“Without our .swiss address people could think we were from China”
Cutiss.swiss comes out on top at the TOP 100 Swiss Startup Award
Zurich, 16.9.2020 – For the 10th time, the most promising Swiss startups were chosen as part of the TOP 100 Swiss Startup Awards. The fact that last Wednesday first place went to a company that happened to have a .swiss domain name should come as no surprise.
“I insisted on our .swiss domain name from the very beginning,” emphasises Cutiss CEO and co-founder Daniela Marino. The innovative biotech startup Cutiss could otherwise quickly have been associated with China with a .ch address, she explains. Cutiss, however, is a Swiss company through and through. Marino: “We are a Swiss company, we sell a Swiss product, we come from a Swiss university and we have many Swiss investors.”
Cutiss reproduces human skin in the laboratory. From just a small piece of a patient’s skin, the Zurich-based startup can produce personalised replacement skin for large-scale burns or other skin injuries. In the next step, the development from the laboratory is to reach the patients who urgently need it on a large scale and worldwide. For tens of thousands of people, this means the chance to leave a traumatic experience behind with comparatively few scars.
After many years of cutting-edge university research and with a lot of entrepreneurial spirit, a product was developed. The story of Cutiss is representative of many young companies in the lively and vigorous Swiss startup scene. The one goal they have in common is to turn all that research into a marketable product for the general public. The internet domain .swiss is also primarily about meaningfully enhancing Switzerland’s economic, social and cultural image.
Their similar origins is not the only thing that the startups invited to the anniversary edition of the TOP 100 Swiss Startup Awards last Wednesday have in common. Together, they inject the ‘Swiss brand’ with a dynamic and modern image. This fits in with the partnership of Top 100 with the internet extension .swiss. Just like most of its sponsors, the ‘Top 100 Swiss Startup Awards’ are committed to the idea of ‘Swiss made’ and that is reflected not only in their own name, but also in their web address www.top100startups.swiss.
Around the world, ‘Swiss made’ stands for Swiss values such as innovation, quality and reliability. Cutiss is also committed to these values – internally as a work ethic, externally with the .swiss domain name. “The .swiss domain name stands for solid work and acts as a stamp of quality,” explains Marino.
The return to and focus on central strengths and values is probably an even more important success factor in what was a turbulent 2020. According to Stefan Steiner, co-managing director of TOP 100 organiser Venturelab, the TOP 100 startups allow us to look to the future with optimism, even in difficult times: “Regardless of whether they’re medtech startups, biotech startups or electronics startups, they all represent the progress made over the last ten years, and should instil us with confidence for the next ten.”
What should startups pay attention to in the next ten years? “Fun,” Marino replies immediately. Don’t forget to enjoy it, and don’t forget to pick a .swiss domain.
The .swiss top-level domain is provided by the Confederation. Each domain assignment is verified. Further information on registering a .swiss address is available at How – dot.swiss