*zünder accelerator celebrates start-ups from Central Switzerland
Horw - The conclusion of the *zünder accelerator program 2025 was marked with the *zünder Startup Cruise. In total, six start-ups from Central Switzerland competed for the awards at an event on Lake Lucerne. Goldoak GmbH, UpGrid and Inveel emerged victorious, while HERA organics claimed the public award.
On September 26, the *zünder Startup Cruise was held on board MS Diamant on Lake Lucerne to mark the conclusion of this year’s *zünder accelerator program, which is the promotional program of the association ITZ (InnovationsTransfer Zentralschweiz - a network for innovation transfer in Central Switzerland). The main highlight of the event was the presentation of the *zünder award, which comes with prize money of 25,000 Swiss francs. The six finalists presented their product ideas during five-minute pitches in front of an expert jury and more than 250 guests.
This year’s winning company (banking a sum of 15,000 Swiss francs) is Goldoak GmbH from Emmenbrücke in the canton of Lucerne, which has developed an autonomous cybersecurity platform that detects and defends against attacks, thereby offering maximum security through simple onboarding processes and without the need for expert interventions. Second place (and 7,500 Swiss francs) went to the start-up UpGrid AG from Baar in the canton of Zug, which allows solar power providers and local households to directly trade electricity without involving large corporations. Barbara Horvath claimed third place (2,500 Swiss francs) with her company Inveel GmbH from Würenlingen in the canton of Aargau, which develops high-resolution, cost-effective printed electronics with the aim of increasing safety and sensitivity in robotics applications. The public award, which comes with prize money of 5,000 Swiss francs and is awarded on the basis of participant votes, went to HERA organics, which develops sustainable menstrual sponges as an environmentally friendly alternative to tampons and sanitary pads. HERA organics is the brainchild of NAVA GmbH from Küssnacht in the canton of Schwyz. Other finalists this year included the start-up Alpine Sauna GmbH from Arth, also in the canton of Schwyz, and smartNsales AG from Lucerne. The former is active in the manufacturing of lightweight, robust and mobile sauna tents, while the latter constitutes a digital marketplace with the aim of shaping the sales of tomorrow by leveraging efficient marketing approaches and data-based analytics.
In parallel with the award ceremony, the MS Diamant offered a total of 22 start-ups from Central Switzerland a platform in the shape of the Startup Networking Deck to present their concepts and engage with industry stakeholders, in so doing providing them with an opportunity to expand their networks.
20250926 Medienmitteilung-zünder-startup-Cruise-2025.pdfITZ InnovationsTransfer Zentralschweiz
