Berlin, Germany · Startup Choco is a Berlin-based food supply chain platform founded in 2018 by Daniel Khachab, Rogerio Da Silva Yokomizo, and Julian Hammer. The company provides an AI-powered digital ordering and inventory management platform connecting restaurants with food distributors and suppliers, aiming to reduce food waste across the supply chain. Choco reached unicorn status in 2022 with a $1.2 billion valuation and has raised over $300 million in funding from Bessemer Venture Partners, Coatue, and Left Lane. The platform links over 10,000 suppliers with more than 15,000 restaurants across Europe and North America.
Zurich, Switzerland · Innovation Hub ETH Zurich (Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich) is one of the world's leading technical universities, consistently ranked in the global top ten for engineering, computer science, and natural sciences. Founded in 1855 by the Swiss federal government, ETH Zurich has produced 22 Nobel laureates and is the academic origin of many of Europe's most important deep-tech companies, including Scandit, Planted, and Araris Biotech. Its Technology Transfer Office (ETH Transfer) manages IP licensing and supports spin-out creation, having enabled over 500 spin-off companies. ETH Zurich's Pioneer Fellowship and Student Project House programmes provide early-stage support to founders still on campus. For founders in the Swiss ecosystem, ETH Zurich is the deepest single source of engineering talent, research partnerships, and institutional credibility across fields from quantum computing and robotics to materials science and food technology.