BIOPÔLE INVESTMENT PROGRAMME
BUILDING INVESTMENT-READY START-UPS

Your start-up might be groundbreaking, with massive growth potential – but unlocking that growth requires the right equity funding. Nailing your pitch is only the beginning. In order to engage effectively with investors, you need to be thoroughly prepared on multiple fronts. 

Recognising these challenges, Biopôle has launched a comprehensive 24-month scheme for high-potential life sciences start-ups on our campus, the Biopôle Investment Programme. This provides much more than financial support – it seeks to help founders speak investors’ language and build the foundations of long-term success.

Next application deadlines:
  • 12th August, 2025 (presentation on the 2nd of September)
  • 11th November, 2025 (presentation on the 2nd of December)

 

Apply now

MORE THAN MONEY

GUIDANCE

Programme applicants receive constructive feedback from the programme’s Investment Advisory Board (IAB). Biopôle SA also continuously follows up with participants throughout the programme.

STARTING FUND

We offer up to CHF 90,000 in non-dilutive, no-strings-attached funding: the money can support a wide range of expenses, whether they be
rent, R&D, consulting or salaries.*

TRAINING

We offer participating companies an investor-style business investigation, establishing a real data room to evaluate whether the venture’s documentation is robust enough.

EXPOSURE

We hold regular investor panels, offering programme participants exposure, insights and opportunities to connect with top-tier investors from Biopôle’s network.

Pre-Clinical Top-Up: CHF 500,000 to support growth

Pre-clinical companies often face prohibitively high validation costs – but Biopôle-based start-ups in this phase of development can find help in the form of the Pre-Clinical Top-Up. This a game-changing support mechanism is designed to boost external investor support. Start-ups that have found external funding of at least CHF 250,000 will see this topped up by Biopôle SA: we offer an extra CHF 250,000  in the form of a convertible loan, bringing the total to at least CHF 500,000.

The Pre-Clinical Top-Up also includes support from Biopôle SA for the recruitment of a key C-level fractional executive (CxO) to accelerate company growth and scale operations.

TRAINED FOR INVESTMENT

At the heart of the programme is a robust, hands-on training plan, designed to get early-stage entrepreneurs ready for investment. Biopôle SA has partnered with highly qualified experts to simulate a real investor due diligence process, ensuring that we have challenged, nurtured and set up our start-ups for success. In essence, the programme introduces start-ups to the structure and function of a virtual data room, helping them organise their materials in a format that meets investor expectations from day one.

Katzarov

Intellectual Property

EY

Market

Lenz & Staehelin

Legal

Virgo Ventures

Finance & Team

Biopôle SA

Science

INVESTMENT ADVISORY BOARD

The IAB reviews all applications from Biopôle companies that are interested in the programme. The IAB then recommends the best and brightest start-ups to Biopôle SA – and provides constructive feedback to all applicants.

Elena Battistello
Analyst at Novartis Venture Fund
Olivier Lebel
Seed impact investor, change and strategy consultant.
Anette Chauhan
VP/GM Medical Delivery Solutions EMEA

Bart Deplancke
Vice Dean Innovation, EPFL
Daniel Dillinger
Principal at RedAlpine
Peter Greaney
Biotech Entrepreneur, co-founder, Populus
Julien Guex
Managing Director, FIT
Ronald Kempers
CEO and CFO, Mymetics Corporation
Nicolas Mermod
Professor Emeritus, UNIL
Vincent Ossipow
Partner, Omega Funds
Philippe Renaud
Full Professor, Microsystems Laboratory, EPFL
Michelle Scott
Vice President, Head Discovery and Biotechnology Solutions, Labcorp Drug Development

Katrin Siebenbuerger Hacki
Director, Medows Sàrl
Nasri Nahas
CEO, Biopôle SA
Pierre-Jean Wipff
Innovation and Partnerships Director, Biopôle SA
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COMPANIES WE’VE SUPPORTED

The Biopôle Investment Programme is an evolution of the former Biopôle Start-up Fund. In 2025, we redesigned the programme in response to our start-ups’ changing needs.

We have already supported a number of promising ventures over the years, including:

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