MassChallenge Switzerland Awards Equity-Free Prizes to High-Impact Startups at 2026 Awards Ceremony

Ten early-stage startups share CHF 250,000; NUCAPS and Grain Weevil each receive CHF 50,000 as LDC Impact Prize 2026 winners

Renens (Vaud), Switzerland, 30 October 2026 — MassChallenge Switzerland, part of MassChallenge’s global network of zero-equity startup accelerators, yesterday hosted its 2026 Awards Ceremony at Beaulieu, Lausanne. The event gathered more than 500 guests from across the innovation ecosystem to celebrate the winners of its 2026 Early-stage Accelerator programme, as well as the laureates of the LDC Impact Prize 2026 awarded by Louis Dreyfus Company (LDC).

Both the UK and Switzerland cohorts took part in the competition. Selected from 1961 applicants and 189 cohort members worldwide, a total of 11 cash prizes and 18 in-kind prizes, worth over CHF 400,000, were awarded on the night.

A Decade of Impact

Since 2016, MassChallenge Switzerland has supported 1,369 startups from across the globe, which have collectively raised CHF 4.2Bn and generated 94,800 jobs.

This impact has been made possible through the ongoing commitment of 21 corporate and government partners. Beyond their financial contributions, these partners have dedicated significant resources and employee time to mentoring and guiding startups. MassChallenge Switzerland thanked this community of partners for enabling its mission to help entrepreneurs grow their businesses and create lasting social and economic value.

Celebrating the 10 Winners

This year, 10 winning startups are sharing CHF 250,000 in equity-free cash prizes, recognizing their solutions to critical global challenges across Agtech & Foodtech, Materials & Industry, Healthtech, and AI & Autonomy.

Main Winners of the MassChallenge Switzerland Early-Stage Accelerator 2026

Diamond Winner: CHF 100,000

• N23 Health: lets a trained nurse triage a breast lump with a handheld ultrasound, with no radiologist or internet connection needed. This makes early breast cancer screening affordable and accessible where mammography isn’t available.

Platinum Winners: CHF 40,000

• HaPPE Earth: offers the first fully circular PPE system, replacing single-use plastic PPE with certified compostable alternatives that are recovered on-site through bio-digestion. Real-time ESG reporting helps healthcare, pharma, food and industrial clients turn sustainability into measurable value.
• Thermapet Technologies: has invented TPET, the first patented, additive-free and fully recyclable PET that withstands -40°C to 220°C. It replaces CPET and PP food trays at lower cost, meets tightening EU recycling rules, and is licensed across 75 countries.

Gold Winners: CHF 10,000

• Circular grain: upcycles brewers’ spent barley into tremi, a 100% plant-based milk alternative with no added sugar, no lactose and no soy. It offers 50% more protein and 95% less sugar than the average oat drink.
• Flycatcher: a Swiss deep-tech startup whose AI learns what “normal” looks like for containers, trucks and trains, flagging anomalies 310 times faster than a human inspector. Validated with SBB, it starts in logistics before expanding into manufacturing and energy.
• Koralo: uses patented algae and fungi co-fermentation to turn food and feed into gut health solutions that outperform market leaders at low doses, produced with zero waste. With €22M in offtake agreements, it is rolling out globally in 2026.
• LOOOPS: BITELOOP is a clean-label fermented ingredient made from upcycled broken rice that cuts sugar by over 30% while preserving texture and stability, with no Novel Food constraints. It already has 12 active sample requests and a signed letter of intent.
• Prozymi Biolabs: develops an enzyme technology that degrades harmful gluten, while retaining its beneficial properties that enable the production of wheat-based gluten safe bread.
• Seedsight: its patented AI and optical platform replaces slow contaminant tests with a 30-second grain scan, cutting screening costs by 90% and improving pre-milling yield predictions from 25% to 75%. Piloted in the EU, its low-cost device can boost mill profits by up to $8.8M.
• Trilliome: develops patented ingredients that tune the gut-brain network to improve metabolic and cognitive health, creating a new category beyond probiotics, prebiotics and postbiotics. Backed by early efficacy data and letters of intent from global nutrition leaders, it supplies and licenses its ingredients into the healthspan market.

Spotlight on the LDC Impact Prize 2026

On the same occasion, two startups each received CHF 50,000 in non-dilutive cash as winners of the LDC Impact Prize 2026: NUCAPS in the Climate Resilience category, and Grain Weevil in the Future of Manufacturing and Industry category. Both solutions were recognised for their potential to drive significant impact across food and agriculture value chains.

LDC Impact Prize Winners 2026, Grain Weevil and Nucaps, with Michael Gelchie, LDC’s CEO.

Climate Resilience

• Nucaps: a biotech company specialising in the development and production of next generation functional ingredients. Using proprietary protein-based microencapsulation technology, they enhance the effectiveness and cost of bioactives and probiotics, with improved functionality and real impact on health.

The Future of Manufacturing and Industry

• Grain Weevil: develops robotic solutions for bulk grain storage that improve worker safety, reduce spoilage, preserve grain quality and increase storage and handling efficiency.

LDC’s Chief Executive Officer, Michael Gelchie, commented: “Innovation is most powerful when it translates into practical solutions to real-world challenges. NUCAPS and Grain Weevil are strong examples of this, with technologies that have the potential to improve food and ingredient solutions, enhance operational safety and drive greater resource efficiency. On behalf of LDC, I’m proud to recognise their potential through the LDC Impact Prize 2026 and look forward to seeing their solutions develop and scale.”

Ian Roberts, President of MassChallenge Switzerland, added: “Congratulations to all of our 7 finalists, who went through a rigorous process to get here. 125 startups were assessed with LDC, then 12 went into further deep dives to assess their scalability and impact, and then they competed in the final presentation to a jury. The quality of this year’s proposals was strong, including their strategic fit with LDC, as well as potential to scale and generate impact.”

New Recognitions and Special Prizes

The One Young World Award CHF 10,000 was presented to DecodeNature, who provides rapid, in-field DNA identification to inform decisions in agriculture, biosecurity and biodiversity monitoring.

In addition to the cash prizes, 18 startups received in-kind awards offering expert advisory services to help accelerate their growth:

• From Kellerhals Carrard, 12 hours of free legal services in Switzerland: Evolatis, Flycatcher SA, Nanolynx Biologics, OOVIE Studios SA, Precise Health SA, Santella.
• From Reuteler & Cie SA, 12 hours of free service for intellectual property advice and services in Switzerland: Arborix, CHoNova, DecodeNAture, KWiiD AG, PreciMUNE, SunPhi NutriScience GmbH.
• From In Extenso, 8 hours of free service for accounting services in Switzerland: CaptuREE, Dexterous Endoscopes, Mantias AG, Softreg GmbH, StructIQ SA, Trilliome.

The evening also celebrated MassChallenge Switzerland’s new partnership with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). This year, the cohort welcomed 12 startups from the World Food Forum Startup Innovation Awards, 4 of which went on to win awards at FAO headquarters in Rome on October 14. Joining the ceremony online from Pakistan, O’PASTA, the 2026 Startup of the Year, was celebrated for its food innovation tackling nutrition and food security challenges.

Find all startups of our 2026 cohort here.

Diversity Is Key

64% of the startups in the cohort had a female cofounder, and 8 of the 11 cash prize winners include at least one woman co-founder.

This year’s cohort brought together 189 startups from 48 countries across 4 continents, including 49 startups from the Global South, reflecting the global reach of the programme and the diversity of perspectives driving its innovation.

Mentorship and Collaboration

The accelerator also recognized its experts, including the Mentors of the Year, Pierre Morgon and Anna Perlina, and welcomed 7 new members to the Super Judge Club: Maksim Zharenov, Andrea Kocsis, Françoise Birnholz, Dominique Dufour, Emil Virag, Monika Zielonka, and Davide Verda. Throughout the four-month 2026 programme, 532 mentors and 720 independent judges guided 189 startups from 48 countries, helping them refine strategies, validate business models and accelerate growth.

A Collaborative Ecosystem for the Future

MassChallenge Switzerland’s Managing Director, Matt Lashmar, said: “My thanks goes out to all the partners and experts who supported this year’s exceptional cohort of founders. You are the ‘first believers’ in this group of entrepreneurs and your mentoring has been critical to help them tackle some of the hardest problems facing society. To the founders – go for it! Push the boundaries and make things happen – and count on the MassChallenge community for support as your solution makes a difference.”

Ian Roberts, President of MassChallenge Switzerland, added: “Congratulations to all the startups in this year’s programme. You are working on some of the world’s most challenging problems and the MassChallenge ecosystem is ready and proud to help you in doing so. Thank you also to all our partners and experts for your energy and time, which makes a massive difference to participating startups. We couldn’t do this without you!”

MassChallenge Switzerland expressed deep gratitude for the continued support of its partners: Bühler, Louis Dreyfus Company, Givaudan, Fondation Inartis, dsm-firmenich, SIG Group, Mars, Tate & Lyle, Novonesis, PMI Science, Vaud, In Extenso, Switzerland Global Enterprise, Innovaud, Kellerhlas Carrard and Reuteler & Cie.

About MassChallenge Switzerland

MassChallenge Switzerland is part of MassChallenge, the global non-profit accelerator helping entrepreneurs solve massive challenges, ranked second among US accelerators by TIME in 2026. Since 2016, MassChallenge Switzerland has accelerated 1,369 startups across industries, which have raised more than CHF 4.2Bn in funding. Ranked fourth in Europe for its startup network by the Financial Times in 2026, it has recently expanded with a new hub in London. Follow MassChallenge Switzerland on LinkedIn and WhatsApp.

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