Start-ups in Sustainability

Who are the pioneering start-ups and scale-ups in the sustainability space? In this podcast series, we will introduce you to the founders and companies who are working to create a more sustainable world. Find out about these start-ups and scale-ups, discover their vision, and learn more about how they are aiming to shape the future of our economy, society and planet.
 

Episode 12: Supporting small companies with sustainability reporting

In 2022, the European Union changed the legislation on the sustainability reporting of companies. The new requirements expand the scope of businesses that are obliged to report on their environmental, social, and economic impact.

Although this legislation has been in effect since early 2024, many small companies still face challenges in understanding and meeting the reporting standards. To assist these businesses, the start-up CSR Tools offers solutions that help them get started on sustainability reporting.

In this episode, founder and serial entrepreneur Alexander Spahn shares the story of CSR Tools and his previous ventures. He also discusses the critical success factors of start-ups.

The critical success factor of a start-up is to start now and start simple. So don’t overcomplicate whatever you do but simply get started.

Episode 11: A circular world of children’s toys

The children’s toy market in Switzerland is quite sizable with parents spending approximately 800 million Swiss Francs each year. Most of these toys are made of plastic leading to significant emissions during production and posing challenges for recycling.

Fatma Belbahi and her team at the start-up Circle Toys are addressing this issue by establishing a circular platform for children’s toys. The company collects toys from families, then sorts, cleans, and eventually offers them a new lease on life through its online store. This approeach results in a triple win: donating families declutter while earning store credit, new buyers save up to 70 per cent compared to the original toy price, and the planet benefits from reduced emissions and waste.

Fatma discusses the founding story of her company, the role that start-up competitions played in testing her business idea, and her plans to scale Circle Toys nationwide.

Toys bought in Switzerland create 200 thousand tons of CO2 emissions [per year] because they are mostly plastic. To put this into perspective, it is like flying 100 thousand times to New York, back and forth.

Episode 10: Upcycling and circularity in acoustic products

Acoustic panels and dividers help improve the atmosphere in rooms by absorbing sound and reducing noise. Normally these products are made of virgin materials and can be difficult to recycle at the end of their lifecycle.

Sven Erni wanted to solve this problem and therefore co-founded Impact Acoustic . This start-up uses waste as a resource and designs circular acoustic products. Impact Acoustic’s latest product is entirely made of cotton fibres deemed too short to make yarn and thus were disposed of in the past.

In this episode, Sven talks about why Impact Acoustic was founded, how they use recycled PET bottles as a raw material, and what the impact would be on the company if the world stopped using plastic.

The original cause [idea] of a PET bottle was really a good one. It was to replace the heavy glass bottle. So the plastic bottle was good – what is really bad is that we do not close the loop in the production.

Episode 9: Sustainable sips – redefining outdoor coffee

How can you prepare a good cup of coffee when you are outdoors – say on a mountain hike or ski tour – without bringing much equipment or creating lots of waste?

With a coffee paste from the tube, say Alexander Haberlin and Philippe Greinacher , the two founders of No Normal Coffee . This start-up aims to offer a premium coffee for every outdoor occasion – in the mountains, woods, or anywhere else. The objective of No Normal Coffee is to redefine outdoor coffee and make it more sustainable.

Alex and Philippe talk about the founding story of No Normal Coffee, how they developed their product as newcomers to the coffee industry, and the ways in which No Normal Coffee promotes sustainability.

The more we grow, the better ingredients we can source, the better packaging we can invest in, the more research we can do to reduce our impact. So sustainability goes actually very well together with the growth of a start-up.

Episode 8: Using the potential of seaweed to revolutionise packaging

Seaweed represents one of the most abundant biomass resources on earth. It also grows ten times faster than land plants, captures CO2, and produces oxygen for humans and other species. Despite being a renewable resource, the potential of seaweed is not used often in the production of goods.

Jessica Farda, co-founder and CEO at Noriware, wants to change this. Her start-up has developed a new seaweed-based packaging solution. Noriware uses one hundred per cent natural materials that are free from toxic substances, fully biodegradable and compostable at home. With this product, Jessica’s start-up aims to significantly reduce the carbon footprint and water use compared to conventional plastic packaging.

In this episode, Jessica talks about how Noriware was founded, why she decided to use seaweed for packaging, and a failed experiment that helped with product development.

The idea was to make use of seaweed because we see so much potential in this resource. At Noriware, we use it to develop packaging that harmonises with nature rather than harming it.

Episode 7 (in German): Tackling the taboo topic

Products for sexual health are not necessarily the first category that we think about when it comes to making the world more sustainable. For example, condoms were a taboo topic for a long time: many people bought them secretly and avoided talking about them.

Martina Hammer wants to take away the shame around sexual health products and make them more accessible for people with the preference of a sustainable lifestyle. That is why Martina’s start-up called feelgood Condoms offers the first certified vegan and sustainable brand for sexual health products in Switzerland.

Martina explains why the condoms of the known, large brands are not vegan, what makes feelgood Condoms more sustainable, and how the introduction of self-checkouts in supermarkets have benefited sexual health products.

With this sustainable and vegan positioning, we hope to take away some of the shame and establish the condom as a casual and good thing.

Episode 6 (rerun): Circularity and responsible sourcing in watchmaking

Many companies try to make their existing product offerings more sustainable and ecologically compatible. But only a few firms subject their product development fully and from the very beginning to the principles of complete circularity and responsible sourcing.

An example for such an approach in the watchmaking industry is IDWatch . The co-founders Nicolas Freudiger and Cédric Mulhauser have developed luxury watches that are made of recycled high-quality stainless steel, reused existing movements, and straps based on vegetal compost.

In this rerun episode from April 2022, Nicolas and Cédric tell their founding story and explain how they want to change one of the most traditional industries in Switzerland.

We should go from linear to circular economy. This needs a complete change of business models: we need to go beyond the product itself.

Episode 5: Travelling as a mindful optimist

Today many travellers ask themselves which mode of transport they should use for their next trip. Airplanes are fast but have a large carbon footprint. Trains are more sustainable but feature only few overnight connections with which people can bridge the longer travel time by sleeping. And buses also do well in eco-friendliness but are less comfortable for overnight travel because passengers cannot lie down.

A start-up that aims at changing this and offering a new solution for overnight buses is Twiliner. They are developing a bus with comfortable, reclining seats that are safe in lying position. Twiliner’s target group are so-called mindful optimists – people who want to travel with respect to the environment and who believe that their choices have an impact on the world.

In this episode, Luca Bortolani, co-founder and CEO at Twiliner, explains what his motivation to start the company was, how he and his co-founders managed to partner with two well-known institutions early on, and what their buses will look like.

We know that people want to travel more sustainably and many are willing to travel slower in order to avoid the airplane.

Episode 4: The scent of sustainability

How can scents enhance our well-being and mental health in the workplace? And what role does 'ma' – the Japanese concept of negative space – play in this context?

These two questions are at the core of MĀ Moments, a start-up that offers curated essential oil blends for consumers, customised scents for companies as well as well-being retreats and corporate gifts for employees. The philosophy of MĀ Moments emphasises connecting with nature, the healing power of art and beauty in simplicity.

Co-founder Esther Payerols talks about the inspiration behind MĀ Moments, their deliberate focus on well-being and how sustainability is incorporated into their products.

The power of scents is the strongest we have. We remember things that we smell one hundred times more than things that we see, hear, or touch.

Episode 3: The trade-off between sustainable fashion and affordability

What happens when two former scouts and childhood friends from Lenzburg meet for a beer and get the idea to start a business? They build one of the trendiest and well-known sustainable fashion labels in Switzerland.

This is the story of NIKIN and its co-founders, Nicholas Hänny and Robin Gnehm. Their ambition is to make sustainable fashion (more) affordable and plant a tree for each product sold. In six years, they have sold enough products to plant over two million trees.

In this episode, Nicholas talks how NIKIN was founded, the reason for planting trees, and the trade-off between the costs of sustainable fashion and affordability.

The ultimate goal of sustainable fashion is to get into a circular economy where you only produce clothes that go back into the cycle.
 

Episode 2: Improving impact measurement with collective intelligence

Sustainability performance and a company’s impact are often measured using ESG standards (environmental, social, governance). However, some experts criticise ESG frameworks for their focus on financial measures, risk assessment and the impact of ESG on a company rather than a company’s impact on the environment and society.

Impaakt is a start-up that aims to broaden the lens of ESG assessment. To do so, Impaakt applies collective intelligence and lets thousands of people rate how companies impact society and the planet.

Bertrand Gacon, co-founder and CEO at Impaakt, talks about what inspired him to create his start-up, what criteria companies should be assessed by and how collective intelligence works in the context of impact measurement.

We need to bring enough people to the table so that, at the end of the day, we have a score of a company that is the real reflection of what global society thinks about the impact.
 

Episode 1: Impact investing – balancing sustainability and financial return

Can you build wealth with a clear conscience? Are healthy financial returns compatible with a positive social and environmental impact?

Yes, says Tillmann Lang , co-founder and CEO at Inyova Impact Investing. Inyova is an impact investing platform that allows users to select their focus areas, for example renewable energy or circular economy, and to personalise their investment strategy. Inyova’s aim is to make responsible and sustainable investment possible for everyone.

In this episode, Tillmann talks about how Inyova was founded and why we should all become impact investors.

Finance is fascinating. In 2017 my co-founders and me felt that traditional providers were not taking consumers seriously. So we started to look for a way to make finance part of the answer to the climate crisis, rather than part of the problem.
 

Episode 10: Venture capital – an insight into the funding of start-ups

How do venture capital funds select the start-ups in which they invest? And what is the state of the venture capital market in Switzerland?

An expert to answer these questions is Michael Sidler, who is a co-founder and partner at the seed and early-stage investment fund Redalpine. The fund focuses on highly scalable business models, screens more than 3’000 business plans per year, and has invested in more than seventy companies so far.

In this episode, Michael talks about his journey into the world of venture capital, his perspective on the business conditions in Switzerland and what the parallels are between building companies and working in his garden.

It is the holy duty of every entrepreneur to find the conditions and the location which are best for his or her start-up idea.

Episode 9: The three-point plan – what Karim Maizar suggests to improve the business environment for start-ups

Karim Maizar’s journey into the start-up world is quite unconventional. After studying law at the University of Zurich, he became a lawyer who is specialised in young companies and venture capital. His career path was certainly unusual when he started roughly ten years ago, he says.

Today, Karim is not only a lawyer for founders and venture capitalists at Kellerhals Carrard but also a Board member of SWESA, the Swiss Entrepreneur and Start-up Association. In this capacity, he works with members of parliament to achieve better framework conditions for start-ups in Switzerland.

Daniel asks Karim why he chose to enter the start-up world and what he suggests to improve access to venture capital, availability of talent and start-up culture.

R&D spending of established companies is going down. Therefore, the question is: where else will innovation come from in the future? Here we see the big and ever-growing relevance of the start-up ecosystem.

Episode 8: The perspective of a serial entrepreneur – how Boris Manhart has co-founded five companies including a unicorn

Many of us know somebody who has started a business. But founders of more than one or two start-ups are rare. The same goes for entrepreneurs who have built a unicorn.

Boris Manhart is such a person: he co-founded five companies in the last 25 years including Numbrs, a personal finance app that has become a unicorn. This year, Boris has switched sides and now advises start-ups on how to scale successfully.

In this episode, Boris explains where his start-up journey began, the common challenges he faced when founding his companies, and what Switzerland needs to improve to produce more unicorns.

Honestly, I do not think that you always need to think big. You can build the next local bike store if this is your passion. Then you create value, probably even jobs – and you are happy.

Episode 7: Circularity and responsible sourcing in watchmaking – how ID Watch wants to change one of the most traditional industries in Switzerland

Many companies try to make their existing product offerings more sustainable and ecologically compatible. But only a few firms subject their product development fully and from the very beginning to the principles of complete circularity and responsible sourcing.

An example for such an approach in the watchmaking industry is ID Watch. The co-founders Nicolas Freudiger and Cédric Mulhauser have developed luxury watches that are made of recycled high-quality stainless steel, reused existing movements, and straps based on vegetal compost.

Listen to Nicolas and Cédric tell their founding story and explain how they want to change one of the most traditional industries in Switzerland.

I would like to see more start-up competitions open to watch companies and watch concepts. This needs to be fostered by the large luxury groups [associations] as well.

Episode 6: Crossing the pond – what the Swiss start-up scene can learn from Silicon Valley

Taking a start-up abroad, especially to a place like Silicon Valley, can be one of the ultimate objectives for founders. However, crossing the pond is a big step that needs solid preparation and comes with many challenges.

To support founders with this endeavour, Arijana Walcott has started DART Labs, an accelerator that connects Switzerland and the USA. Arijana helps Swiss start-ups with technologies that benefit humans to test their ideas and business models in Silicon Valley.

Daniel talks to Arijana about her journey into the start-up world, her perspective on the business conditions in Switzerland and what it means to take a start-up across the pond to test the waters in Silicon Valley.

Swiss start-ups often end up as features instead of companies. That is why we ask ourselves after hearing a pitch: will this become a feature for somebody else or does it have the potential to grow into a company?

Episode 5: A new approach to beating cancer – TOLREMO aims at solving the problem of drug resistance in cancer therapy

Resistance against cancer drugs is a major factor keeping patients from surviving the disease: after shrinking in the beginning of therapy, some tumours do not respond to the medication anymore and start growing again over time. Then patients are administered a second cancer drug so the process starts again, and they might end up being resistant once more.

TOLREMO tries to break this cycle and has developed a new approach to solve the problem of drug resistance in cancer therapy. Stefanie Flückiger discovered the scientific mechanisms of this approach in her Ph.D. and founded TOLREMO as a spin-off of ETH Zurich in 2017.

In this episode, Stefanie explains how she came up with the idea behind TOLREMO, the role of drug resistance in cancer therapy, and how she went about building one of the leading biotech start-ups in Switzerland.

Switzerland is a perfect place to found a company, but when you grow and start raising larger [funding] rounds there is a lack of very strong, deep-pocketed Swiss VC funds.

Episode 4: Impact with fresh taste – how Koa innovates the cocoa fruit business (in German)

Cocoa is not only an ingredient for (hot) chocolate, it can also be used in many other ways in gastronomy and industry. The method of growing and processing the cocoa fruit in countries such as Ghana did not change much over the last 300 years.

Koa has innovated this production process by applying the experience and knowledge around solar energy from the co-founders Anian Schreiber and Benjamin Kuschnik. Their approach reduces food waste by 40 per cent, creates new jobs in rural Ghana and increases farmers’ income.

Daniel asks Anian and Benjamin what it means to found a purpose-driven business like Koa, what makes their way of processing the cocoa fruit innovative and what their view on Switzerland is as a location for start-ups.

What we were already pushing very strongly four or five years ago […] and what investors also understand now is that CSR or sustainability is not just a ‘nice to have’ but should be at the core of a business model.

Episode 3: Switzerland versus Israel – what are the differences between both countries when it comes to starting a business?

The Swiss start-up scene is in its infancy compared to the Israeli ecosystem – especially regarding start-up financing, says Cédric Bollag. He knows founders and venture capitalists in both countries very well and has showcased over 300 entrepreneurs and investors on his start-up show on YouTube.

Cédric has also founded his own business called Curated, an online video channel on which he publishes his interviews. Daniel asks Cédric how he found his way into the start-up world, his thoughts on starting a business in Switzerland and what the Swiss start-up scene can learn from the one in Israel.

In the U.S. and in Israel it is all or nothing. Many VCs [venture capitalists] rather write a check for a million and know after six months that it will not work out, instead of funding something long-term which might or might not be a success.

Episode 2: Vertical farming – is the future of agriculture in the city? (in German)

Vertical farming is about growing agricultural fresh produce in vertically stacked layers. This happens in large structures such as refurbished industrial buildings – usually in or within proximity to cities. Vertical farming strives for a more sustainable, efficient, and healthier food production.

YASAI is one of the first and leading Swiss start-ups in this field. Deloitte’s Head of Research, Michael Grampp, interviewed YASAI’s founder and CEO, Mark Zahran, in the beginning of 2021. They talked about the founding story of YASAI, their business model, and the connection between vertical farming and architecture.

Vertical farming will revolutionise the way we produce food in the 21st century. 

Episode 1: Electrifying utility vehicles – how 4QT wants to revolutionise commercial vehicles (in German)

Mobility is among the main drivers of CO2 emissions overall. While public debate usually seems to focus on passenger transport, commercial vehicles play an important role in this context as well.

To lower emissions in the commercial sector, the start-up 4QT combines the advantages of electric motors and traditional combustion engines by integrating both in the same vehicle. Their four-quadrant transmission (4QT) technology is supposed to guarantee the optimal gear ratio for maximum efficiency and minimal emissions.

Daniel talked to Marc Vetter, founder and CEO of 4QT, how he came up with the idea for his company, how he sees the start-up scene in Switzerland, and which tips he gives to new founders.

What would you do if you had a technology that could reduce emissions by 30 percent – either by retrofit or directly from the factory?