Solothurn, June 18, 2025 – At this year’s Award Ceremony on June 18, the finalists were met with a major surprise: instead of the usual five, six startups were given a W.A. de Vigier Award, each endowed with CHF 120,000. In addition, all remaining four finalists were granted a Recognition Prize of CHF 20,000. The total sum of prize money amounts to CHF 800,000.

“We were deeply impressed by the quality of this year’s Top 10. The differences between the finalists were minimal – in the end, it often comes down to the people behind the projects. Their commitment to responsible entrepreneurship gives us confidence that they will successfully bring their ideas to life,” says Hanna Byland, CEO of the W.A. de Vigier Foundation.

This year’s competition began with over 200 submitted projects. In February, the jury selected the
Top 15, whose CEOs were invited for interviews and presentations. From there, the Foundation Board chose the ten final nominees. On June 18, six of them received a W.A. de Vigier Award worth
CHF 120,000 each, while the remaining four received CHF 20,000 in recognition of their achievements.

Thanks to the generous support of funding partner FERS and an additional sixth prize by the
W.A. de Vigier Foundation, the total prize money increased from CHF 500,000 to CHF 800,000 – a significant step forward in supporting young Swiss entrepreneurs. The FERS Foundation is dedicated to initiatives that promote entrepreneurship. In fact, it was FERS who made a sixth award possible last year with a contribution of CHF 100,000.

“For everyone involved, it quickly became clear: when two foundations share the same values, there’s no need to work in parallel. Instead, we can join forces — in this case, for the benefit of Switzerland’s entrepreneurs,” says Hanna Byland, reflecting on the partnership.

This year, FERS doubled its contribution to CHF 200,000, making it possible for all ten nominees to receive a share of the additional funding, distributed equally among them.

These are the six winning CEOs and their companies (in alphabetical order)

Emmanuel Akpakwu | CEO Axmed AG
ACCESS TO MEDICINES FOR ALL
Axmed is a B2B medicines marketplace transforming healthcare access for underserved communities worldwide. By consolidating demand across public, private, and third sectors, the platform enables bulk purchasing, reducing costs and improving supply chain efficiency. It connects pre-approved manufacturers with buyers, ensuring access to high-quality medicines at competitive prices. Through strategic partnerships with governments, NGOs, and logistics providers, Axmed streamlines procurement and distribution.

Julie Böhning | CEO PAVE Space SA
IMPROVING SPACE MOBILITY AND LOGISTICS
This startup addresses the growing challenge of sustainable space operations by providing efficient orbital logistics solutions. With more satellites aging in orbit and increasing space debris, PAVE’s Satellite Life Extension (LEX) service will extend the lifespan of satellites by offering refueling, repositioning, and maintenance – reducing waste and replacement costs. To prepare for this, PAVE is launching an in-orbit demonstration in 2027, entering the Space Situational Awareness (SSA) market to track satellites and debris.

Estelle Clerc | CEO CellX Biosolutions AG
USING BACTERIA AS MASTER RECYCLERS
Chemical waste is mostly treated by burning or filtering, which is expensive, inefficient, and releases harmful CO₂. This startup offers a natural alternative by using special bacteria that break down toxic chemicals like PFAS, pesticides, and pharmaceuticals. Developed at ETH Zurich, their technology finds and captures the best bacteria for the task, turning them into eco-friendly products that safely remove pollution. Starting in 2025, they will launch pilot projects with industry partners to make chemical waste treatment more sustainable and affordable.

Edwige Guinet | CEO Visienco AG
AI-POWERED ORGANOID HANDLING
Traditional drug testing is slow, expensive, and unreliable, with 90% of animal-tested drugs failing in humans. Organoids—miniature lab-grown human organs—offer a better alternative, but their use is limited by manual, inconsistent workflows. Visienco solves this with Orgadroid, an AI-powered benchtop device that automates organoid sorting with precision and scalability. Developed at CSEM, this technology ensures high-quality organoids, accelerating drug discovery, diagnostics, and personalized medicine—while reducing the need for animal testing.

Freddy Hunziker | CEO New Roots AG
VEGAN DAIRY MADE IN SWITZERLAND
Milk production has a major environmental impact. New Roots offers a sustainable alternative by replacing cow’s milk with lupins—protein-rich legumes that naturally enrich the soil and grow efficiently. Using natural biotechnology, lupin milk is produced and can be processed in existing cheese dairies without additional investment. The cheese is traditionally fermented and aged but with 80% lower CO₂ emissions and 6,000 times less water consumption. This innovative approach provides an ethical, healthy, and eco-friendly solution for cheese production.

Matthew Lapinski | CEO Clee Medical SA
ADVANCING PRECISION AND EFFICIENCY IN NEUROSURGICAL TOOLS
Clee Medical is transforming brain surgery with an advanced platform that combines ultra-high-resolution real-time imaging, AI-based navigation, and machine learning. This technology allows surgeons to operate with extreme precision, reducing risks and improving patient outcomes. By offering better visualization of complex brain structures, it enables safer, more effective treatments for neurological conditions. The system also lowers healthcare costs, speeds up recovery, and expands access to life-saving therapies.

About the W.A. de Vigier Awards

The W.A. de Vigier Award is the oldest award for young entrepreneurs in Switzerland and also one of the most highly endowed Swiss startup prizes. Over the past 36 years, the foundation has distributed almost CHF 15 million of seed money. The results are over 100 flourishing startups, successful IPOs, multiple company exits and above all, many newly created jobs.

The following aspects are relevant for the evaluation of the projects: The entrepreneurial personality, the degree of innovation, the value for society as a whole, the technical and financial viability, market prospects and the potential for job creation.