MassChallenge Switzerland 2024 Awards recognizes innovative Western Switzerland start-ups

The 2024 MassChallenge Switzerland Awards recognized four Swiss start-ups among its top winners, including EPFL spin-off Myriad Optics, which received the CHF 80,000 Platinum Award for its pathogen detection technology.

At the MassChallenge Switzerland 2024 Awards, held on 1 November 2004 in Lausanne, four Swiss start-ups were among the 12 winners celebrated for their innovative contributions across industries. The ceremony, part of MassChallenge’s global accelerator network, awarded CHF 400,000 in non-dilutive cash prizes to startups from the 2024 Early-Stage Startup Accelerator Program, recognizing solutions that promise to create significant societal value.

The evening’s Platinum Award of CHF 80,000 was granted to Myriad Optics, an EPFL spin-off specializing in bacterial pathogen identification. Designed to expedite testing for the food, pharmaceutical, and medtech sectors, Myriad Optics’ technology aims to improve public health, reduce waste, and optimize processes for companies reliant on accurate and rapid bacterial testing.

Three additional start-ups received Gold Awards of CHF 10,000 each:

• Adastra Sustainability (Geneva): Known for its advanced traceability data, Adastra builds detailed datasets on land conversion impacts, offering valuable insights for environmental monitoring.
• Riverkin (Zurich): Combining water quality data with earth observation and hydrological modeling, Riverkin supports effective water resource management. In addition to the Gold Award, Riverkin received the CHF 10,000 One Young World Award for its contributions to sustainable water management.
• SolidWatts (Vaud): This cleantech venture focuses on microwave dielectric heating, offering scalable, energy-efficient solutions for industrial processes.

The ceremony also featured the Louis Dreyfus Company (LDC) Climate Resilience Prize, awarded to EcoBean, a start-up that converts coffee waste into sustainable chemicals for industries such as food and cosmetics.

Swiss MassChallenge alumni SmartHelio, Planted and Bloom Biorenewables shared their experiences, illustrating the accelerator’s positive impact on Swiss start-ups. This year, the MassChallenge Switzerland program was highly rated, with 78% of start-ups scoring 9 or 10 out of 10.