Switzerland’s deep tech startups raised $2.6 billion in 2025, the highest annual total on record and roughly five times the figure from a decade earlier, according to the Swiss Deep Tech Report 2026. The country now directs 63% of its venture capital to deep tech, the largest share of any nation on earth.
No other country commits more of its venture pot to deep tech. China sits at 56%, the United States at 54%, and Switzerland’s share is close to double that of Germany, France, and the UK. Per capita, the country invests $1,470 in deep tech, leading Europe and ranking in the top three globally alongside Israel and the United States.
The $2.6 Billion Year
The 2025 total marks a record for Switzerland, with funding growing roughly fivefold since 2015 to hit $2.6 billion in a single year. The report was published by Deep Tech Nation Switzerland with Founderful, Kickfund, Startupticker.ch, and Dealroom.co, and released at VivaTech in Paris. It pulls together university data, investor figures, and curated watchlists for each sector. The full findings are available on the report’s findings on Swiss deep tech leadership.
The trajectory has steepened, not flattened. Per-capita deep tech investment in Switzerland stands at $1,470, a figure that places the country ahead of Sweden at $1,328 and far above any larger European economy. Globally, only Israel and the United States sit at similar levels of deep tech intensity.
The intensity is one thing; the share is another. Between 2020 and 2026, more than half of every venture dollar invested in Switzerland went into deep tech startups. At 63%, that share is the highest of any country, ahead of China at 56% and the United States at 54%. The US figure already includes its largest foundational-model rounds, and Switzerland still leads.
By the numbers:
- $2.6B raised by Swiss deep tech in 2025 (record)
- 63% of Swiss VC directed to deep tech (top globally)
- $1,470 per capita deep tech investment (leads Europe)
- 88% of late-stage Swiss deep tech funding from foreign investors
Where Switzerland Outranks the Rest
The competitive picture sharpens when Switzerland is set against the larger venture markets on a per-capita basis. The report counts the United States and the United Kingdom as Switzerland’s main reference points in robotics, and China, Germany, France, and the UK on share-of-VC metrics. Across most comparisons, Switzerland wins on density, if not always on raw volume.
Switzerland leads on robotics startup creation since 2020. The country has produced 3.5 times more venture-backed robotics startups per capita than the United States, five times more than the UK, and six times more than Germany. Companies such as ANYbotics and Mimic take that research out of ETH Zurich and EPFL labs and into industrial deployments. The dataset is published alongside the full Swiss Deep Tech Report 2026.
| Metric | Switzerland | United States | China |
|---|---|---|---|
| Share of VC to deep tech (2020-2026) | 63% | 54% | 56% |
| Per-capita deep tech investment | $1,470 (leads Europe) | top 3 globally with Israel | not in report |
| Robotics startups per capita since 2020 | baseline | Switzerland produces 3.5x more than the US | not in report |
What the Founders Are Building Now
The mix of companies being founded has shifted. Artificial intelligence and machine learning now account for 25% of all newly founded Swiss deep tech companies, up from 11% in the 2010-to-2021 period, according to the report. AI/ML is the second-largest segment for new company creation, behind BioTech. Switzerland also has the highest density of AI researchers in the world, twice that of the UK and the US.
Robotics has nearly doubled its share of new company creation since 2022. The companies translating that work into the field include ANYbotics and Mimic, both born from research at ETH Zurich and EPFL Lausanne. BioTech and TechBio still anchor the largest base of enterprise value in Swiss deep tech, with 2025 its most active funding year to date.
In Future of Compute, 2026 is already a record funding year on the strength of microelectronics, chip cooling, and high-speed interconnects. Corintis and Kandou are cited at the frontier, and Switzerland files seven times more European patents per capita than the EU average in this subsector.
- AI/ML: 25% of new Swiss deep tech companies (up from 11% in 2010-2021)
- Robotics: share has nearly doubled since 2022; ANYbotics and Mimic lead
- Future of Compute: 7x EU average patents per capita; Corintis, Kandou
- BioTech and TechBio: largest base of enterprise value; 2025 most active year
- MedTech: Distalmotion in robotic surgery; stroke and cancer diagnostic devices
- Climate and Energy: Climeworks in carbon removal, Oxyle in PFAS removal, Ecorobotix in precision spraying
The Two Universities Behind the Pipeline
Spinout creation from ETH Zurich and EPFL Lausanne has accelerated since 2023. ETH produced 24 new venture-backed spinouts in that window and EPFL added 16, putting both ahead of Oxford, Cambridge, and Munich’s Technical University. The two institutions together generate more new venture-backed spinouts than any other pair of European universities.
The shift is one the report’s authors have been waiting on. For most of the past two decades, the strongest Swiss research tended to license abroad or move with its founders.
For the first time, the companies spinning out of ETH and EPFL are staying, scaling and attracting serious capital. The engineering instinct behind wafer-scale computing was shaped at EPFL, and Switzerland produces that kind of talent at a density few places on earth can match.
Jean-Philippe Fricker, co-founder and chief system architect of Cerebras Systems, gave that assessment in the report. Cerebras is the US semiconductor company behind the wafer-scale chip.
EPFL president Anna Fontcuberta i Morral drew the same line. “At EPFL we see it every day: the discoveries made in our laboratories become the deep tech companies of tomorrow,” she said. The 2025 and 2026 cohorts of spinouts are now reaching the seed-to-Series-A window, the stage at which company value and capital raised compound most sharply.
The shift is visible in last year’s watchlist. Of the 72 companies featured in the 2025 report, one in three closed a funding round within twelve months of publication, and more than half grew their teams by over 30%.
Where the Money Comes From
Foreign investors now supply 88% of funding for Swiss deep tech rounds above $100 million, compared with 75% across Europe overall. On the smallest rounds, of up to $15 million, overseas investors still supply 64% of funding in Switzerland, against 44% elsewhere in Europe.
US investors alone provide more than half of Switzerland’s late-stage capital. Domestic capital has not kept pace: Swiss investors back close to a third of early-stage rounds, but their share falls to just 12% at late stage. Not new, but bigger in scale, the asymmetry has been visible for years.
Founderful partner Alex Stöckl, a co-author of the report, said the country’s position was reached without public venture backstops. “We built one of the world’s most deep tech-focused economies without a franc of public venture capital. In Switzerland that barely exists, and yet the world’s best investors now come here on their own initiative, with some setting up shop,” Stöckl said.
The Late-Stage Capital Question
The remaining frontier is domestic. Deep Tech Nation Switzerland has set a target to mobilize CHF 50 billion in venture capital and create 100,000 jobs by 2033. The biggest single gap is in late-stage tickets: Swiss institutional investors that anchor local rounds elsewhere have not matched the international capital arriving for the largest deals.
Sequoia partner George Robson called the moment overdue. “Switzerland has developed deep comparative advantages over decades and, with the rise of AI, has found its stride,” he said. Stöckl added that the city of Zurich will be the test: “In the coming decade Zurich will become home to at least a dozen global category leaders.”
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Swiss Deep Tech Report 2026?
The Swiss Deep Tech Report 2026 is an annual analysis of Switzerland’s deep tech sector, published by Deep Tech Nation Switzerland with Founderful, Kickfund, Startupticker.ch, and Dealroom.co. The 2026 edition launched at VivaTech in Paris and ranks Switzerland against other nations on deep tech venture capital, naming the leading companies and rising startups in every major sector.
Why does Switzerland rank first for deep tech venture capital?
Between 2020 and 2026, 63% of all venture capital invested in Switzerland went to deep tech, the highest share of any country, ahead of China at 56% and the United States at 54%. On a per-capita basis, Switzerland invests $1,470 per head, leading Europe and ranking among the top three nations worldwide alongside Israel and the United States.
Which universities drive Swiss deep tech?
ETH Zurich and EPFL Lausanne are Europe’s leading universities for new deep tech spinouts. Since 2023, ETH has produced 24 venture-backed spinouts and EPFL has added 16, putting both ahead of Oxford, Cambridge, and Munich’s Technical University.
What is the biggest opportunity for investors?
Late-stage capital. Foreign investors supply 88% of Swiss deep tech funding at rounds of $100 million and above, while domestic capital falls to 12%. The gap is the explicit target of Deep Tech Nation Switzerland, whose mission is to mobilize CHF 50 billion in venture capital and create 100,000 jobs by 2033.
Where can the data be accessed?
Dealroom publishes its own Swiss deep tech investment dataset as part of the report’s release. The full report is available separately on the publisher’s site, with a live digital index that lets users explore the data by sector and location.
