The big Swiss brands that few people look up

16 Swiss global brands earn CHF 46.5bn a year but draw little public attention

16

brands in the 100 sell mainly to businesses and score below 40 out of 100 for visibility

CHF 46.5bn

their combined annual revenue, 6% of the 100

45 vs 60

average visibility score of business-to-business brands and consumer brands in the 100

Half of the brands in the Swiss Lions 100 sell mainly to other businesses. They earn 49% of combined revenue, but their average visibility score is 45 out of 100, against 60 for brands that sell mainly to consumers.

Switzerland's strength is business to business

Selling to other businesses is where Switzerland's global brands are strongest. Besides the 50 brands that sell mainly to businesses, 15 more sell to both businesses and consumers, which leaves 35 consumer brands. Six of the ten largest brands by revenue sell mainly to businesses (Roche, Novartis, Swiss Re, Kuehne+Nagel, ABB and Adecco), as do the leaders of six of the thirteen category rankings.

Large and little seen

We define Switzerland's hidden champions here as the brands in the 100 that sell mainly to businesses and score below 40 for visibility. There are 16 of them, with combined revenue of CHF 46.5bn.

Show the data

Switzerland's hidden champions by revenue. Brands in the Swiss Lions 100 that sell mainly to businesses and score below 40 for visibility. Source: Swiss Lions 100, 2026 edition.

Brand	Rank	Category	Registered office	Revenue (CHF m)	Visibility score	Ownership
Transgourmet	22	Logistics, Services and Trade	Basel	11,600	35.5	Part of Coop
DSM-Firmenich	56	Chemicals and Materials	Kaiseraugst	8516	35.9	Listed (Euronext Amsterdam)
Gategroup	81	Logistics, Services and Trade	Opfikon	5273	37.8	Owned by investors (RRJ Capital and Temasek)
Bell Food Group	51	Food and Beverage	Basel	4885	26.7	Listed, controlled by Coop
Georg Fischer	53	Electrical and Building Technology	Schaffhausen	3070	39.1	Listed, no controlling shareholder
Bucher Industries	97	Machinery and Engineering	Niederweningen	2850	26.9	Listed, family-controlled (Bucher founding family)
Swiss Steel Group	94	Chemicals and Materials	Lucerne	2670	23.4	Privately held (controlled by Martin Haefner)
Bobst	77	Machinery and Engineering	Mex	1622	36.2	Family-owned (Bobst family, through JBF Finance)
Siegfried	80	Pharma and Biotech	Zofingen	1340	25.5	Listed, no controlling shareholder
SoftwareOne	93	Technology and Software	Stans	1243	33.9	Listed, no controlling shareholder
Huber+Suhner	95	Electrical and Building Technology	Herisau	876	26.7	Listed, no controlling shareholder
Tecan	89	Medtech and Lab Instruments	Männedorf	871	35.8	Listed, no controlling shareholder
Metrohm	63	Medtech and Lab Instruments	Herisau	606	33.2	Foundation-owned (Metrohm Foundation)
Dottikon ES	71	Chemicals and Materials	Dottikon	428	27.2	Listed, controlled by Markus Blocher
Mikron	92	Machinery and Engineering	Boudry	382	23	Listed, family-controlled (Ammann family, through Ammann Group Holding)
Medartis	98	Medtech and Lab Instruments	Basel	269	4.1	Listed, controlled by Thomas Straumann

The largest is Transgourmet, with revenue of CHF 11.6bn and a visibility score of 35.5. Swatch, a consumer brand with revenue of CHF 740m, scores 77.4. The group spans chemicals, machinery, medtech, services, electrical engineering, food and drink, pharma and technology. Six of them are owned or controlled by families, founders or individual shareholders.

Much of Switzerland's weight in global business sits with companies that supply other companies, in food distribution, inflight catering, flavours and nutrition, machinery, specialty chemicals, components and laboratory equipment. Few consumers know their names, including in Switzerland. For these companies, visibility matters mainly for reputation, recruitment and investor relations.