Seven new companies join the 2026 community: Atinary, Corintis, Destinus, Enlightra, Nu Glass, Oculis, and Voltiris. Among them, Atinary sees the label as both recognition and a lever for global expansion: “Being recognized as a Scale-up Vaud company is a proud moment for Atinary. This label confirms our growth trajectory and deepens our roots in Switzerland’s premier innovation ecosystem as we scale our Self-Driving Labs® solutions globally” Said Hermann Tribukait, CEO of Atinary.
Economic impact: jobs, capital and exits
The contribution of the 44 labelled companies is reflected in job creation and investment. Collectively, they have created 2,822 jobs in Switzerland and 5,102 jobs in total. In 2025, the cohort raised CHF 689,000,000 in publicly announced fundraising rounds, demonstrating sustained investor confidence in Vaud-based scale-ups.
The year also confirmed the ecosystem’s capacity to support companies through to major outcomes, with two exits in 2025: Nexthink and Doppl.
A new generation scaling faster and earlier
This 2026 intake points to a new generation scaling earlier and faster. Over the last three years, the seven newcomers increased their number of full-time employees by an average of +58%, compared with +27% for last year’s new entrants. They are also significantly younger: 4.4 years old on average, versus 8.8 years for the previous year’s newcomers. Across the full labelled community, the average age is 9.5 years, stable year-on-year - an indicator of a robust pipeline that continually produces mature, investable scale-ups.
For Enlightra, the label reflects a rapid trajectory from research to industrial scale: “Being part of the Scale up Vaud program is a major milestone that reflects our rapid evolution from an EPFL spin-off to a leader in AI infrastructure. This label recognizes our commitment to technical excellence as we scale our energy-efficient microcomb lasers to high-volume production for global hyperscalers. For us, joining this elite circle of Vaud-based innovators supports our goal to significantly expand our workforce and solidify our operational center of gravity in Renens while expanding into global markets. We are excited to leverage this momentum to strengthen technological sovereignty and deliver the optical interconnects required to fuel the AI revolution.”, Dr. John Jost & Dr. Maxim Karpov, Co-CEOs of Enlightra
A crucial step
Moving from startup to scale-up is a critical step, full of challenges and potential pitfalls. Doubling the workforce, welcoming new investors, and making numerous strategic decisions— how can one avoid missteps?
LeadiNNg to Scale-Up is a program jointly offered by Innovaud and IMD, designed to support CEOs through this transition. Four editions have already taken place, featuring startups that have since evolved into scale-ups. « Once again, we have a few companies getting the Scale up Vaud label for the first time who have been part of the LeadiNNg to Scale up Program.
Not only do they come more prepared to get the most out of the community but they also know how much the peer exchange they experienced during the program will increase as the Scale up Vaud community is bigger and will benefit the rest of their C-level team” commented Charlotte Ducrot, Head of Scale up Vaud “We look forward to getting the whole community together in the coming weeks, introducing the new companies and integrating them into this amazing network who goes way beyond than just a Label”.
The 7 new Vaudois Scale-ups a glance:
Voltiris SA : Voltiris’ innovative spectral filtering solution transmits all light frequencies needed by the crops into the greenhouse and transforms the remaining radiation into renewable power. Crop and energy production don’t have to compete, they complement.
Atinary : The pioneer of Self-Driving Labs®, builds intelligent solutions that unite AI, robotics, and human expertise to accelerate the development of molecules and materials. We reimagine the laboratory space to unlock limitless science, for a healthier and more sustainable future.
Corintis SA : Corintis unlocks the next leap in compute performance with: Targeted microfluidic cooling, tailored for performance and efficiency, to reliably run the most powerful chips at the lowest possible temperatures. Designed with micro-scale precision for large-scale production, future-proof data centers, & HPC applications.
nu glass SA : nu glass SA IS a pioneering startup revolutionizing indoor wireless connectivity with cutting-edge laser technology. We're dedicated to sustainability, quality, safety, and delivering exceptional customer experiences on a global scale.
Enlightra Sarl : Enlightra is an EPFL spin-off, backed by Y-Combinator and Intel Ignite, developing multi-color external comb lasers for extreme-bandwidth , energy-efficient AI optical interconnects. Its modules replace copper with silicon photonics, supporting over 1 TB/s while reducing power usage by 5x.
Oculis : Oculis is a global biopharmaceutical company (Nasdaq: OCS; XICE: OCS) focused on breakthrough innovations to address significant unmet medical needs in neuro-ophthalmology and ophthalmology.
Destinus: Destinus is a vertically integrated European defence manufacturer developing cost asymmetric strike and air-defenсe systems. Its portfolio includes cruise missiles, loitering munitions, and air-defence effectors designed for large-scale, low-cost production. In-house capabilities include airframes, propulsion, warhead integration, avionics, guidance software, and high-throughput industrial manufacturing.