About Kickstart Innovation

Kickstart is one of Europe's largest zero equity, open innovation platforms. Our mission is to build innovation ecosystems with purpose, by fast-forwarding innovation. We bring together public and private organizations, startups, investors, and experts, with the shared ambition to deliver next-generation products and services and have a meaningful impact at scale. Each year, Kickstart engages 100 entrepreneurs to collaborate with key players for proofs of concept, pilot and commercial projects, and other innovation partnerships. Additionally, through the intrapreneurship program, Kickstart helps established organizations promote and accelerate internal innovation. Kickstart is a spin-off of Impact Hub Zurich and was launched in 2015 by digitalswitzerland. In 2023, Kickstart runs five verticals: New Work & Learning, Finance & Insurance, Food & Retail, Health & Wellbeing, and Smart Cities together with partner organizations across industries: AXA, Coop, Swisscom, La Mobilière, PostFinance, ETH Zürich, CSEM, City of Zurich, Empa NEST, Sanitas, University Hospital Zurich, Panter, SATW, Impact Hub Switzerland, Canton de Vaud, Santenext, Swiss Federal Office of Energy SFOE, Swiss Healthcare Startups, Growpal, Switzerland Global Enterprise, Ringier, Google for Startups, MLL, South Pole, WECOCO, Day8, HealthTech Cluster Switzerland, DealStation, MAVA, SwissLEAP, EPFL, IMD, gfm, START Global and more.

Investment Details

Investment Range
Not specified
Investment Stage
Various stages
Industry Focus
AI/ML, Climate, Edtech (+8 more)
Investor Type
Accelerator, Entrepreneurship Program

Investment Focus

Focus Areas
AI/ML Climate Edtech Education Energy +9 more
Investment Stages
Early Stage, Early Stage Venture, Grant, Late Stage Venture, Later Stage, Non Equity Assistance, Seed