How we support start-ups

It's not enough just to have a brilliant idea. For a start-up to really take off, it also needs contacts, technological expertise and funding – and a reliable coach like Swisscom Ventures.

Every year, 40,000 companies are formed in Switzerland. We look for the gems among them. Curiosity is an important element in this treasure hunt. And openness to bold new ideas. Ultimately, our aim is to foster implementation of the best ideas from the very outset. Which is why Swisscom Ventures is collaborating with the technology parks of Swiss universities such as the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich and EPFL in Lausanne. We also maintain international ties, for example, with Silicon Valley. Since 2007, we have supported more than 35 start-ups specialising in IT, digital media and telecommunications.

Example: LiberoVision

One start-up that Swisscom Ventures has partnered for five years is LiberoVision. Two Swiss computer engineers have created a software application that has become indispensable in sports broadcasting.

Magic eye on the pitch

Discover-Eye, the application developed by LiberoVision, turns television images into virtual 3D images that are indistinguishable from real ones. Computer-generated cameras show the action from every possible angle, virtually in real-time, making it possible to review controversial decisions and analyse match scenarios in detail.

Kick-start from Swisscom

When the computer engineers Stephan Würmlin and Christoph Niederberger designed their prototype in 2006, they never thought everything would happen so quickly. But their idea won prizes at competitions and found investors as a result. In particular Swisscom, which supported the start-up with funding and its network.

No longer a start-up

Six years later, fewer than ten seconds are needed to process the linesman's perspective in an offside situation, and less than a minute for more complex match analysis. Today, LiberoVision is called Viz Libero and is used to analyse football, American football, basketball, ice hockey, baseball and rugby, with 24 employees in the Zurich Technology Park. Customers include the biggest TV stations in the world such as FOX, ESPN, ZDF, Globo and others. Swisscom phased out support when the international media company, Vizrt, took over the start-up in 2011 and has since then expedited the global rollout. The founders, Stephan Würmlin and Christoph Niederberger, are part of the executive management and are responsible for the Vizrt sports department.

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