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Investments in Basel start-ups on the rise

21.10.2019

Start-ups established in Basel raised more than 200 million euro in investments during the first half of 2019. Basel therefore leads the way in this regard within Switzerland, and stands in eighth place across Europe, as revealed by a new EY study.

Start-up (img: Ken Easter/shutterstock)

The consultancy firm EY has presented its latest Start-up-Barometer Europe. This study analyzes the equity financing of European start-ups. Across Europe, a total of 16.9 billion euro was accordingly invested in start-ups during the first half of 2019. This represents growth of 62 percent in comparison with the same period of last year. This increase was also replicated in Switzerland, and in Basel in particular.

While a total of 592 million euro in investments (H1 2018: 405 million euro) secures fifth place for Switzerland in the country rankings, Basel was ranked among the top ten for the first time, taking eighth place in the process. Following on from a total of 24 million euro in the first half of 2018, the equivalent value for the first six months of the current year stood at 203 million euro. London (5.7 billion euro), Paris (2.2 billion euro) and Berlin (1.9 billion euro) took the top three positions respectively. In Switzerland, two other cities made their way into the top 20: Zurich was ranked in 16th position (117 million euro vs. 160 million euro in the same period of the previous year), while Lausanne (97 million euro) came in 19th place.

One start-up, namely Arvelle Therapeutics, made a particularly great contribution to Basel’s high ranking. No other Swiss start-up raised more money from investment during the first half of 2019 (169 million euro) than the spin-off of the Basel-based Axovant Sciences, which in turn form part of Roivant Sciences. Arvelle specializes in treatments for the central nervous system. Having raised a total of 21 million euro, Polyneuron Pharmaceuticals, which is also based in Basel, took fifth place among Swiss companies.

EY also analyzed the number of financing rounds for its study. Here, Switzerland also came in fifth place with a total of 150 rounds. As was the case in terms of investment volume, Switzerland is behind the UK (537 rounds; 6.6 billion euro), France (387 rounds; 2.8 billion euro), Germany (331 rounds; 2.6 billion euro) and Sweden (163 rounds; 1.3 billion euro). Zurich leads the way among Swiss cities for rounds of financing, taking fifth place (48 rounds) in the European rankings. Here, London again tops the charts with 323 rounds.