The convertible loan remains poorly documented for a Swiss startup looking for funding. As of October 2026, neither the funding announcements tracked by 2clics nor the model documentation of the Swiss Private Equity & Corporate Finance Association (SECA) describe its clauses. This page sets out what these sources show, between a conventional loan and an equity round, and what to have checked before signing.

Loans, in all their forms, are only one of the tools for raising funds as a startup in Switzerland, alongside grants and equity rounds.

Conventional loan or fundraising: what is the difference?

A conventional loan expects repayment: the lender does not join the cap table as a shareholder, as our page on the clauses of a term sheet points out. A fundraising round, by contrast, brings in money in exchange for shares, and the founders' stake shrinks.

Swiss announcements from October 2026 show both routes. The medtech company Distalmotion has concluded a term loan facility of up to 70 million dollars with Perceptive Advisors, according to Startupticker.ch on 23 October 2026. The Foundation for Innovation and Technology (FIT), active in the canton of Vaud and in French-speaking Switzerland, has granted FIT Tech Seed loans of 100,000 francs to three start-ups, according to its press release of 28 October 2026. On the equity side, Lausanne-based Sonexos announced on 21 October 2026 a pre-Series A round of 5 million francs, led by Valquest Partners.

InstrumentDoes the funder take an equity stake?What the startup gives backDated Swiss example (source)
Conventional loanNoThe amount borrowed, as set out in the contractDistalmotion, up to 70 million dollars, October 2026 (Startupticker.ch)
Equity roundYes, from the round onwardsNew shares straight awaySonexos, 5 million francs, October 2026 (Startupticker)

None of these announcements concerns a convertible loan. Neither FIT nor Distalmotion discloses the interest rate, term or collateral of their loans. Public announcements therefore say little about the actual terms of young companies' debt.

Taking an equity stake: what founders see

Any issue of new shares changes how the capital is split. The price per share follows from the pre-money valuation of a startup, the price agreed before the fresh money comes in. The rules for calculating the stake left to the founders are detailed in our page on founder dilution. Our sources do not apply these calculations to the case of a convertible loan.

What document templates exist in Switzerland?

SECA, which represents Swiss venture capital, publishes two sets of model documentation for equity rounds free of charge. According to its page, each one brings together a term sheet, an investment agreement, a shareholders' agreement, articles of association, board of directors regulations and a capitalisation table. The "light" version targets rounds of 0.5 to 5 million francs, the "large" version those of 5 to 20 million. This page lists no template for a convertible loan agreement.

What funding comes before an equity round?

Ahead of equity rounds, grants and philanthropic support come first, without any equity stake, according to our page on the seed funding round. The startupticker.ch portal lists 70 organisations offering grants and loans throughout the life of a start-up.

A dated example: on 30 October 2026, Startupticker.ch announced that the deep tech start-up Prismus was receiving 150,000 francs from Venture Kick. The money is to develop Lupa, its artificial intelligence platform that connects scientific research with industrial applications. According to the press release, Prismus already has its first thirty paying customers. The press release does not specify the legal form of this support: nothing points to a convertible loan.

Venture Kick, a philanthropic initiative of a private consortium, pays out up to 150,000 francs in three stages, according to its website. Its winners can then obtain up to 850,000 francs more in equity from Kickfund. Other funding cases are gathered in our section on startup fundraising.

Key figures

  • 0.5 to 5 million francs: rounds targeted by SECA's "light" model documentation; 5 to 20 million for the "large" version (SECA).
  • Up to 70 million dollars: Distalmotion's term loan facility with Perceptive Advisors (Startupticker.ch, 23 October 2026).
  • 100,000 francs: FIT Tech Seed loan to Biodelphis Therapeutics, PolaSight and Swiss Soil (FIT, 28 October 2026).
  • 150,000 francs: Venture Kick's support for Prismus (Startupticker.ch, 30 October 2026).
  • 70 organisations offering grants and loans for start-ups listed in Switzerland (startupticker.ch).

What we do not know yet

  • How a convertible loan and its clauses work: none of our sources describes it. A founder would do well to get these terms in writing and have them reviewed by a lawyer or a fiduciary before signing.
  • The procedure that would apply under Swiss law to converting a loan into shares: our sources do not describe it.
  • The share of convertible loans in Swiss startup funding: the Swiss Venture Capital Report lists known rounds, but its PDF reports are not among our sources.
  • The legal form of Venture Kick's support for Prismus: the press release does not specify it.

Sources