage rounds, the domestic share falls below 10%.

As a result, Swiss startups often raise growth funding abroad, including in London, Berlin, and the US.

“Switzerland doesn’t have an innovation problem, it has a scaling capital problem,”

said Christian Winkler and Michael Wieser, Managing Partners of the Swiss Champions Fund.

“Switzerland has been producing companies for years. With the Swiss Champions Fund, we aim to act as a growth-stage investor for selected Venture Leaders companies during their expansion phase.”

The fund will become a main sponsor of Venture Leaders and use the programme as its investment pipeline.

Around 60 companies are selected for Venture Leaders each year.

“For over 20 years, Venture Leaders has supported Swiss technology companies as they enter international markets,”

said Jordi Montserrat, Co-Founder of Venturelab.

“The addition of a growth-stage fund provides another financing option for companies moving beyond the programme.”

The launch was announced on the evening of 24 June during Venture Leaders’ 20th anniversary celebration in Zurich.

Featured image credit: Edited by Fintech News Switzerland, based on image by freepik via Magnific