According to a statement from the Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (Empa), Reto Vincenz will assume operational management of MycoSolutions as CEO. The business economist is one of the co-founders of the Empa spin-off.
Located in the St.Gallen innovation centre Startfeld, the start-up develops crop protection solutions made from local beneficial organisms. These are used to combat wood-destroying fungi in dead wood, such as utility poles, but also in trees or organic farming. MycoSolutions even sells violins made from biotechnically refined tonewood, which can compete with a Stradivari.
To enter the global market, MycoSolutions is now receiving funding from Swisscom Ventures, the venture capital arm of Swisscom. The ICT company will also use MycoSolutions products, for example on the posts used in its fixed network infrastructure.
“The support of Swisscom with its financial resources offers us the opportunity to market worldwide our innovative and environmentally friendly products, which grew out of our many years of research at Empa,” said Empa researcher and MycoSolutions founder Francis Schwarze.
