Three Swiss start-ups that could take off in 2026

The enthusiasm for sustainability may have died down, but the theme continues to impact the economy. Almost all of the 77 Swiss executives recently surveyed by the consulting firm Deloitte are increasing their spending in this area.

While Deloitte has focused on established companies, this trend is also affecting new companies. According to the Greater Zurich Area marketing site, no other country has as many sustainable start-ups per capita as Switzerland. Almost every week, a new cleantech start-up would emerge in our country.

In the case of start-ups, it is normal that many only survive a few years. Here we present three sustainable start-ups that received significant grants in 2025 and are therefore starting the year on a good footing.

Traveling by train across Europe is an obstacle course: each country has its own train companies and ticketing systems. Result: crossing one or more borders not only becomes complicated, but often more expensive than a flight.

SimpleTrain, from Wallisellen (ZH), wants to change this. The start-up finds the cheapest international train trips, whether to Sweden, Albania or Morocco. To achieve this, she uses various tricks: for example, she compares a standard ticket with an Interrail pass or combines different tickets for shorter journeys.

2026 could be a big year for SimpleTrain: after initial funding from the Migros Pioneer Fund in 2020, the start-up received generous support from the Swiss Climate Foundation in 2025 and won the Zurich Prize for the Future. Shortly before the end of the year, public recognition followed: team member Saskia Bilang was included in the Forbes “30 under 30” list, which recognizes the most promising people in the business world. Of course, the team traveled there by train for the awards ceremony in Berlin.

Despite its successes, the team is aware of its limitations: unlike the train, flights are exempt from VAT and energy tax. Yet mobility is responsible for almost a third of all CO₂ emissions in Europe. Road traffic accounts for the lion’s share, followed by air and sea traffic. Rail transport remains by far the most sustainable.

Food production generates almost a third of greenhouse gas emissions in Europe. Unlike other sectors, these emissions are falling more slowly.

This is where the Zurich start-up Niatsu comes in. It provides the food industry with data that allows companies to measure their emissions and reduce them. Recently, the team has been using satellite data from the European Space Agency (ESA). Its platform can thus precisely analyze agricultural cultivation processes and transport routes.

Niatsu not only receives data from ESA, but also money: since 2025, the start-up has been part of the ESA BIC support program. It thus benefits from funding of up to 200,000 euros to develop and deploy its concept. Its customers already include Kündig, one of the major Swiss food producers.

In the meantime, Niatsu’s information is also of interest to amateur cooks: the founders have developed a tool that allows you to estimate the carbon footprint of a recipe. A prosciutto pizza for four people using a Betty Bossi recipe? 4.5 kilograms of CO2, the equivalent of 30 to 40 kilometers by car. How can you easily improve this record? By giving up ham, we drop to 2.9 kilograms of CO2.

Our need for data continues to grow, as does the number of computers needed to process it. According to the International Energy Agency, data center electricity consumption is expected to double by 2030 due to artificial intelligence.

Switzerland already has more than 100 computing centers, and their number continues to increase. They consume around 7% of the country’s electricity. According to a survey by Algorithmwatch Switzerland, this growing consumption concerns a large part of the population. Thermal Transformer addresses this problem. The start-up recovers waste heat from servers and computing centers to then cool the computers. The Swiss Climate Foundation recognized the potential of this innovation and included Thermal Transformer in its 2025 promotion cycle.