Swiss sports tech counts 402 companies, according to the first Swiss Sportstech Report published on 23 October 2026. Commissioned by Swiss Olympic, the study estimates the sector's turnover at 8 billion francs and its workforce at around 17,000 full-time equivalents. The finding is twofold: a young and dynamic industry, but growth capital that comes mainly from abroad.
Who conducted the study and how
Swiss Olympic launched this first comprehensive mapping of the sector with a broad alliance from sport, industry and economic promotion. Swiss Olympic is both the National Olympic Committee and the umbrella organisation of Swiss sport. As an umbrella body, it brings together 86 national sports federations and 30 partner organisations, or around 18,440 clubs, according to its website. The consulting firms PwC and Generis carried out the work, according to the Keystone-SDA news agency, as reported by Swissinfo. The report can be downloaded from the Swiss Olympic website.
The stated aim is to make the sector visible and to identify its players. Until now, the best-known names were the global leaders based in Switzerland, such as On and Sportradar. The rest of the industry remained poorly documented, notes Startupticker.ch.
Which companies fall within the scope
The study's scope is precise, and it shapes all the figures. A company counts as sports tech if its solution was designed explicitly or primarily for sport. It also counts if it has deliberately adapted a technology for sporting use.
- Sport does not need to be the company's main market.
- For diversified groups, only the share of turnover linked to sport is included.
- Jobs only count if they are located in Switzerland and attached to the sports tech activity.
- They are expressed in full-time equivalents (FTEs).
The sector's key figures
The mapping lists 402 companies spread across all 26 cantons. Start-ups and scale-ups, young companies in their expansion phase, make up nearly two-thirds of them.
| Category | Share of companies listed |
|---|---|
| Start-ups | 34% |
| Scale-ups | 28% |
| SMEs | 34% |
| Large companies | 3% |
The sector is comparable to biotechnology, according to the report cited by Swissinfo. But turnover is highly concentrated: around 10% of companies generate more than 90% of revenue. Several Swiss companies hold leading positions internationally.
The vast majority remain commercially young. Three-quarters of the companies surveyed earn less than one million francs from sport. One-fifth have no revenue yet. Most have not completed a first growth cycle.
A Swiss market too small to grow alone
Exports are already at the heart of the business model for many of these companies. 43% of them generate more than half of their sports turnover abroad. For the authors, the domestic market seems too small for most of these models to reach critical mass on their own.
Internationalised companies post better results. The study warns, however, that it cannot separate cause from selection effect. In other words, nothing proves that exporting makes companies perform better: the best companies may simply be the ones that export.
Growth capital from abroad
Funding is the weak point identified by the study. In the sample of published transactions, the observed volume totals around 50 million dollars a year. That is less than comparable Swiss technology sectors attract.
Swiss investors take part in the largest number of funding rounds. But they account for only around 12% of the published volume. Growth capital comes mainly from abroad. There is no fund dedicated to sports tech in Switzerland.
The authors conclude that coverage is uneven. Grants and seed capital remain accessible, but Swiss capital for scaling up is limited.
A primarily physical sector
The centre of gravity of Swiss sports tech is hardware. It includes equipment, apparel, materials and a growing number of sensor-equipped products. This know-how also serves markets other than sport. Some of the sector's large companies are diversified industrial groups, for which sport is just one application among others.
Switzerland's strengths
Switzerland starts with solid advantages, according to the report. More than 4,600 active sport-related patents attest to the strength of its research. The country hosts around 60 international sports federations, including the International Olympic Committee (IOC), FIFA and UEFA. It also has one of the highest rates of sports participation in Europe.
The global market offers a growth outlook, to be read as a projection rather than a given. The World Economic Forum (WEF) forecasts that the sports economy will grow from around 2,300 billion dollars today to 8,800 billion in 2050.
What the authors recommend
The study proposes examining the creation of a national sports tech organisation. This is a recommendation, not a decided project. This body would have several missions:
- systematically bring industry and sport closer together;
- improve networking among players;
- strengthen the sector's international visibility and give it a voice;
- mobilise additional capital.
Companies remain optimistic: 88% of those surveyed expect their turnover to rise over the next two years. For Mike Kurt, co-author of the study, the sector can help Switzerland open up new markets, accelerate innovation and strengthen elite sport.
What the study does not yet say
The published reports do not break down the companies by canton or region. It is therefore unclear how much weight French-speaking Switzerland, German-speaking Switzerland or Ticino carry. Nor do they cite any examples from French-speaking Switzerland.
Other limitations stem from the method. Turnover and jobs are estimates. The amounts invested cover only published transactions. Finally, the link between exports and performance remains a correlation, not a proven cause-and-effect relationship.
