Venture Kick - Up to CHF 150,000 for Swiss Research-Based Startups

Venture Kick is an active Swiss startup funding program for founders turning university research or another highly innovative idea into a company. The official application page says that applications are accepted at any time, so there is no single annual closing date to wait for. The program begins before company incorporation and asks selected teams to present their progress to a Venture Kick jury in three stages.

The headline amount is up to CHF 150,000 in Venture Kick funding. That amount is not one unconditional, equity-free grant. The current official conditions describe CHF 10,000 at Stage 1 as a grant, followed by CHF 40,000 at Stage 2 and CHF 100,000 at Stage 3 as convertible loans. The later instruments are designed to convert at the same valuation as the next investment round, without a discount, and carry 5% interest under the published conditions. A team should therefore read the funding terms carefully and plan for the possibility that later support will become part of its financing structure.

Venture Kick also connects successful teams with other opportunities. Stage 2 winners may qualify to apply for a CHF 150,000 InnoBooster grant, and Stage 3 winners can access up to CHF 850,000 of investment through Kickfund. Those are follow-on opportunities, not guaranteed parts of the Venture Kick award. The application should make a credible case for the project on its own, without treating those later programs as committed funding.

What the program funds

Venture Kick is aimed at pre-commercial projects with the potential to become Swiss companies and create jobs in Switzerland. The official eligibility language covers a highly innovative business idea or the transfer of Swiss academic research to global markets. The opportunity is not limited to one university, scientific discipline, or product category. A software project, medical technology, scientific instrument, industrial process, climate technology, or other research-led venture can be relevant when the team can explain the innovation, the customer problem, and the route to a scalable business.

The academic connection matters. The applicant or a co-founder must be currently affiliated with a Swiss academic institution or research centre, have been affiliated within the last six months, or be working with one through a research collaboration. This is more precise than saying that any Swiss student startup qualifies. A team should identify the person, laboratory, university, or research relationship that supports the application and explain how the project grows out of that connection.

The project must still be at a pre-commercial stage. The official conditions say that the company should not already have launched, and the FAQ explains that a recently incorporated project may still be considered in exceptional cases when it has no employees and no commercial revenue. Applicants must also plan to establish the company in Switzerland. Nationality is not the deciding test: the FAQ says that nationality does not matter, but the founder must have the legal right to work in Switzerland and must intend to build the company there.

The program is therefore a poor fit for an established business seeking expansion money, a consultancy with ordinary service revenue, or a project that has already taken professional investor funding. It is a stronger fit for a research team that has a promising result, has started testing the commercial need, and is prepared to spend the next months validating customers, building a company foundation, and presenting evidence to a demanding jury.

The three stages

Stage 1: business idea

The first stage awards CHF 10,000 as a grant. The official conditions restrict this grant to expenses connected with business development. It cannot be used for incorporation capital or to pay salaries to founders or permanent employees. A practical Stage 1 budget might cover customer interviews, market research, early validation work, prototype-related business development, intellectual-property preparation, or other activities that test whether the research can support a company. Applicants should make each proposed expense traceable to a learning goal.

Selected projects pitch their business ideas to a Venture Kick jury. The current program page says that eight projects are selected to present at each jury session and that five receive the first kick. The exact jury schedule is set by Venture Kick, not by an applicant choosing a fixed yearly competition date. The jury is looking for more than an interesting technical result: it needs to see a meaningful problem, a plausible customer, a capable team, and a reason the project can become a Swiss venture.

Stage 2: business case

Teams that advance use the next period to structure the business idea and test it with initial customers and strategic partners. The official program description gives this stage a three-month development window before the next jury presentation. The aim is to replace assumptions with evidence: who has the problem, how the proposed product would fit an existing workflow, who makes the buying decision, what alternatives already exist, and what a first commercial version must do.

Stage 2 provides CHF 40,000 as a convertible loan under the published conditions. The loan converts at the same valuation as the next investment round, without a discount, and has 5% interest. This distinction should be visible in a founder’s financial plan. It is inaccurate to describe the whole CHF 150,000 as non-dilutive grant money. The Stage 2 budget should show how the team will reach its next proof point, such as a pilot, a signed letter of intent, a validated pricing model, a working demonstration, a regulatory plan where relevant, or a committed co-founder.

Stage 3: company launch

The final stage provides CHF 100,000 as a convertible loan. The official conditions say that the company must be incorporated to receive the Stage 3 funding. By this point, the team is expected to demonstrate entrepreneurial capacity, a solid basis for execution, tangible market feedback, and a credible plan to enter the market. The official process describes the full path as three stages over up to nine months, with the Stage 3 presentation following the Stage 2 selection after several months.

Stage 3 funding can support the work needed to move from validated business case to a functioning startup. Depending on the project, that may include product engineering, pilot delivery, key technical work, sales preparation, customer onboarding, or a focused hiring plan. The team should connect the budget to milestones rather than present a general request for operating cash. It should also show that the Swiss company, bank account, intellectual property position, and founder responsibilities are being handled in time for the final payment.

At each stage, Venture Kick says that roughly the top half of presenting cases receive financing. Passing one stage does not guarantee the next award. The team must return with measurable progress and present again. Each stage is paired with a Kickers’ briefing or camp, coaching, execution feedback, and access to entrepreneurs, experts, industry partners, and investors. That support is part of the program’s value, but it does not remove the need for customer evidence and disciplined execution.

What to prepare before applying

Start by checking the official conditions and the application form at the link in this listing. Since applications are rolling, a team can submit when its evidence is ready, but “rolling” does not mean informal or automatic. The project still has to fit the eligibility rules and be ready for review by Venture Kick.

Prepare a concise account of the research or innovation. Explain what is new, what technical or scientific result supports it, and what has already been demonstrated. Avoid making the application a paper abstract. The jury needs to understand the customer-facing result: what changes for a user, buyer, hospital, manufacturer, public body, or other target customer when the project works.

Document the academic link and the intended Swiss company. Name the relevant institution or research centre, the founder’s relationship to it, and the role that person will play in commercialization. If the project is based on a collaboration, describe the collaboration clearly. If the company has already been incorporated, disclose its status, employees, revenue, and funding so the Venture Kick team can determine whether the pre-commercial exception might apply.

Bring early market evidence. Useful material can include structured customer interviews, a pilot discussion, a letter of intent, a partner conversation, a comparison with existing solutions, or a clear explanation of why the first target customer would pay. The evidence does not need to show a finished product at Stage 1. It does need to show that the team is testing a real commercial hypothesis rather than assuming that technical novelty alone creates demand.

Build a stage-specific budget. For the CHF 10,000 grant, separate eligible business-development spending from incorporation costs and founder or permanent-employee salaries. For later stages, model the convertible-loan terms and identify the financing event that could trigger conversion. Include a short milestone schedule showing what the team will learn or deliver before each jury presentation.

Finally, rehearse the pitch as a business conversation. A strong presentation can move from problem to customer, solution, evidence, team, milestones, and funding use without hiding the unresolved risks. Expect questions about competitors, intellectual property, adoption, pricing, manufacturing or deployment, team gaps, and why Switzerland is the right base. Venture Kick’s coaching and jury feedback are useful only when the team is willing to respond to difficult questions with specific experiments and revised plans.

Application steps

1. Read the current Venture Kick conditions of participation and confirm the academic, pre-commercial, Swiss-incorporation, and investor-funding requirements.
2. Submit the initial application through the official Venture Kick application form. Include the project, team, academic link, innovation, customer problem, and intended company plan.
3. Attend the Venture Kick briefing if invited and use it to clarify the presentation format, financing model, and expectations.
4. Present the business idea to the Stage 1 jury. If selected, use the CHF 10,000 grant only for permitted business-development expenses.
5. Work with customers and partners, strengthen the business case, join the program coaching, and return for the Stage 2 jury with evidence of progress.
6. If selected for Stage 2, account for the CHF 40,000 convertible loan and prepare the company, market evidence, and execution plan for Stage 3.
7. Incorporate the Swiss company, establish the required banking arrangements, and present the market-entry plan to the Stage 3 jury for consideration of the CHF 100,000 convertible loan.

Fit and limitations

Venture Kick is a selective financing path, not a guaranteed grant application. The first CHF 10,000 is the only stage described as a grant in the current conditions. The later CHF 40,000 and CHF 100,000 are convertible loans, and the final amount is paid only after the company has been officially founded and has a business bank account. Teams should obtain professional advice if they need help understanding conversion, interest, intellectual property ownership, employment, or incorporation.

The application page is the right place to begin because the program accepts applications at any time and Venture Kick sets its own jury dates. This listing uses rolling as the deadline for that reason. It does not promise that an application submitted today will be heard at a particular session. Contact Venture Kick through the official site if the project’s academic affiliation, incorporation status, or commercial activity falls near the eligibility boundaries.

Venture Kick is an initiative of the charitable Kick Foundation and is operated by Venturelab. The program’s official pages are the authority for the application form, current conditions, financing instruments, and jury process. Review those terms immediately before submitting, then make the application specific to the research, customers, team, and milestones of the proposed Swiss company.