Pre-money valuation of ETH and EPFL spin-offs founded between 2017-2020
Quick Answer
In this post, we briefly discuss the average & median pre-money valuation of early-stage spin-offs from the two top Swiss universities, ETH and EPFL.
Setting a price on a pre-revenue company is difficult enough. When the company is a university spin-off, the task gets harder: you are valuing intellectual property, team pedigree, and market optionality all at once. This post looks at what that actually translates to in numbers, drawing on comparable transactions for Swiss SMEs and spin-offs from ETH Zurich and the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) that raised between 2017 and 2020.
Seed Phase Valuations
Seed-stage valuations set the opening benchmark for the entire fundraising journey. The data for ETH and EPFL spin-offs shows a clear gap between the two institutions.
ETH Spin-Offs
- Average Pre-Money Valuation: CHF 6.4 million
- Median Pre-Money Valuation: CHF 5 million
EPFL Spin-Offs
- Average Pre-Money Valuation: CHF 2.6 million
- Median Pre-Money Valuation: CHF 2.8 million
Analysis
ETH seed valuations sit materially above EPFL at this stage. Depending on which metric you use, ETH spin-offs command a premium of 78% to 146% over their EPFL counterparts. Part of that gap reflects the stronger brand recognition ETH carries with investors, and part reflects the types of markets those companies tend to address. Worth noting: the average exceeds the median for ETH spin-offs, which tells you the distribution skews right. A small number of high-valued companies pull the average up, while the majority of deals cluster below it.
Series A Valuations
By the time a spin-off reaches Series A, earlier signals have been stress-tested. Team capability, early traction, and market size all become legible. The ETH/EPFL comparison shifts at this stage.
ETH Spin-Offs
- Average Pre-Money Valuation: CHF 23 million
- Median Pre-Money Valuation: CHF 21 million
EPFL Spin-Offs
- Average Pre-Money Valuation: CHF 10.6 million
- Median Pre-Money Valuation: CHF 20.3 million
Analysis
The average gap widens to 116% in ETH's favour at Series A. That is a large number. But the median tells a different story: the two institutions diverge by only 3.39% at the midpoint. What this means practically is that the outlier effect is doing most of the work on the ETH side. A handful of high-value ETH spin-offs lift the average considerably, but the bulk of the EPFL portfolio reaches comparable valuations by Series A. Both institutions, in other words, produce companies capable of competitive fundraising at this stage.
Factors Influencing Valuations
Three structural factors shape the premium or discount any spin-off carries into a funding round.
Team Strength
- ETH: Often perceived to have access to a broader and more experienced talent pool, leading to higher valuations.
- EPFL: Also has strong teams, but may not have the same level of market recognition as ETH.
Market Potential
- ETH: Spin-offs frequently target larger, more lucrative markets, attracting higher investor interest.
- EPFL: Spin-offs might focus on niche markets, which can lead to lower initial valuations but strong potential for niche dominance.
Technological Innovation
- ETH: Known for groundbreaking research in fields like robotics, AI, and biotechnology, which are highly attractive to investors.
- EPFL: Also strong in technology and innovation, particularly in energy, materials science, and microengineering.
Conclusion
Taken together, the data points to a clear pattern. ETH spin-offs carry higher average pre-money valuations at both seed and Series A, with the premium most visible at the extremes. At the median, however, both university ecosystems converge by Series A, producing comparable outcomes for the core of each cohort.
For founders at either institution, understanding where your round is likely to sit in this distribution matters. It shapes how much equity you give up, what milestones you need to demonstrate, and how credibly you can anchor your ask. For investors, these benchmarks give a reference point when assessing whether a deal is priced in line with Swiss market norms.
The Scalemetrics team works with Swiss SMEs on exactly these questions, from building the financial model ahead of a round to stress-testing cap table scenarios.
Related Resources
Scalemetrics helps Swiss SMEs act on decisions like this before market conditions shift. Our corporate tax and VAT compliance services and outsourced CFO team give finance directors the senior expertise to move first.
Sources & References
Frequently Asked Questions
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ETH and EPFL Spin-Off Valuations: What the Data Shows
Swiss university spin-offs from ETH Zurich and EPFL enjoy a structural valuation premium over other early-stage Swiss companies. This premium reflects the quality of the underlying intellectual property, the institutional backing of Switzerland's two federal polytechnic universities, and the investor confidence that ETH/EPFL spin-offs generate through their association with world-class research environments ranked consistently among the top ten universities globally.
Analysis of pre-money valuations for ETH and EPFL spin-offs founded between 2017 and 2022 reveals a median pre-money valuation at first institutional round in the range of CHF 4–8 million for technology and life sciences companies — materially above the CHF 2–4 million median for Swiss seed rounds more broadly. This premium is not uniformly distributed: life sciences and medtech spin-offs from both institutions typically command the highest pre-money valuations, reflecting the capital intensity and long development timelines of the sector, which necessitate raising larger amounts at each stage.
ETH spin-offs in the 2017–2022 cohort demonstrated slightly higher average pre-money valuations than their EPFL counterparts at the same stage, a differential that narrows at Series A and beyond. The gap likely reflects the stronger venture capital infrastructure around the Zurich ecosystem — including the concentration of Swiss and international VC offices in Zurich — compared to the Lausanne-Geneva corridor, which has strengthened considerably in recent years but historically had less mature institutional investor access.
Factors Behind Pre-Money Valuation Differences
IP quality and defensibility are the primary drivers of pre-money valuation for university spin-offs. Patents filed through ETH Zurich's technology transfer office (ETH transfer) and EPFL's innovation office typically confer stronger protection than entrepreneur-originated IP, as they have been assessed by institutional IP professionals and often benefit from priority filings across multiple jurisdictions. Investors price this defensibility into their pre-money valuation calculations.
Team composition is the second determinant. Spin-offs with a complementary founding team — typically one or two technical founders from the university plus an experienced commercial or operational co-founder — consistently achieve higher pre-money valuations than those with purely academic founding teams. Swiss investors have learned from experience that academic excellence does not automatically translate to commercial execution; a founding team that credibly covers both dimensions de-risks the investment and justifies a higher entry valuation.
Non-dilutive funding prior to the equity raise also affects pre-money valuations. ETH and EPFL spin-offs that have secured InnoSuisse grants, EU Horizon research funding, or BRIDGE grants typically present with cleaner balance sheets (no early dilutive funding) and greater operational proof — both factors that support higher pre-money valuations in investor negotiations. The ability to reference grant awards from SNSF or Innocheck as validation of technical feasibility is a material advantage in Swiss seed investor conversations.
Benchmarking Your Spin-Off Valuation
For founders of ETH or EPFL spin-offs preparing for a first institutional raise, benchmarking against the 2017–2022 cohort data provides a realistic frame of reference. Pre-money valuations are most accurately compared within sector, stage, and IP maturity — cross-sector comparisons are misleading given the structural differences between, for example, a deep learning software spin-off and a cell therapy company.
| Sector | Median Pre-Money (CHF, 2017–2022) | Key Valuation Driver |
|---|---|---|
| Life sciences / Biotech | CHF 6–12M | IP breadth, clinical stage, platform potential |
| Medtech / Medical devices | CHF 5–10M | Regulatory status, clinical data, CE marking |
| DeepTech / Materials | CHF 4–8M | IP protection, scalability of manufacturing |
| Software / AI | CHF 3–6M | ARR traction, team, competitive moat |
To prepare a valuation-ready financial model and investor narrative for your ETH or EPFL spin-off, our investor readiness services provide the specialist knowledge of Swiss spin-off funding dynamics that your process requires.
Pascal Stämpfli leverages over a decade of expertise in corporate finance and venture capital to scale and optimize businesses. A CFA charterholder with a Master's in Economics from the University of St. Gallen, Pascal specializes in market & company assessments, strategy, and business value creation. Having assessed more than 1,000 companies for financial and strategic investors provides him with a sophisticated understanding of investor rationale and capital allocation. As the Managing Director of Scalemetrics and Managing Partner at COREangels Big Data & AI Europe, Pascal operates at the intersection of financial discipline and technological innovation.