Two young Swiss companies are each walking away with CHF 25,000 and tailored support. The Swiss Future Award, backed by B Lab Switzerland and the PETRAM Foundation, named the winners of its 2026 edition at a ceremony reported by Startupticker.ch. Vaud-based Droople takes the innovation award, while Cellx Biosolutions, based in Schlieren, wins the environment award. The audience award, for its part, goes to Symactiv.

One competition, three awards

The competition rewards companies whose solutions, according to its organisers, have a lasting impact on the economy and the environment. It is organised into three categories. The two main awards, innovation and environment, each carry CHF 25,000, or CHF 50,000 in total, according to Startupticker.ch. The third, the audience award, decides between the competition’s ten finalists through an open vote. The source does not mention any prize money for this last award.

Droople: turning water in buildings into data

The innovation award targets a company whose “disruptive” solution challenges the status quo, whether through its business model, its product or its service. The jury also looks at the ability to transform an entire industry, to put sustainability at the heart of operations and to generate a positive impact that can scale.

Droople ticks these boxes with a “water intelligence” platform that combines connected devices (IoT) and artificial intelligence. The tool monitors water-related equipment in real time and enables predictive maintenance planning. According to Startupticker.ch, the solution reduces water and energy waste by 20%. On the user side, it is aimed at facility managers: the platform gives them data-driven control of their water infrastructure.

Cellx Biosolutions: bacteria against “forever pollutants”

The environment award recognises high-impact solutions that, above all, are measurable: lower carbon emissions, circular economy, biodiversity protection or more efficient use of resources.

Cellx Biosolutions tackles “forever chemicals”, toxic substances that persist in the environment. The Schlieren-based company relies on naturally occurring bacteria to biodegrade them in wastewater and soil. According to Startupticker.ch, the process reduces CO2 emissions by up to 80% compared with incineration, the method used here as the point of comparison.

Symactiv: the public vote

Among the ten finalists put to the vote, Symactiv received the most votes. The company turns local organic materials into micro-enriched pellets designed to restore soil health, save water and improve crop yields. Its operational argument: professional farmers, landscapers and gardeners can switch to regenerative agriculture with the machinery they already have, without investing in new equipment.

What the award delivers in practice

Let us call things by their name: the CHF 25,000 paid to Droople and Cellx Biosolutions is a cash prize. It is neither a funding round, nor an equity stake, nor a commercial partnership with the organisers. On top of this amount comes tailored coaching, presented as a way to accelerate the winners’ growth and connect them with other companies committed to the same approach. The source specifies neither the duration nor the detailed content of this support.

For start-ups, the value lies as much in the visibility and the network as in the cheque itself. The competition also offers a useful framework: an innovative model, sustainability built into the core business, measurable impact and the ability to scale.

Water, soil, pollution: a common thread

This edition’s three winners share common ground: the management of basic resources. Water in buildings for Droople, the decontamination of water and soil for Cellx Biosolutions, the fertility of farmland for Symactiv. Three very different approaches, from software to biotechnology to agronomy, which illustrate the diversity of Swiss start-ups focused on environmental impact. It remains for each of them to show over time that the announced gains hold up in the field.

Sources

Startupticker.ch, “Swiss Future Award presents winners with CHF 50,000”, 12 October 2026