Where are we invested?

ANYbotics is an ETH-spin-off, coming out of the world-renowned lab of Prof. Dr. Roland Siegwart. The company-offers an end-to-end solution consisting of autonomous mobile robots and a software stack empowering customers to operate plants without human presence. The robot is deployed to collect data, to continuously monitor infrastructure and to automate inspection and maintenance tasks in harsh, hazardous, and complex environments. Further, ANYbotics offers the only legged robot with "Ex-Certification", which means that the robot can be used in explosive environments for instance in Oil & Gas, Chemical Industry, etc.

Beekeeper was founded in 2012 by ETH graduates Cristian Grossman and Flavio Pfaffhauser. The company is headquartered in Zurich, where the management as well as most of the staff are located. Beekeeper is a "Team-Communication-App" enabling real-time connectivity and communication with mobile "non-desk workers" in a fast and secure manner. The company aims to become the main productivity and collaboration platform for frontline workers, which enables operational processes to be digitized and more effcient. Beekeeper has more than 200 employees across Europe and the US.

Distran is an ETH spin-off, founded by Joël Busset und Florian Perrodin. The company's patented technology allows detection of gas leaks up to ten times faster than conventional methods, making a direct contribution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. With its technology, Distran aims to save more than 100 million tons of CO₂ equivalent by 2026. This is equivalent to the volume of greenhouse gases emitted by around 21 million cars annually. The company develops, manufactures, and sells acoustic cameras, each equipped with 124 microphones, which can register the smallest leakages from gas pipes, etc. The cameras detect noises in the ultrasonic range, which are then visualized on the camera display. These Distran "super ears" are even used on NASA space missions to detect leaks in the space capsule at an early stage.

Ecorobotix - AI-controlled plant treatment: The growth fund invested in the AgriTech company based in Yverdon-les-Bains in October 2023. The flagship product is called ARA. It is an AI-supported plant recognition system that treats plants in a targeted manner. It enables farmers to work more efficiently and protect the environment at the same time. Last May, a further financing round totalling CHF 46 million was completed. Among other things, the money is to be used to expand the business on the American continent.

Fotokite is an ETH spin-off founded in 2013 and is headquartered in Zurich. The company provides an aerial data intelligence platform with invaluable overview information for frefghters and public safety teams to help them manage complex, safety-critical situations. The company has developed a tethered drone equipped with a video and infrared camera that allows for real time broadcasting, on-site and remote analysis as well as after event review and reporting. The drone is stored in a rooftop box and is ready for operation in the air within 90 seconds at the single push of a button.

GetYourGuide - an investment from the very beginning: the former ETH spin-off is an agent for travel experiences, tours and admission tickets around the globe. The Growth Fund has been an investor since December 2018, while Zürcher Kantonalbank invested in the company in the very first financing round back in 2009. GetYourGuide regularly sets new sales records and impresses investors. In a recent financing round, GetYourGuide secured almost USD 200 million. With a market value of over one billion Swiss francs, the company is one of a small group of "unicorns" of Swiss origin.

The Medimaps Group is a Geneva-based medtech company that has developed image processing software for assessing bone health. Thanks to the patented deep learning algorithms, osteoporosis diagnosis is faster and more comprehensive, allowing up to 30 per cent more patients at risk of fracture to be identified. The core technology is being further developed for additional medical indications in the field of orthopaedics and for primary screening from X-ray and CT images. The Swisscanto Growth Fund has been invested since November 2021.

MedTrace is located in the greater Copenhagen area (DK). The company was founded by Martin Stenfeldt, Rune Wiik Kristensen and Peter Larsen in 2015 with the purpose to improve the diagnostic accuracy in PET perfusion imaging by enabling the use of the gold standard perfusion agent ¹⁵O-Water. It's frst commercial application will be cardiac perfusion. Further applications namely in oncology are under development in collaboration with reputable clinics worldwide.

Medtrace has developed a small GMP production device for ¹⁵O-Water located next to the PET scanner, devices for fast and accurate dosing and an own blood fow quantification software which facilitates diagnosis signifcantly. In Europe the company is already selling products under "magistral exemption" in specifc countries and selected clinics. In the US an additional phase III clinical study is required for market authorization. In 2022, the company received the approval for the clinical study, established an offce in the US and started to enroll patients. The company adjusted its strategic direction by focusing strongly on clinical and regulatory milestones, in order to have a strong product launch in the USA no later than 2025.

Memo Tx was founded 2012 by Christoph Esslinger as an ETH spin-off and has its headquarters in the Zürich area. The company is an innovator in the feld of antibody discovery and immune repertoire analysis. Exploiting the power of Memo's microfluidic single-cell molecular cloning and screening technologies, the company engages in antibody discovery across species and indications for proprietary and partnered projects.

The current pipeline focuses on medications against infectious diseases. In 2022, two phase I clinical trials were started on BK virus and Covid-19. The safety study on Covid-19 was concluded and Memo Tx's antibodies were found to be very safe. Nevertheless, the company in consolidation with BAG decided to stop the project based on the current Covid-19 developments. The phase I study for the BKV has been completed with positive results on safety. Memo Tx received a FDA fast track designation for AntiBKV as treatment of BKV infection in renal transplant patients. The company started their U.S. pivotal phase II trial in April 2023.

Nagi Bioscience - mini worms instead of vertebrates. The biotech company domicilised near Lausanne uses innovative laboratory equipment to make tests on vertebrates obsolete in many cases. Instead, novel drugs are tested on pain-resistant nematodes. Dozens of tests can be carried out with one experiment. Analyses and evaluations are carried out digitally. Last September, the Swisscanto Growth Fund participated as a co-lead investor in a CHF 12.4 million financing round. Zürcher Kantonalbank has been on board as an investor since the start-up phase in 2019.

NIL Technology (NILT) was founded by Theodor Nielsen and Brian Bilenberg in 2006 during their doctoral studies at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU). Headquartered in Kongens Lyngby, Denmark. The company has its prototyping and manufacturing hub in Horgen (ZH).

NILT designs, prototypes and manufactures innovative optical solutions and aims to become the world's leading supplier of "metalenses" used to make optical sensing in consumers electronics, cars, etc. fat, cheaper (only one lens) as well as more performant. The company is continuously selling prototypes to the largest global technology giants and has also started small-scale volume production for a number of customers.

OncoDNA is an oncology-focused healthcare technology company that was founded in 2012 by Jean-Pol Detiffe. The company is located in Gosselies (B) and has an additional offce in Paris (F), after its acquisition of Integragen SA.

The company provides diagnostic solutions to doctors, clinics and pharmaceutical companies applying proprietary technology on DNA and RNA sequencing, biomarker analyses based on solid and liquid biopsies resulting in clinically relevant information. The information is then compared with the company's own proprietary knowledge database. The end result is a comprehensive report that contains all relevant diagnostic information and possible treatment options.

The company has transformed its services into a Cloud-based solution for easier access and management of information and data. The database is constantly update and thereby "learns" on the go with each new report and/or data input. Pharmaceutical company client proft from the offering by designing and executing clinical studies more precise and more effcient. This precision medicine approach might later on also result in companion diagnostics for personalized cancer treatments.

Sulzer & Schmid Laboratories (SSL) was founded in 2016 by Tom Sulzer and Christoph Schmid and is headquartered in Oetwil am See (ZH).

Recognizing the potential for drone inspection to redefne wind turbine inspections, the company has developed an end-to-end software platform that provides condition monitoring and management of the rotor blades, which includes the use of machine learning for damage detection and predictive maintenance. This disruptive approach reduces the O&M costs as well as downtime of the wind turbines signifcantly, providing a very attractive business case for the customer. Customers include wind turbine manufacturers such as Vestas, Nordex, etc. well as wind turbine operators like BP, EON, etc.

Swissto12 - Satellites made in Switzerland: Founded in 2011 by EPFL graduates, the Swiss technology company produces satellite components using the 3D printing process. Its patented technology allows a high degree of flexibility at comparatively low production costs. Swissto12 works together with the European Space Agency (ESA). At the end of last year, Intelsat, the world's leading provider of satellite services, was acquired as a customer. Another deal was recently finalised with Inmarsat. The company is on a strong growth path and offers investors excellent economic prospects.

Varjo was founded in 2016 by a team of world-class augmented reality experts, already then with significant experience in the field from Nokia and Microsoft.

The company primarily designs professional-grade mixed / augmented reality devices and provides a collaborative software platform called "Varjo Reality Cloud", which allows the ultimate science fiction dream, photorealistic virtual teleportation, to come true. The user can watch and manipulate the simulated environment in the same way they act in the real world without any need to learn how the complicated user interface works. This is especially relevant for training, simulations, and product design. Varjo has over 1000 customers today, including global blue-chip customers such as Boeing, Lufthansa, Airbus, Siemens, Philips, Rolls Royce, Autodesk, Volkswagen, Toyota, and ETH Zurich.

USD 150 million for 1plusX: The Zurich-based software company developed data-driven analyses for marketing purposes and was successfully sold to the US advertising technology company Triplelift in March 2022. The growth fund became an investor in 1plusX in December 2020.

Strategic acquisition of Versantis: The French pharmaceutical company Genfit acquired the biopharmaceutical company Versantis last September. The sellers will receive additional milestone payments if the technology is successfully developed further.

Successful exit of Creoptix: The healthtech start-up Creoptix was acquired by the British company Malvern Panalytical at the beginning of 2022. The special thing about it: Zürcher Kantonalbank was on board as an investor in Creoptix from the very beginning.