\n English Department <\/a><\/p>\nSwitzerland has\u00a0topped the global innovation rankings by the World\u00a0Intellectual\u00a0Property Organization (WIPO)\u00a0for the last 15 years.\u00a0A large part of its dominance is due to the\u00a0high\u00a0number of patents it generates for such a small country. The Alpine nation has\u00a0the most registered patents per capita,\u00a0and food technology (foodtech) is the second-most patented sector after pharma.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Food\u00a0entrepreneurs\u00a0benefit\u00a0from\u00a0support\u00a0from\u00a0the\u00a0government and industry bodies like\u00a0Innosuisse\u00a0and the\u00a0Swiss Food\u00a0&\u00a0Nutrition\u00a0Valley\u00a0that\u00a0help\u00a0with funding, office space, renting specialised equipment and networking events.\u00a0Swiss regulations are also\u00a0up to date\u00a0when it comes to\u00a0novel foods like lab-grown meat, and the\u00a0country\u00a0is\u00a0a\u00a0food-packaging hub with\u00a0universities and companies\u00a0working on\u00a0developing new sustainable packaging.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Between\u00a02021 and 2025,\u00a0the\u00a0number of\u00a0Swiss\u00a0foodtech\u00a0start-ups\u00a0grew by 65%,\u00a0but the low-hanging fruit from the post-pandemic\u00a0boom\u00a0such as food delivery, meat alternatives and upcycling\u00a0is no longer up for grabs.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSeveral segments that saw a rapid influx of start-ups in recent years\u00a0\u2013\u00a0such as delivery, online\u00a0grocery\u00a0and vertical farming\u00a0\u2013\u00a0are now rationalising. This naturally leads to market consolidation, as established players increasingly integrate smaller or emerging companies into their growth strategies, and business models being tested more rigorously,\u201d says\u00a0Giulio\u00a0Busoni of Milan-based Porsche Consulting and one of the authors of the Swiss\u00a0FoodTech\u00a0Ecosystem Report 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n
According to the\u00a0report, about 2.5% of\u00a0foodtech\u00a0start-ups created\u00a0in Switzerland\u00a0in 2021 were liquidated by 2025. Investment and financing rounds for Swiss\u00a0foodtech\u00a0and\u00a0agritech\u00a0start-ups have also declined sharply in recent months.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Even globally, the sector is attracting less venture capital than during the post-pandemic peak,\u00a0with\u00a0global investment reaching around $6.2 billion\u00a0(CHF4.8 billion)\u00a0in 2025 compared to $49.2 billion in 2021.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Swissinfo\u00a0spoke to four entrepreneurs who shared their stories on the challenges of\u00a0being a food tech entrepreneur\u00a0in a more competitive marketplace.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Running\u00a0up against established heavyweights\u00a0<\/p>\n
Four-and-a-half years ago, Lukas R\u00f6sch dreamed of changing the\u00a0perception\u00a0of tofu in Switzerland.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt had an image problem because people thought it lacked flavour, had a weird rubbery consistency and is responsible for deforestation in Brazil,\u201d he told\u00a0Swissinfo.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
R\u00f6sch had just finished his business administration studies and was working for a\u00a0start-up\u00a0selling vegan products online. It was 2020 and people were spending more money on grocery products because restaurants were closed due to Covid-19 restrictions. He saw an opportunity to create a\u00a0start-up\u00a0with his school friend who was making and selling tofu. After trial and error, they\u00a0came up with\u00a0a tofu product that they thought would salvage its bland reputation.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe developed a product that was very tender and not chewy at all. We combined it with a variety of marinades like BBQ and mustard and sourced locally grown soy,\u201d says R\u00f6sch.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The\u00a0start-up\u00a0ENSOY was born,\u00a0and because the product was produced and launched in eastern Switzerland away from the big Swiss cities like Zurich, it had novelty value and attracted a lot of media coverage. R\u00f6sch was able to supply ENSOY tofu to restaurants and eventually managed to build a network of 250 businesses for his tofu.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"R\u00f6sch\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/2023-08-10_Lukas_Roesch_2_Credits_Aldrovandi_Yvonne.jpg\")
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R\u00f6sch\u2019s goal was to sell his tofu in Switzerland\u2019s biggest supermarkets Migros and Coop. <\/p>\n
Yvonne Aldrovandi <\/p>\n
R\u00f6sch invested his own savings to\u00a0get\u00a0ENSOY\u00a0off the ground. After two years\u00a0in business,\u00a0he was able to obtain a bank loan on favourable terms to grow his\u00a0start-up\u00a0even though he had not\u00a0raised\u00a0any\u00a0venture capital\u00a0funding.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
ENSOY\u2019s big moment came when the\u00a0start-up\u00a0secured a six-month contract to supply Migros, one of the biggest supermarket chains in Switzerland\u00a0along with Coop.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBefore I created my start-up, one of the goals was to sell to Migros or Coop because that\u2019s the only way to scale up. I was right, because we more than doubled our production after the Migros contract,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
R\u00f6sch hired three new employees to ratchet\u00a0up production to supply the volumes Migros\u00a0required. However, the company was still not turning a profit.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe more you produce, the more money you should make. But that was not what was happening because our wage costs also went up,\u201d says R\u00f6sch.\u00a0<\/p>\n
After six months, Migros decided not to renew its contract as\u00a0sales were underperforming\u00a0and R\u00f6sch had to let go three employees. ENSOY had also lost some organic food shops as customers because they were disappointed that the company had partnered with Swiss food giant Migros.\u00a0The organic stores try to differentiate themselves\u00a0by\u00a0selling products\u00a0their clients\u00a0can\u2019t\u00a0find elsewhere and now ENSOY was going to be sold everywhere.\u00a0The final straw for the\u00a0start-up\u00a0was a deal with a new partner falling through at the last minute.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cNow I was under pressure from the bank. So, it was the moment to say, \u2018OK, we tried and we failed\u2019,\u201d says R\u00f6sch.\u00a0<\/p>\n
R\u00f6sch had to shut his company down on November 30, 2025,\u00a0and sell off all the tofu-making equipment.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe biggest food retailers in Switzerland,\u00a0Migros and Coop,\u00a0have their own in-house food manufacturing or\u00a0they\u00a0own manufacturers like the Bell Group and\u00a0Hilcona. They will always source their tofu from these companies unless I can sell it to them cheaper,\u00a0which will never be the case. So,\u00a0finding an investor when there are companies producing tofu at half the\u00a0price\u00a0we do was difficult,\u201d\u00a0he\u00a0says.\u00a0<\/p>\n
R\u00f6sch estimates he spent about CHF150,000\u00a0($195,000)\u00a0from his savings and\u00a0what he\u00a0borrowed\u00a0from family. He\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0pay himself a salary for the first six months and only managed\u00a0to set aside\u00a0a maximum of\u00a0CHF4,000 per month for himself\u00a0at the end. The gross median monthly wage for a full-time position in Switzerland was CHF7,024 in 2024.\u00a0<\/p>\n
High\u00a0quality,\u00a0low margins\u00a0<\/p>\n
Another entrepreneur who knows how hard it is to get a food\u00a0start-up\u00a0to scale is C\u00e9line Neuenschwander. In 2023, she created the food\u00a0start-up\u00a0Flow Hummus that delivers plant-based breakfast and lunch bowls across the city of Zurich to offices. She saw an opportunity after the lifting of Covid-19 pandemic restrictions and offices looking for an incentive to bring their employees back to the office.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cFlow Hummus was built as a digital canteen for offices without a kitchen or fresh food options,\u201d\u00a0she\u00a0says. \u201cCompanies could order fresh, healthy bowls via a\u00a0webshop\u00a0and have them prepared and delivered directly to their workplace.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
After\u00a0initial\u00a0momentum, growth began to\u00a0slow\u00a0because of\u00a0lower profit margins than expected.\u00a0Neuenschwander faced a structural challenge: producing and delivering fresh, healthy food comes with significantly higher costs.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cFood is traded like any other commodity,\u201d\u00a0she\u00a0says. \u201cHighly processed ingredients that are cheap and have a long shelf life tend to generate the highest margins and returns\u00a0\u2013\u00a0though they\u2019re not necessarily the healthiest.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Despite a highly streamlined operating model, Neuenschwander decided to wind down the business after nearly three years.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, it was a pivotal moment in my\u00a0life,\u00a0when\u00a0many things came together. However, I learned a lot\u00a0\u2013\u00a0both professionally and personally.\u00a0Ultimately, it\u00a0led me to my next step: I joined\u00a0Venturelab, the largest Swiss accelerator, where I support world-class\u00a0start-ups on their growth journey,\u201d\u00a0she\u00a0says.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Going global<\/p>\n
Mark Essam Zahran\u00a0studied\u00a0architecture\u00a0at\u00a0university, which\u00a0got him interested in\u00a0vertical farming\u00a0that involves growing plants in\u00a0vertically-arranged\u00a0layers to make better use of limited space.\u00a0He was struck by how much land\u00a0was needed to grow food.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAll the cities of the world where most people live take up\u00a0around\u00a03% of the land mass,\u00a0whereas\u00a040% of the land is needed to feed\u00a0everyone. So, in that sense, if you think about architecture as mastering of space,\u00a0you\u2019ll\u00a0see that we just\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0use the space that we already have efficiently enough,\u201d he says.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"Zahran\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/GAYA_Mark-Zahran.jpg\")
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One\u00a0stumbling block\u00a0Zahran\u00a0sees with many food\u00a0start-ups is that they focus only on the Swiss market. <\/p>\n
Gaya Earth <\/p>\n
Zahran began\u00a0his\u00a0entrepreneurship\u00a0journey with\u00a0a\u00a0vertical farming\u00a0start-up\u00a0called\u00a0YASAI\u00a0that\u00a0grew herbs using a soil-free, indoor vertical farming setup.\u00a0However, the spike in energy prices following the start of the war in Ukraine\u00a0in 2022\u00a0led to loss of investor confidence in the vertical farming business model.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe struggled to attract the required capital that was necessary for us to reach economy of scale,\u201d he says.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
At least 15 European vertical farming companies went bankrupt by late 2023 and according to the 2025 AgFunder Global AgriFoodTech Investment Report, investment in novel farming systems (including vertical farms) fell by 53% in 2024 compared to the year before.<\/p>\n
In 2024,\u00a0Zahran\u00a0sold\u00a0his company to\u00a0GreenState, the biggest player in the vertical farming space in Europe and founded a\u00a0start-up\u00a0called GAYA Earth in 2025. The company sells cocoa powder blended with functional mushrooms that it pitches as a healthier alternative to coffee. All the founders of GAYA are on their second or third\u00a0start-up\u00a0run.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cCertain things you\u00a0can\u2019t\u00a0learn from a book, you need to experience them. And\u00a0that\u2019s\u00a0why\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0of\u00a0great value\u00a0if you can work with people who have already made their mistakes and gained insights and learnings,\u201d says Zahran.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
One\u00a0stumbling block\u00a0he\u00a0sees with many food\u00a0start-ups is that they focus only on the Swiss market. According to him, the Swiss market\u00a0of nine million consumers\u00a0is\u00a0very small, highly regulated and captive to the duopoly of the two major supermarkets who can dictate the terms of any partnership.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI think Swiss food\u00a0start-up\u00a0companies should have a global ambition from the beginning. If you look at successful Swiss\u00a0start-ups like Planted, they went international\u00a0rather quickly\u00a0and that allowed them to grow quicker,\u201d says Zahran.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Swiss firm Planted manufactures plant-based meat substitutes and has raised over CHF100 million since its founding in 2019.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Zahran\u00a0sees a bright future in emerging markets such as the Middle East and Far East where health consciousness is rising.\u00a0He also\u00a0sees\u00a0Swissness\u00a0as a competitive advantage in these new markets.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cConsumers there gravitate to Swiss brands because they trust the Swiss quality assurance.\u00a0That\u2019s\u00a0why Nestl\u00e9 was able to\u00a0establish\u00a0itself in China with\u00a0its\u00a0baby food,\u00a0and\u00a0we\u2019re\u00a0now able to stand on the shoulders of those giants,\u201d he says.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Branding first, product second\u00a0<\/p>\n
While some have come to the end of their food startup journey or embarked on a second innings, others are just starting their entrepreneurial journey.\u00a0\u00a0Belgian-Dutch\u00a0national Sien van Boven,\u00a0who is based in Lucerne,\u00a0has just launched\u00a0Lentl, a\u00a0start-up\u00a0that produces a lentil-based spread. She recently won CHF40,000 in\u00a0a\u00a0start-up\u00a0competition organised by the Lucerne Cantonal Bank. The newly\u00a0minted entrepreneur has decided to work on building a brand before having her product lineup ready to sell.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"Sien](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/SienPic.jpg\")
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Finding a partner who could produce the\u00a0lentil\u00a0spread she wanted was not as easy as van Boven thought it would be.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Sien van Boven <\/p>\n
\u201cBranding and design\u00a0are\u00a0everything. So even before I knew the product and business idea were\u00a0actually going\u00a0to work, I invested in the services of a professional design agency,\u201d says van Boven.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
She has moved on from producing lentil spreads in her\u00a0home\u00a0and now works with a professional kitchen. Finding a partner who could produce the\u00a0lentil\u00a0spread she wanted was not as easy as she thought.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u00a0can\u2019t\u00a0just find a production partner using Google,\u00a0because the ones you find on Google are usually big manufacturers and they might not really be interested in producing small batches for you. Sometimes you\u00a0actually need\u00a0to sell yourself to them, even though\u00a0you\u2019re\u00a0the client,\u201d she says.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Van Boven is aware of the risks of failure and is paying close attention to other companies and founders in the food\u00a0start-up\u00a0space.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt just keeps you awake.\u00a0I think you\u00a0always hope that\u00a0you\u2019re\u00a0not going to make the same mistakes. I guess that\u2019s just entrepreneurship\u00a0\u2013\u00a0taking a risk and being hopeful.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Edited by Virginie Mangin\/ts\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"About 2.5% of\u00a0foodtech\u00a0start-ups created\u00a0in Switzerland\u00a0in 2021 were liquidated by 2025. EPA\/HAYOUNG JEON Switzerland promotes itself as a global…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":462735,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[966,32672,28,215700,158],"class_list":{"0":"post-462734","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entrepreneurship","8":"tag-article","9":"tag-beat-agribusiness","10":"tag-business","11":"tag-connect-me","12":"tag-entrepreneurship"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462734","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=462734"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462734\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/462735"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=462734"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=462734"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=462734"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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