Seven companies and two businesswomen nominated for Central Switzerland Start-Up Prize
Lucerne - The Albert Koechlin Foundation has announced the finalists for the Central Switzerland Start-Up Prize 2025. Nine nominees in the three categories of Early Phase, Female Founders and Growth Phase have been invited to the award ceremony on November 4.
Following a pre-selection and live pitches in September 2025, the expert jury of the Central Switzerland Start-Up Prize has selected seven young companies for the final of this year’s award. In addition, two businesswomen have been nominated in the Female Founders category. The awards ceremony will take place on November 4 at the Viscose Event Hall in Emmenbrücke in the canton of Lucerne, Switzerland. All nominees have now been announced by the Albert Koechlin Foundation, which is the body responsible for awarding the prizes.
In total, four start-ups founded between 2022 and 2024 have been nominated in the Early Phase award category: Arrhenius from Horw in the canton of Lucerne and Mycostrat based in Emmenbrücke in the canton of Lucerne, in addition to Raptrac from Seedorf in the canton of Uri and Unit Records from Willisau in the canton of Lucerne. All of these companies will benefit from prize money of 30,000 Swiss francs and individual coaching worth 5,000 Swiss francs.
The main award, which comes with prize money of 100,000 Swiss francs, will be awarded to a start-up from the Growth Phase category at the gala event. In this category, three companies founded between 2020 and 2022 were nominated, namely Adventurly from Stans in den canton of Nidwalden, Evolut Bau based in Ebikon in the canton of Lucerne and Moodtalk from Attinghausen in the canton of Uri. Sums of 50,000 Swiss francs are reserved for the two other companies, in addition to the main prize. Once again, all three nominees will benefit from individual coaching valued at 5,000 Swiss francs.
In the Female Founders award category, two businesswomen are up for the prize: Cornelia Bamert from Nettle Circle, which is based in Oberkirch in the canton of Lucerne, and Karina von dem Berge of Arrhenius, which has also been nominated in the Early Phase award category.
«Our foundation stands up for people in our community», as Managing Director Marianne Schnarwiler states in explaining the commitment of the Albert Koechlin Foundation to the local economy. «A healthy economy with competitive companies and attractive jobs contributes to the prosperity of the people in our region. I’m impressed by the imagination shown by the nominated start-ups in how they work to find solutions for the future of our society», she adds.
