Four Start-Ups Secure Proof of Concepts with Europe’s Leading Corporates

As Kickstart Accelerator hosts its Investor and Final Demo Days, it also announces five Proof of Concepts (PoCs) between some of the programme’s corporate partners, including UBS, Credit Suisse, PwC, Swisscom and Raiffeisen Switzerland, and some of the 30 participating start-ups, from the programme’s four verticals; Fintech, Smart & Connected Machines, Future & Emerging Technologies and Food. Five PoCs Confirmed with Leading European Corporates

• Credit Suisse, Swisscom and UBS, have partnered with Notakey, which provides solutions allowing users to securely notarise digital transactions to explore its suitability as a cross-industry platform. Such a “digital identity-ecosystem” would allow for consumer use cases: for instance, in the future a registered banking client could sign a mobile phone contract without further identification and vice versa.

• PwC Switzerland and Veezoo, a conversational Artificial Intelligence technology that enables users to search their company’s data, will conduct a PoC for internal PwC use. The intention is to further develop and validate the Veezoo solution for deployment in corporate environments.

• Swisscom is also partnering with lenditapp, the fintech company active in the U.S. and Switzerland, for a 4 month PoC, which will see the two firms develop a technology solution that includes machine learning, data aggregation and underwriting models to automate and reduce the risk in lending to small & medium sized enterprises.

• Raiffeisen Switzerland has agreed a PoC with lenditapp to use their solution for the automated digital processing of balance sheets, to bring more convenience and outstanding quality into the credit process.

• Raiffeisen Switzerland has also agreed a PoC with LastMile to explore the possible uses of Chat Bots in their support organisation based on text and voice in all Swiss national languages and dialects.

Further to the PoCs, Coop and Migros have agreed to pilot tests with Faitron, which is developing a portable HeatsBox that heats up meals on the go and in the workplace. The trials will test the acceptance, performance and convenience of the product. The test results will be shared with Faitron to make further improvements to the device and determine possible commercialisation. Coop has also been working with Essento, a Swiss food production company that uses insects, within the framework of the Coop Sustainability Fund. Coop will indirectly work with EntoCube, the producer of crickets through, EntoCube’s collaboration with Essento in a joint venture. Patricia Schlenter, Programme Lead at Kickstart Accelerator, said: “Our ambition has been to give the participating start-ups the opportunity to test their products at scale with some of Europe’s largest corporates. The corporate partners’ willingness to collaborate and share their infrastructure, data and expertise with the start-ups is a win-win for industry innovation and the creation of an ecosystem that lives beyond the programme. “The international talent in this year's cohort highlights the potential of Switzerland as a recognised digital tech hub on the European stage. We hope to continue building on our strengths in fintech, robotics and food among others and the increasingly supportive business and regulatory environment in Switzerland to enable entrepreneurs and established industry titans to come here to collaborate, innovate and grow their businesses."