The fifth Swisscom StartUp Challenge is being held in collaboration with venturelab in 2017. Together, they are looking for promising Swiss high-growth startups and inviting the best five to attend a one-off business acceleration program in Silicon Valley. Today the ten finalists have been announced.

The Swisscom StartUp Challenge created some buzz in the last few years. A lot of startups met important investors during the trip in Silicon Valley. Penny Schiffer, Head of Startup Initiatives at Swisscom wrote a nice column about last years applicants. Now, this year’s finalists have been announced. And there are some familiar faces in there:

Advertima
Advertima creates artificial intelligence that analyzes the people around it. It recognizes features like age, gender and emotions, and reacts by creating personalized and positive experiences. This brings proactive customer interaction from the virtual into the real world. Using its understanding of humans, Advertima AI is on track to become better than any human at making others happy. We met this startup at the Neuunternehmer Forum at RHEMA in Altstätten (SG). In May the startup closed a Series A investment round with 4.8M CHF.

AlgoTrader
AlgoTrader is the first fully integrated algorithmic trading software solution for hedge funds and trading companies. It allows automation of complex, quantitative trading strategies in forex, stocks, derivatives and cryptocurrencies – everything a typical hedge fund needs for its daily operations. The software is available both in the cloud and on premise. CEO Andreas Flury was recently announced and presented as a venture leader Fintech. He will join the intense journey taking place from September 10 – 16 in New York. The roadshow offers an accelerated learning curve and a solid network through exchanges with their peers in the team, as well as market exposure, feedback from investors and experts, and hands-on business development.

CARU
CARU is a caring companion that empowers people to age where they want to. The company via IFJ. The patented IoT home emergency system CARU is installed in the home. It uses machine learning to detect critical situations and organizes assistance whenever required. It also actively prevents accidents through daily feedback on how users can improve their wellbeing.

ecoRobotix
ecoRobotix develops autonomous weeding robots to strongly reduce herbicides in several row crops, resulting in lower weeding costs and benefits for human health and the environment. Weeds are identified with artificial vision and sprayed with a fast robotic arm. The machine is fully solar-powered and controlled with a smartphone. The startup currently is ranked as #28 on the TOP100 Startup Ranking.

GenView
The EPFL-based company GenView focuses on 3D data visualization and data integration in complex environments. It offers GenView 3D, the next generation Digital Twin Cockpit, providing a solution for cities’ smart decision-making. GenView 3D gathers multiple-source data to give innovation-oriented cities better overall control of their key activities and operations.

Interprefy
Interprefy has developed a cloud-based platform for remote simultaneous interpreting of conferences and similar events. This startup founded via IFJ. Interpreters work remotely and delegates use smartphones as receivers. Since qualified interpreters don’t need to travel and no heavy equipment is required, cost savings compared to conventional technology are substantial.

LegalHub
LegalHub builds a human interface allowing anyone without a programming background to create, manage, publish and arbitrate smart contracts. The process is simple, quick and inexpensive, while the quality of the documents produced is of law firm standard.

1Drop
1Drop saves lives through better and faster portable medical diagnostics. It enables personalized healthcare through actionable health information that is accessible to anyone at any time. The device detects multiple biomarkers from a single drop of blood immediately in front of the patient. It thereby facilitates the early detection, prevention and management of disease.

OneSky
OneSky builds infrastructure in preparation for tomorrow’s drone revolution, ensuring drones’ safe integration into today’s aviation world. It offers an online platform which gathers data from a network of scaled-down control towers, enabling virtually anybody to see surrounding air traffic and to hold intelligent tools for low-risk flight plans, automatic avoidance strategies and privacy control. The startup gained some traction by winning Stage 1 of Venture Kick.

Securaxis
Securaxis provides weather forecasts for physical security and risk management. Using predictive analytics to assess individualized threats, and with real-time geo-localized mapping of risks, Securaxis enables people in volatile environments to make decisions the best way possible.