YourStarter awarded the Startfeld Diamant public prize

(CONNECT) St.Galler Kantonalbank (SGKB), which is the cantonal bank of St.Gallen, and the Startfeld foundation have once again selected start-ups based in Eastern Switzerland to compete for the Startfeld Diamant start-up award. Each year, this award recognizes start-ups in Eastern Switzerland with unique business models and ideas, as SGKB writes in its statement.

Six start-ups qualified for the final in the categories “Diamant” (growth phase) for the best business model and “Rohdiamant” (idea phase) for the best business concept. Moreover, the winner of the public award has also been announced. The award ceremony is set to take place June 3, 2026.

YourStarter GmbH is the winner of the public prize, which comes with prize money of 2,500 Swiss francs. The start-up from Oberriet in the canton of St.Gallen, which produces and sells breakfast mixes in cups online, secured the most votes in the online voting process (1,302).

The three finalists in the “Rohdiamant” category are fortyfour AG (St.Gallen), Adminity GmbH (St.Gallen) and NewsQuant (Chur). Fortyfour is developing a Direct Air Capture technology to filter CO2 from ambient air that is then released for targeted use in the cultivation of plants. Adminity was selected for its IT architectures designed to optimize public administration in the areas of government and defense. NewsQuant reached the final with its technology for the real-time analysis of commodity news on the basis of language models.

Amela Biosciences (St.Gallen), catchfree AG (Appenzell) and ofinto ag (Gossau, canton of St.Gallen) made the final in the category of “Diamant”. Amela develops animal-free protein materials for in-vitro research. Catchfree impressed the jury with its plant-based vegan seafood offerings for the restaurant industry, and ofinto sells premium office furniture directly, without the need for intermediaries. ce/heg