MassChallenge Switzerland, 1,961 applied and no equity taken
1,961 startups applied. 189 got in. The accelerator took equity from none of them.
MassChallenge Switzerland handed out its 2026 awards last week at Beaulieu in Lausanne, in front of more than 500 guests. It belongs to a global network of zero-equity accelerators, and its Swiss and UK cohorts competed together.
The cohort came from 48 countries on four continents, with 49 startups from the Global South. 64% have a female co-founder.
The prizes are smaller than those numbers suggest. Ten winners share CHF 250,000 in equity-free cash, and a Gold prize is CHF 10,000. Some awards are paid in hours: 12 of legal work from Kellerhals Carrard, 8 of accounting from In Extenso.
Who won:
- N23 Health, Diamond Prize: a Swedish startup led by Zurich-based CEO Lisa Falco. A trained nurse can triage a breast lump with a handheld ultrasound, with no radiologist or internet connection.
- Flycatcher, Gold: AI that learns what normal looks like for containers, trucks and trains, and flags anomalies 310 times faster than a human inspector. Validated with SBB.
- Trilliome, Gold: patented ingredients that target the gut-brain network.
- DecodeNAture, One Young World Award of CHF 10,000: DNA identification in the field.
The track record, by its own count: 1,369 startups since 2016, CHF 4.2B raised and 94,800 jobs.
With no equity coming in, the bill goes elsewhere. MassChallenge Switzerland credits 21 corporate and government partners, who give both money and staff time.