Kickfund reaches 100 portfolio companies – in two years, with a tiny team
PRESS RELEASE: The Swiss deep-tech VC built one of the country’s broadest investment portfolios through a co-investment strategy.
BASEL, 5.3.2026 – Kickfund, a Swiss venture capital firm focused on early-stage deep tech, has crossed the 100-company mark – a milestone it reached in under two years, with a current team of three people. Kickfund now has the broadest deep-tech portfolio in Switzerland.
The milestone comes ahead of Kickfund’s inaugural portfolio day, where founders, investors, and collaborators from across the ecosystem will gather.
Community instead of hands-on direction
Kickfund’s approach is straightforward: it co-invests alongside lead investors, never takes board seats, and keeps its due diligence process deliberately light. Its pipeline consists entirely of Venture Kick third-stage winners – companies that have already passed through one of Switzerland’s most rigorous startup programs.
That combination – a pre-vetted pipeline, a co-investment strategy, and a small operational footprint – is what allowed the portfolio to grow so quickly. By not leading rounds, Kickfund can move into more companies without creating bottlenecks or taking on governance responsibilities it can’t sustain at this scale.
“We’re not trying to tell the founders how to run their companies,” said Wanja Humanes, CEO and Managing Partner of Kickfund. “We think the entrepreneurs in our portfolio learn more from each other than they would from us sitting on their boards. Our job is to make sure those connections actually happen.”
Kickfund organizes events and other opportunities for its portfolio founders. It also recently launched Deep Tech Jobs, a job board that aggregates open positions across the entire portfolio. Considering the size of the portfolio, the new platform is a great overview of job opportunities across the deep tech startup community.
Gateway to Swiss deep tech
The portfolio spans life sciences, cleantech, robotics, space, and much more. Such diversity is unusual; most deep-tech investors focus exclusively on either life sciences or other technology sectors. Kickfund companies have spun off universities across Switzerland, including ETH Zurich, EPFL, and cantonal institutions.
The result is a broad market exposure to Swiss deep tech, and Kickfund describes itself as “practically an index fund”. Its investors get a wide diversification across sectors, regions, and research origins, rather than a concentrated bet on a handful of companies.
ABOUT KICKFUND
Kickfund is a Swiss venture capital firm that invests in early-stage technology startups right after they graduate from the Venture Kick accelerator program. Thanks to its co-investment strategy, Kickfund has the largest and most diversified deep-tech portfolio in the country, which makes it practically an index fund. For startup founders, Kickfund is typically the first and the easiest VC they work with. The company launched its first fund, Kickfund Ventures Fund I, in 2024. The second fund is planned to start in 2027.
PRESS CONTACT
Angina Herrmann
Marketing Manager
angina@kickfund.ch
