A look back to the year 2023

Looking back on 2023, it is fair to say that the past year in the venture capital industry went pretty much as most VCs and experts had imagined at the end of 2022: 

A significant decline in invested capital - especially in the growth stage (according to GP Bullhound, investors put 45% less money into European start-ups last year than in the previous year), a significant increase in insolvencies in the DACH region (according to Handelsblatt, 297 start-up companies had to file for insolvency in Germany alone), a further decline in company valuations and a very cautious M&A market (to put it mildly). Let's not even start with the geopolitical.

When we at EquityPitcher look back on our 2023, we can once again say that it was the most successful year in our company's history to date which fills us with enormous gratitude!

First of all, we must of course say that the past year was also very challenging for us and there was a lot to overcome. Some of our portfolio companies found it very difficult to achieve operational growth, others had a tough time with fundraising and there were also a few other issues that we would have liked to have seen differently.

But to summarize: even after the end of 2023 all 25 companies, with which we started the year are still doing well.

The only difference compared to previous years is that our portfolio was nevertheless reduced by 3 companies, such as Opinary, which was bought out completely, another exit was a secondary transaction as in the case of YukkaLab and finally, in the case of Viselio, a share buyback program was carried out.

What we clearly felt in 2023 was the reluctance of start-ups to go into fundraising - which was certainly due to the reasons mentioned above. The companies with a strong cap table and good growth usually received money from existing investors for interim financing. This is also the reason why we are only investing in 3 new start-ups in 2023, namely Wingtra, Sewts and Threedy.

We therefore ended 2023 with 25 portfolio companies.

A few key figures are enough to show the very positive development of our portfolio companies for 2023 despite all the adversity:

20 of our portfolio companies have achieved 2-digit growth! Taking into account that 18 of the companies generated 7-digit sales, 3 of which realized more than CHF 10 million, this clearly shows that the portfolio has performed above average even in this extremely challenging year 2023. In terms of the portfolio as a whole, there was average sales growth of over 70%.

In total, over CHF 80 million was invested in our current portfolio companies in 2023, bringing the total amount invested to around CHF 250 million!

In addition to various CLAs and equity rounds from existing investors as bridge financing, the equity financing rounds from Anybotics with USD 50 million in fresh capital, Wingtra with CHF 20 million, Sewts with EUR 7 million, Rready with CHF 4 million, Sinpex with EUR 4 million and AirConsole with CHF 3 million in fresh capital played a major role.

In 2023, the circle of our international co-investors expanded in particular. With Bessemer Venture, Walden Catalyst, NGP Capital and Aramco, it is clear that our start-ups are on the right track and are also attracting interest beyond the borders of the DACH region.

Of course, we also welcomed great local co-investors such as Emerald Ventures, Swiss Canto & TX Ventures.

Together with these great investors, our current portfolio companies have managed to grow to the remarkable number of more than 1,000 employees!

When you consider that the Federal Republic of Germany is investing 10 billion euros in an Intel site in Saxony-Anhalt to create 3,000 jobs there, then you can say with a clear conscience that our start-ups have a significantly better ratio of invested capital to jobs created. To all DACH politicians reading this: Perhaps start-ups should be supported much more than they have been in the past in order to keep the DACH region internationally competitive in the future! But that's another topic...

So let's get back to the good old traditions: Once again this year, we would like to name our startups and entrepreneurs who have received special awards and express our appreciation:  

🏆 ANYbotics  is honoured with the "Next Hot Global Thing" award.

🏆 CNC24 has won the German Excellence Award 2023 in the "Digital Champions - Startups" category. 

🏆 xorlab  was recognised as a best-in-class cybersecurity solution in the Swiss Cyber Institute's latest manufacturer report.

🏆 Congratulations to Sandra Tobler und Futurae Technologies AG  for the nomination as the most promising women-led startup in 2023. 

🏆  ROOMZ  impresses UNESCO with its environmentally friendly products

🏆 Calingo Insurance AG won  Top 100 Fintech Award, 

🏆 ANYbotics.won the Top 100 Robotics Award 

🏆 CNC24 received Wirtschafts Woche "Startup of the Week"

🏆 Calingo Insurance AG was awarded InsurTech of the Year in the "Impact on the Swiss market" category. 

🏆 Sinpex won second #fintechgermanyaward2022 in the category Early Stage! 

Honour to whom honour is due and we are really proud to be part of your journey!  

EquityPitcher itself also had a lot going for it in 2023: 

We want to start with congratulations to our Managing Partnerin Andrea Buhofer for Forbes 30 under 30 zu gratulieren! Es hätte niemand Besseres ausgezeichnet werden können! 

We are equally proud of the fact that, despite all the adversities, particularly in terms of raising capital, launch our third fund in July 23! This enables us to continue to invest in the most promising start-ups in the usual manner.  

In 2023, our events aimed at connecting our network were once again a complete success: 

Besonders gefreut haben uns die zwei ausserordentlich spannenden und gut besuchten LP-Events with ANYbotics. im März und bei Wingtra im November.

This year, we launched a new series of events with our Advisors - the first EquityPitcher Buureolympiade took place in October and, according to our advisors, was a real success/fun. 

Das jährliche Come Together in Verbindung mit unserem Portfolio Exchange Day waren auch in 2023 wieder ein voller Erfolg. Den Tag durch durften unsere Startup Unternehmer von keinem geringeren als Roy Ranaani von chorus.ai in einem Workshop von dessen Erfahrungen zum Skalieren eines 500 Millionen Unternehmens profitieren. 

Am Abend ging es dann für die +150 Teilnehmer bei wunderschönem Wetter und mit einer tollen Keynote von Prof. Glauner zum Thema AI weiter. Wobei auch hier die Zeit nach dem offiziellen Teil das Besondere ausmacht – nämlich dann, wenn unser wunderbares Netzwerk mit diesen herausragenden Menschen zusammenkommt und einfach den Moment geniesst!  

We would also like to take this opportunity to thank you, dear investors, partners, advisors and start-ups, because without your support, none of what we are able to achieve year after year would be possible!  

We would also like to take this opportunity to introduce our new Senior Analyst Marco Marugg who started with us in August!  

To conclude, we would like to make a small Outlook for 2024 dare: 

This year, we will remain true to our principles and - no matter how adverse the circumstances may be - continue to work seriously, honestly and professionally towards our goals and try to make the world a little bit better together with and through our start-ups - and hope and believe that 2024 will be a more peaceful year than 2023 and that the general macroeconomic trend will continue to improve.   

Unsere Pipeline an neuen Startups ist jedenfalls prall gefüllt. 5 bestehende Portfolio Unternehmen planen noch in 2024 ihre Finanzierungsrunde zu schliessen und 2 Unternehmen befinden sich in finalen Exit-Verhandlungen.  

With this in mind, we are very positive and looking forward to what is to come!