After 6 months of intensive work from October to march during a pandemic period, the 2nd edition of the Swiss start-ups acceleration program TECH4TRUST by TRUST VALLEY ended with a huge success. Its advisory committee voted for the 3 most promising companies and awarded the startup Inpher in first place, in 2nd Strong.Network, 3rd DuoKey. A special prize is awarded to Kimbocare for its social impact by the Rosenfield Foundation.

How to acquire first clients and partners when you can no longer meet people and create a traditional bond of trust? 27 startups have followed an intense and unprecedented journey to boost their winter development despite the remote working conditions. With the Canton of Vaud as the main sponsor and the support of the Canton of Geneva, the program initially planned for 15 startups took up the challenge of offering this opportunity to 27 young start-ups given the difficult winter that was ahead. The team in charge invented new ways of working by creating a unique “Roadshow in Switzerland”. In this way, startups have been able to enrich their networks, have the opportunity to share with their peers and the industry captains of the region who have been mobilized to support them.

The 10 finalist start-ups: Bug Bounty SwitzerlandCryptolexCysecDuoKeyInpherNym TechnologiesOrbitalizeOrigin FoodPXL VisionStrong.Network were selected by the Tech4Trust advisory board (+30 members), according to precise criteria (team, products, market, innovation, partnerships, finances, sustainability) and their performance since the start of the Tech4Trust program. The 10 finalists pitched on Tuesday in front of a jury made up of about twenty members of the advisory board. The Jury was chaired by Jean-Philippe Lallement, Managing Director of the EPFL Innovation Park Foundation, and co-chaired by Yan Borboën Cybersecurity Leader, Western Switzerland at PwC and Patrice Perche, Senior Executive Vice-President Worldwide Sales & Support at Fortinet.

– The 1st prize is awarded to Inpher by Raphaël Conz, Vaud economic promotion, within the amount of CHF 70,000.- (CHF 10,000 cash, PwC 30,000 & Fortinet / SCRT 30,000 in services)

Inpher is a global Secret Computing® company that powers privacy-preserving machine learning and analytics to unlock the value of sensitive, siloed data and enable secure collaboration across departments, jurisdictions and organizations. 

As highlighted by the recent investment from the Amazon Alexa Fund, Inpher continues its industry expansion with customers in financial services, healthcare, IoT and consumer devices. Jordan Brandt, CEO Inpher.

– The 2nd prize is awarded to Strong.Network by Yan Borboën, PwC within the amount of CHF 40,000.- (in PwC 20,000 and Fortinet / SCRT 20,000.- services)

“Tech4Trust” was a springboard to propel our product and our expertise. The program allowed us to finalize business with companies and strategic partners after only one quarter of development. Laurent Balmelli, co-founder, Strong Networks.

– The 3rd prize is awarded to DuoKey by Patrice Perche, Fortinet within the amount of CHF 20,000.- (in PwC 10,000 and Fortinet / SCRT 10,000.- services)

“We are building DuoKey to help corporates store highly confidential documents, use and optimize services while protecting their data with confidentiality and trust.” Nagib Aouini, founder, CEO Duokey.

– A special prize of CHF 10,000 is awarded to Kimbocare for its social impact by Thomas Rosenfield of the “Herbert & Audrey Rosenfield” foundation.

“Trust is something that is built stone by stone. Tech4Trust has allowed us to seal and strengthen the security around patient data that is at the heart of the KimboCare initiative.” Franck Tiambo, co-founder, Kimbocare.