I tested if Swiss Startups can make it in SF | Building a VC Ep. 17

I got exclusive access to a private event at the Swiss Consulate's residence in San Francisco, where 10 Swiss deeptech and hardware startups flew in from Switzerland to meet investors, build connections, and test themselves against Silicon Valley's standards. In this video, I sit down with three founders covering everything from flood prediction AI to logistics drones to materials analysis, and I get a rare one-on-one with the Swiss Consul General himself on why Swiss startups are born global and what they can learn from the Bay Area's 10x mindset. As a European investor who writes his own check into every deal he backs, I also share my honest take on why physical AI and hardware companies from Europe might have a bigger opportunity here than most people think. If you are curious about how European deeptech raises capital, breaks into the US market, or catches the attention of Silicon Valley VCs, subscribe because more videos are coming from this SF series. 00:00 Intro 0:53 Swiss startups arrive in SF with Swissnex and Venturelab 1:53 Marie Eve Didier of Matis 2:32 Conversation with the Consul General Jonas Brunschwig 5:32 Sunset 6:20 Jessica Droujko of Riverkin 6:56 Johannes Aicher of Avientus 7:56 Reflections as a European investor I'm Johannes Gemmingen. I'm a co-founder and managing partner at Auctora Partners, where we invest in relentless founders building category defining businesses. It's not a fund, we invest deal-by-deal. Subscribe to the newsletter and become part of the inner circle: https://deal-by-deal.beehiiv.com/