Clara Lepsius finished at ETH Zurich, then moved to Harvard University to complete her thesis. While in the US, she and another ETH alumnus, Ben Chen, launched Aluere, a company marrying technology with infant nutrition. Both have since returned to Zurich and opted to build the business in Switzerland instead of growing it in Boston or Silicon Valley.
Lepsius said the energy stateside is different. "The motto there is 'faster, farther, higher'," she said.
Aluere's work focuses on tools that use technology to assess and improve infant nutrition. Lepsius said the concept crystallized after studies indicated that infants who miss out on breastfeeding face a higher risk of chronic disease.
Across Europe, taking startups from idea to scale runs into one recurring blocker: capital. That shortage sends many founders across the Atlantic to tap America's larger public and private markets.
Ashwin Lalendran, who co-founded IndustriousAF - a nonprofit that produces research for policymakers and funders - said, "The gap is capital, and it is structural rather than cultural." He added, "The number of billion-dollar Swiss AI companies will stay at roughly zero until domestic and European venture capital, as a share of funding, moves materially off its current floor."
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The data back that pull to US money. Dealroom reports that US buyers accounted for nine of the top 10 acquisitions of European deep tech startups between 2019 and 2025 when ranked by deal value, with the remaining deal led by a Japanese medical technology company. Over the same period, US acquisitions of deep tech firms reached $23 billion. And when European deep tech companies do make it to public markets, they often do so abroad: since 2015, among the 22 VC-backed European deep tech firms that listed with valuations above $500 million, only four picked a European exchange.
The policy backdrop is not helping. A 2024 review by former European Central Bank President Mario Draghi described a loop where fast-growing firms depart, the pipeline at home becomes too thin to attract investors, and capital markets fail to deepen. The Technical University of Denmark has similarly described Europe's venture ecosystem as "underpowered." Meanwhile, US giants such as Meta Platforms Inc. and Apple Inc. feature prominently among the top acquirers of European deep tech outfits, based on deal value.
ETH Zurich, founded in 1855 and once home to student Albert Einstein, is leaning into entrepreneurship. The state-backed school launches dozens of companies annually and, according to Dealroom, has generated more deep tech spinouts from 2022 onward than any other higher-education institution in Europe. Five of those companies carry valuations exceeding $1 billion.
The school has launched its Student Project House inside a repurposed power plant, providing teams with free access to 3D printers and to the latest AI models, along with workspace. More than 600 projects are currently in motion. ETH also engages roughly a dozen successful alumni founders to share hard-won lessons with students. A recent venture report notes that the school tracks both spinoffs and startups, with a formal distinction in place since 2025.
Frank Floessel, who leads entrepreneurship at ETH, said the university benefits from strengths in fields like AI and robotics, yet argued that scaling requires significant funding and policy support. "It needs to be as easy as possible to start and grow a business," he said.
The takeaway for anyone watching European innovation is simple: the ideas are there, but the financing stack often is not. That is why you see US buyers leading on big-ticket deals and European listings lagging. If you are tracking where value may accrue, pay attention to who supplies late-stage capital and who ultimately writes the acquisition checks. ETH and peers are building the pipeline, but the exit routes still tend to run through larger markets.
