KICK PROGRAM

The new initiative Idea Kick builds a bridge between entrepreneurial initiatives at school like Schweizer Jugend forscht, Young Enterprise Switzerland (YES), EntrepreneurSkills, libs Unternehmerhaus, Youngpreneurs and follow up programs. It offers support for young people aiming to turn their ideas into entrepreneurial practice. The modular program includes different elements such as funding, team building, coaching and access to the entrepreneurship community. Young talents who enter the world of entrepreneurship via Idea Kick are introduced to further initiatives such as Talent Kick, First Ventures and Venture Kick which allow them to seamlessly continue developing their ideas throughout their studies.

If you have any questions or would like to submit a project idea, please contact idee@grstiftung.notexisting@nodomain.comch.

Project Submission: If your project idea meets the criteria of Idea Kick program, please use the following form for an application.

Support agreement: After the funding decision, the support is agreed in a concise funding contract (german or english).

Idea Kick Presentation
Idea Kick Präsentation

Talent Kick is a highly selective, cross-university program, lasting 1-4 semesters, that helps university students find an interdisciplinary co-founder team and combine their studies with an entrepreneurial journey.

The 1st semester is designed around bootcamps, events, workshops and coaching which enable students to form a stable team and a strong bond with their co-founders and develop leadership skills. The most successful students will get initial funding within the Spark Kick support program and move to semester 2–4 where the goal is to build a network as well as get valuable input from experienced entrepreneurs, executives, potential customers, investors and experts to validate ideas hands-on. At the end of the program, the university students will have laid a stable foundation to confidently decide for an entrepreneurial career path after their studies and to become an emerging entrepreneur in Switzerland and beyond.

Venture Kick was launched in 2007 by Gebert Rüf Stiftung and Ernst Göhner Stiftung as a privately financed pre-seed fund. Today, the initiative is supported by 10 private partners, foundations, individuals and companies who all share the same vision: Supporting the next generation of successful entrepreneurs for the prosperity of the Swiss economy and society.

Venture Kick closes a key gap in the innovation chain: turning research work into promising business ideas. The pre-seed fund not only funds the first steps of people with ideas, but also develops their entrepreneurial skills. A three-step process leads to a spin-off with a solid business plan for the economic implementation of the innovation. Business ideas are accepted on an ongoing basis via the platform www.venturekick.ch.

Gebert Rüf Stiftung supports the program Venture Kick financially; however, it is not involved in the operational management of Venture Kick. The program is managed by Venturelab Ltd.

Venture Kick Annual Report 2022
Venture Kick Magazine: 1,000 Startups kicked
Youtube: Venture Kick – 15 Years of Kicking Startups to Success

The newly launched Kick Fund is a legally independent investment fund directly linked to the Kick program. Initiated by several partners strongly supporting the innovation ecosystem in Switzerland for the past 20 years, the fund aims to invest in Swiss technology startups at the pre-seed and seed-stage that come off winning the Venture Kick competition.