Most Swiss founders dream of an initial public offering (IPO). The vision is clear: Ring the bell at the New York Stock Exchange or list on the SIX Swiss Exchange. Your company’s name appears in financial news. Early employees become millionaires. It’s the final stamp of approval.
Here’s what the data shows. In 2020, Swiss startups completed 17 acquisitions and just 2 IPOs[1]. By 2021, the number of exits reached a record high. But M&A still led the way. It made up over 90% of all exits[2]. Then the market shifted. After the 2021 peak, exit volumes fell sharply in 2023. In 2024 there were 41 Swiss startup exits, all through M&A[3]. This pattern holds across Europe and the United States. Most venture-backed companies exit through acquisition, not public listing.
IPOs aren’t impossible. Swiss companies like On AG raised $746 million in a 2021 NYSE listing[4]. BioVersys went public on the SIX Swiss Exchange in February 2025. The company hit a market cap of roughly CHF 216 million[5]. These wins are real. They’re just not the most common result.
For founders planning ahead and investors setting goals, knowing all exit paths matters. This article breaks down how buyouts work. It explains what IPOs require. And it covers what other options exist in the Swiss market.
Why Exit Plans Matter for Both Sides
Founders and investors start with different timelines. Most venture capital investors want an exit within 5 to 10 years[6]. Their fund structure requires it. They raised money from their own investors. Those investors expect returns on a schedule.
Founders often think longer term. You built this company. You hired the team. The product carries your vision. Selling too early might mean leaving money on the table. Waiting too long might mean missing the right buyer.
These different views create tension. In 2022, the Swiss company beqom pursued a $300 million investment from Sumeru Equity Partners[7]. One key reason? A promise made to a past investor, Goldman Sachs, to create a good exit scene. Investor pressure is real. It shapes decisions.
For investors, knowing exit facts helps set portfolio goals. If you invest in 10 startups, most will exit through a buyout. A few might fail fully. One might hit an IPO. Planning for this split matters.
For founders, exit planning should start early. Clean cap tables help. Clear IP ownership helps. Strong financial systems help. The Swiss startup that prepares for exit from year one will have more options in year seven.
The Main Path: Strategic Buyouts
When a Swiss startup exits, it usually gets bought. The data is clear. Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) make up practically all Swiss startup exits[2].
Why do buyouts lead? Speed and certainty. An IPO takes months of prep, rule approval, and market timing. A buyout can close in six months to a year[8][9]. The result is more sure.
Who Buys Swiss Startups?
Major global companies often buy Swiss innovation. The list of buyers for TOP 100 Swiss Startups includes Apple, Intel, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, Qualcomm, Sony, and Boehringer Ingelheim[4].
Why do foreign companies buy Swiss startups? Three main reasons stand out.
Tech and patents: Switzerland has a high share of deeptech companies. The country makes more patents per person than most nations[10]. Foreign buyers want this IP.
Talent and skills: Swiss schools like ETH Zurich and EPFL train highly skilled engineers and scientists. Buying a Swiss startup often means buying an entire expert team[10].
Quality and proof: A Swiss company that survived years of work, got funding, and built a product has proven something. The quality bar is high. This proof matters to buyers.
Recent Swiss Buyout Examples
BETA CAE Systems International AG was bought by Cadence, a California software group, for over $1.2 billion[11]. This Swiss-Greek company focused on engineering software. The buyout shows how large US tech firms value Swiss-related high-tech skills.
Ava AG, a Zurich-based medtech company focused on women’s health, was bought by FemTec Health in July 2022[4]. Founded in 2014, Ava had been a steady TOP 100 Swiss Startup. This deal is typical of how set health companies buy Swiss innovators.
The strategic reason varies by sector. Pharma companies buy Swiss biotech firms for their drug pipelines. Tech giants buy Swiss AI companies for their code and talent. Industrial firms buy Swiss engineering startups for their making innovations.
The Founder View on M&A
For founders, a buyout brings both relief and loss. Relief because years of intense work reach an end. Your investors get returns. Your employees get payouts. The company will scale faster with the buyer’s resources.
Loss because you lose control. The buyer makes decisions now. They might change the product path. They might move the team. They might shut down features you loved.
Buyout talks get complex. Beyond the headline price, deal structure matters. Will you get cash, stock in the buying company, or both? Are there earnouts tied to future results? Must you stay for two or three years after the sale? These terms shape what the exit truly means for you.
The Investor View on M&A
For investors, buyouts offer faster cash than IPOs. Say you put in CHF 2 million at a CHF 10 million value. You own 20% of the company. A buyout for CHF 50 million means your shares are worth CHF 10 million. That’s a 5x return.
But buyout timing matters. Sell too early and you leave growth on the table. Wait too long and market terms might worsen. The ideal buyout happens when the company has strong traction but hasn’t yet peaked.
Investors often push for a buyout when they see risk building. Competitors might be catching up. The market might be shifting. The founding team might be tired. Selling now might be smarter than holding for an unclear future.
The Dream Path: Going Public
An IPO turns a private company into a public one. Shares trade on an exchange. Anyone can buy them. The company gains access to public capital markets.
Swiss startups can list on the SIX Swiss Exchange at home. Or they can pursue global exchanges like the NYSE or NASDAQ. Each path has different rules and perks.
SIX Swiss Exchange Rules
To list on the SIX Swiss Exchange, companies must meet specific marks[12][13][14].
Minimum equity capital: CHF 25 million in reported equity as of the first trading day.
Minimum free float value: CHF 25 million worth of shares must be held by the public.
Minimum free float share: At least 20% of listed shares must be in public hands.
These rules ensure that enough shares trade publicly to create a real market. Companies must also provide financial reports that follow IFRS or US GAAP standards[14]. A formal document must be prepared and approved by a licensed review body.
Swiss issuers face added governance rules. The Ordinance against Excessive Pay (OAEC) requires mandatory shareholder votes on board and executive pay from day one of listing[15]. This reflects Switzerland’s strict “say on pay” approach.
Timeline: A typical IPO on the SIX Swiss Exchange takes four to six months[14]. This includes two to three months for document prep. It also includes about five weeks for formal approval.
Recent Swiss IPO Examples
On AG completed the largest recent Swiss startup IPO. The running shoe company raised $746 million on the NYSE in September 2021[4]. On AG had been a TOP 100 Swiss Startup in 2014 and 2015. The company chose a US listing to access larger pools of capital. It also wanted global visibility.
BioVersys, a Basel-based biotech company, went public on the SIX Swiss Exchange in February 2025[5]. The IPO led to a market cap of roughly CHF 216 million based on the opening price. The domestic Swiss exchange remains a viable path for deeptech companies.
ONWARD Medical also pursued an IPO path[4]. Swiss medtech companies can access public markets when they reach enough scale.
Why IPOs Are Less Common
IPOs sound great. So why do so few Swiss startup exits happen this way[1][2]?
Cost and work: Going public requires lots of legal work. You need accounting audits. You need rule filings. You need advisory fees. These costs run into millions of francs.
Ongoing duties: Public companies must report quarterly earnings. They face shareholder lawsuits. They answer to public market scrutiny. Management spends lots of time on investor relations.
Market timing risk: IPO windows open and close based on market terms. If markets crash before your IPO, you might wait years for terms to improve.
Size needs: Most Swiss startups simply aren’t large enough to justify an IPO. Say your company is worth CHF 30-50 million. A buyout makes more sense than bearing IPO costs.
The Founder View on IPOs
For founders, an IPO keeps control and legacy. You remain CEO. The company keeps its name and culture. The team stays together. You can continue building toward a long-term vision.
But public markets create new pressures. Miss a quarterly earnings target and your stock drops. Activist investors might demand strategy changes. The focus shifts from long-term innovation to quarterly results.
IPO prep is intense. You’ll spend months with lawyers and accountants. You’ll conduct roadshows, meeting with potential investors. You’ll submit to rule review. Many founders find this process tiring.
The Investor View on IPOs
For early investors, an IPO creates cash options but not instant exits. Most IPOs include lock-up periods lasting 90 to 180 days. During this time, early investors cannot sell shares[16].
After the lock-up ends, investors must sell carefully. Dumping large blocks of shares can crash the stock price. They typically sell over months or years.
IPOs can create excellent returns. Say you put money in at a CHF 10 million value. The company IPOs at a CHF 500 million value. Your stake grew 50x. But this result is rare.
Other Exit Paths Worth Knowing
Beyond buyouts and IPOs, other exit options exist. These paths are less common in Switzerland. But they’re worth knowing.
Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs)
SPACs offer a faster route to public markets. A SPAC is a company that raises money through an IPO first, then it buys a private company second. The bought company goes public when the deal happens.
Energy Vault, a Swiss energy storage company, merged with Novus Capital II, a US-based SPAC[4]. The combined company began trading on the NYSE under ticker NRGV. The deal closed after Energy Vault completed a Series C financing round. The company also validated its tech at commercial scale.
SPACs peaked in popularity in 2021. Since then, the trend has cooled globally. The SIX Swiss Exchange allowed SPAC listings starting in November 2021[17]. But the market hasn’t seen much activity since the initial boom.
For founders, SPACs offer faster public market access than standard IPOs. For investors, they provide earlier cash. But SPAC deals often involve complex talks. Rule scrutiny has also increased.
Secondary Sales and Partial Cash
Some founders and early employees sell shares to new investors before a final exit. This is called a secondary sale. The company doesn’t raise new capital. Instead, current shareholders sell their personal stakes.
Secondary markets remain rather underdeveloped in the Swiss system[18]. Investors want early cash before a final exit. But finding buyers for private shares is hard. Prices are unclear. Legal limits often restrict who can buy.
Management Buyouts and Money Restructuring
In a management buyout (MBO), the company’s leadership team buys out current investors. This path works best for profitable companies making steady cash flow.
MBOs are rare for venture-backed startups. Venture investors typically want bigger returns than an MBO can provide. But for self-funded companies or those with modest growth, an MBO can give founders full control.
Money restructuring involves reshaping the company’s ownership. New investors might buy out old ones. Debt might replace equity. These complex deals solve specific problems. But they aren’t common exit plans.
Cross-Border Dynamics in Swiss Exits
Switzerland’s startup market is deeply global. About 85% of Swiss deeptech funding comes from foreign sources[10]. Global venture capital firms invest heavily in Swiss innovation. This creates a natural pipeline for cross-border buyouts.
When foreign VCs fund Swiss startups, they often connect those startups to potential buyers in their networks. A US-based VC firm putting money in a Swiss AI company will know which Silicon Valley tech giants might want that tech.
Swiss SMEs have also become more active as buyers. In 2023, Swiss SMEs completed a record 76 outbound M&A deals[19]. They took advantage of the strong Swiss franc. While this trend applies to SMEs broadly, not just startups, it shows Swiss companies are more and more acting as buyers on the global stage.
The strategic reason for foreign buyouts centers on three factors. First, tech and patents. Second, talent and skills. Third, the proof that comes from building a company in Switzerland’s tough system[10].
The Reality of Failed Exits
Not every startup reaches a good exit. Some companies simply shut down.
In 2023, 206 Swiss startups from the Startupticker database were shut down[20], more than double the number (88) that stopped operating in 2022.
The situation was worse for venture-backed companies. In 2023, 73 startups that had previously secured funding were shut down[20], nearly four times the 19 shutdowns in 2022.
Why do startups fail before reaching an exit? Product-market fit never shows up. Funding runs out. Rivals win. The market shifts. Technical challenges prove too much. Founding teams break apart.
One important detail: while general statistics suggest half of all new companies fail within five years, truly innovative startups have much lower failure rates[10]. A Swiss startup with strong tech, academic backing, and early traction has better chances than a general small business sign-up.
For investors, these failure rates explain why portfolio spread matters. Say you invest in 10 startups. Three fail fully. Six exit via modest buyouts. One hits a strong exit. Your portfolio can still do well. The winners must make up for the losses.
For founders, knowing failure risk means building strength. Keep a long runway. Hit milestones that unlock more funding. Build ties with multiple potential buyers. Keep options open.
How Long Does an Exit Really Take?
Founders often guess exit timelines too short. Data from the Swiss Startup Radar shows the average time from founding to exit is about 10 years[21].
This is longer than most founders expect at the start. When you’re raising your seed round, a decade seems impossibly far away. But building a company that’s attractive to buyers or ready for public markets takes time.
The life sciences sector tends toward even longer timelines. Biotech companies need years for clinical trials. Rule approval processes extend the journey. A biotech startup might take 12-15 years from founding to exit.
Software and fintech companies can move faster. If you hit strong product-market fit and rapid revenue growth, you might exit in 5-7 years. But this is still longer than the 3-4 years many first-time founders imagine.
For investors, the 10-year average shapes portfolio strategy. If you’re putting money from a 10-year fund, companies you back in year 1 might exit just as your fund is closing. Later investments might not exit before your fund’s term ends.
Knowing these timelines helps set real goals. An exit in year 5 is fast. An exit in year 10 is typical. An exit in year 15 might happen (and test everyone’s patience in the meantime).
Exit Prep: What Truly Matters
Whether you’re planning for a buyout or IPO, certain prep steps increase your chances of success.
Clean cap table: Buyers and IPO underwriters examine your ownership structure carefully. A cap table with dozens of small investors creates problems. Unclear ownership shares create problems. Unsolved disputes create problems. Keep your cap table simple and well-tracked from day one.
Clear IP ownership: Every patent, trademark, and piece of tech must clearly belong to the company. Founders sometimes keep personal ownership of IP. University spin-offs sometimes face unclear licensing terms. Solve these issues early.
Strong financial systems: Buyers will conduct financial due diligence. They want to see clean books. They want clear revenue counting. They want audited statements. IPOs require IFRS or US GAAP compliance[14]. Build proper accounting systems before you need them.
Customer spread: Say one customer makes up 80% of your revenue. Buyers see risk. What happens if that customer leaves? Spreading your customer base makes the company more attractive and valuable.
Multiple potential paths: Don’t fixate on one exit path too early. A founder who only wants an IPO might reject good buyout offers. An investor who only expects a buyout might miss IPO potential. Keep options open as long as possible.
Takeaways for Swiss Founders and Investors
Switzerland’s startup system provides multiple paths to cash. But those paths often look different than founders often expect at the beginning.
If you’re a founder, plan for a 10-year journey. Build ties with potential buyers in your sector. Know that your exit will most likely be through a buyout, not an IPO. Prepare your company for this most likely result. But leave room for other options.
If you’re an investor, set portfolio goals primarily around M&A. Look for startups with clear buyout potential. Judge founding teams on their ability to execute over a decade-long timeline. Know that most returns come from a few big winners, not steady gains across all investments.
The data shows M&A will remain the primary exit path. But Swiss companies like On AG, BioVersys, and ONWARD Medical prove IPOs can work for companies that reach enough scale. Other paths like SPACs offer options for specific situations.
At CapiWell, we connect Swiss investors with growth-stage startups that have moved beyond early proof-of-concept. These companies are building toward the exit paths described in this article. Whether you’re a founder preparing for a future acquisition or IPO, or an investor looking to enter at a stage where exit timelines are clearer, understanding where the journey leads shapes how you plan for it. The Swiss ecosystem offers strong fundamentals. Multiple paths to liquidity exist. Success requires realistic planning and patient execution over years, not months.
References
[1] Startup.ch, “Swiss Exits and IPOs in 2020”
[2] Startup-Exit.ch, “Rekord an Exits in der Schweiz im Jahr 2021”
[3] Greater Geneva Bern Area, “Swiss Start-ups Secure CHF 2.4 Billion in 2024 Amid Shifting Investment Trends”
[4] TOP 100 Startups, “Exits & IPOs of TOP 100 Swiss Startups since 2021”
[5] SIX Group, “Going public with the Swiss Stock Exchange”
[6] Startupxplore, “What are the best exit strategies for startups and investors?”
[7] Swisspreneur Podcast
[8] OneAdvanced, “How long does the M&A process take?”
[9] Baker McKenzie Resource Hub, “Listing documentation and process | SIX Swiss Exchange”
[10] startupticker.ch, “How the Swiss start-up ecosystem is performing in the current financing crisis”
[11] startupticker.ch, “CHF 2.4 billion for Swiss start-ups”
[12] Lexology, “In review: governing rules for IPOs in Switzerland”
[13] Baker McKenzie Resource Hub, “Listing documentation and process | SIX Swiss Exchange”
[14] Baker McKenzie Resource Hub, “Quick Summary | SIX Swiss Exchange | Cross-Border Listings Guide”
[15] Lexology, “In brief: IPO governance in Switzerland”
[16] startupticker.ch, “Number of startup liquidations on the rise”
[17] Global Legal Insights, “Initial Public Offerings Laws & Regulations | Switzerland”
[18] SICTIC, “Secondary markets & Shareholder Pooling – Entrepreneur Survey”
[19] Deloitte, “Sharp decline in M&A activity, while Swiss SMEs acquire a record number of foreign companies”
[20] startupticker.ch, “Number of startup liquidations on the rise”
[21] Fintech News Switzerland, “Startup Exits on the Rise in Switzerland: Study”
Exit Prep: What Truly Matters
Whether you’re planning for a buyout or IPO, certain prep steps increase your chances of success.
Clean cap table. Buyers and IPO underwriters examine your ownership structure carefully. A cap table with dozens of small investors creates problems. Unclear ownership shares create problems. Unsolved disputes create problems. Keep your cap table simple and well-tracked from day one.
Clear IP ownership. Every patent, trademark, and piece of tech must clearly belong to the company. Founders sometimes keep personal ownership of IP. University spin-offs sometimes face unclear licensing terms. Solve these issues early.
Strong financial systems. Buyers will conduct financial due diligence. They want to see clean books. They want clear revenue counting. They want audited statements. IPOs require IFRS or US GAAP compliance[14]. Build proper accounting systems before you need them.
Customer spread. Say one customer makes up 80% of your revenue. Buyers see risk. What happens if that customer leaves? Spreading your customer base makes the company more attractive and valuable.
Multiple potential paths. Don’t fixate on one exit path too early. A founder who only wants an IPO might reject good buyout offers. An investor who only expects a buyout might miss IPO potential. Keep options open as long as possible.
