Eight press releases between March and September 2026, fifteen loans, eight grants and three prizes: the Foundation for Innovation and Technology (FIT) has been a steady presence in the French-speaking Swiss startup news flow this year. Founded in 1994, FIT supports innovation and entrepreneurship in French-speaking Switzerland through its FIT Tech, FIT Digital and FIT Impact programmes, according to its September press release. Most of the 2026 recipients are described as being based in the canton of Vaud. Here is an overview, instrument by instrument, with one simple rule: a loan is not a grant, and a loan is not a funding round.

Loans on one side, grants on the other

FIT's press releases use precise terminology, which is worth repeating as is:

  • Tech Seed loan: CHF 100,000 in ten cases out of eleven in 2026, CHF 50,000 for Diverssity.
  • Tech Growth loan: CHF 400,000 for Isospec Analytics, the largest amount of the year in these press releases.
  • Digital Growth loan: CHF 200,000 for WasteFlow.
  • Digital Seed loan: CHF 50,000 each for DOCumenter and Nextrainers.
  • Digital Grant: CHF 20,000 for RiveLock, MYSTONES, Skilder and Polytax.
  • FIT Impact grant: CHF 10,000 for FineTouch Academy, Phonemia, SODA and TYTOdb.

On top of these come the FIT Impact prizes awarded on 17 September, which follow yet another logic: a competition.

Tech Seed: health leads the way

Of the eleven Tech Seed loans announced, six relate directly to health, according to our reading of the press releases. In March, Diverssity obtained CHF 50,000 for "My Magic Room", a mixed-reality therapeutic game for adolescents with autism spectrum disorder, to be rolled out at six pilot institutions in the cantons of Vaud and Valais. MoleSense received CHF 100,000 for a skin patch that monitors high-risk pregnancies, and Performance MouthGuard CHF 100,000 for a 3D-printed mouthguard; with this loan, the start-up is aiming for European conformity certification and a launch on the Swiss market.

In June, DETECTRA, software born from a research project at the CHUV (Lausanne University Hospital) and developed by Atreon, received CHF 100,000 to prepare its launch in Switzerland and fund pilots. The same amount went to TUUS Solutions and its slow-release food hydrogel, and to EPFL spin-off Anyway Systems, which lets companies run AI models on their own infrastructure rather than in the cloud.

That same month, three further CHF 100,000 loans went to industry and energy: EM Path and its "camera for waves" that measures electromagnetic fields, REMA and its electrolysers for on-site green hydrogen, and Verretex and its process for regenerating fibreglass waste into nonwoven textiles.

Finally, in September, Dexterous Endoscopes and Precisia Care each received CHF 100,000. Here, a distinction must be made: Dexterous says it has already raised more than one million francs in funding, which is separate from the FIT loan. Precisia Care, for its part, will use the loan to validate its pilot deployments at the Ensemble hospitalier de la Côte (EHC) and the Réseau hospitalier neuchâtelois (RHNe).

Digital, from growth loans to small grants

The Digital strand covers a broader range. In August, WasteFlow obtained a CHF 200,000 Digital Growth loan for its image-analysis platform that identifies materials and hazardous objects on the conveyor belts of sorting centres; the solution is already deployed in Switzerland, Spain and France, according to FIT. DOCumenter (medical documentation and TARDOC billing) and Nextrainers (football training sessions generated in one minute) each received a CHF 50,000 Digital Seed loan.

On the grants side, the CHF 20,000 Digital Grants fund earlier stages: conditional payment for renovation projects (RiveLock), athlete monitoring (MYSTONES), centralising working methods for AI tools (Skilder) and automating tax returns (Polytax).

Isospec, the typical path

The case of Isospec Analytics illustrates the step-by-step logic. This EPFL spin-off, which identifies biological molecules for medical research, had obtained a first Tech Seed loan from FIT in 2024. In June 2026, it secured a CHF 400,000 Tech Growth loan. The company has ten employees and has carried out pilot projects, notably in partnership with the CHUV. Its stated goal of doubling its revenue by the end of 2026 remains a company target, not a result.

FIT Impact: low-tech and small amounts

Launched in 2023, FIT Impact targets low-tech projects with a strong social and environmental impact; 26 projects have already benefited, according to FIT. In April, four projects from the University of Lausanne (UNIL, UCreate programme) and H4 each received CHF 10,000: FineTouch Academy (suture kits and e-learning for medical students), Phonemia (beatboxing as a speech therapy tool), the SODA association (science workshops in community centres in Vaud) and TYTOdb (biodiversity surveying).

On 17 September, the FIT Impact awards ceremony was held for the first time as part of Showcase, the E4S event. LittleCubes, which develops a light-up cognitive training cube for autistic children, won the CHF 20,000 Grand Prize and the CHF 5,000 Audience Award. Gynecare+ and Blocsy each received a CHF 10,000 Coup de Cœur Prize. Phonemia, an April grant recipient, was among the five finalists.

Our tally

Adding up the amounts in the eight press releases, we arrive, by our own calculation, at CHF 1,750,000 in loans (15 loans), CHF 120,000 in grants (8 grants) and CHF 45,000 in prizes. This total covers only these press releases and does not claim to reflect the foundation's entire annual activity.

What this says about the Vaud ecosystem

Three findings stand out. First, health dominates, from medical devices to speech therapy. Second, the universities and the CHUV remain talent pools: EPFL, UNIL, H4 and the CHUV appear in several cases. Finally, FIT intervenes mainly at an early stage, with tickets of CHF 10,000 to 100,000, and more rarely at the growth stage. In the press releases, these amounts are each time tied to a specific milestone: a prototype, a pilot, a certification, a first commercial launch.

Sources