Phoeniqs founder Thomas Taroni wins EY Entrepreneur of the Year award

Thomas Taroni, founder and CEO of Swiss AI and cloud provider Phoeniqs, is one of three winners of this year's "EY Entrepreneur Of The Year Award," taking the prize in the "Visionary Entrepreneurs" category, EY announced on Monday.

The award ceremony took place on Friday at the Kongresshaus Zurich. A field of 70 entrepreneurs from 57 companies was narrowed to nine finalists, from which an 11-member jury selected winners in three categories. The award has now been presented in Switzerland for the 29th time.

Takeaway: Taroni beat out nearly 70 nominees for one of Swiss business's best-known entrepreneurial honors.

Why banks trust Phoeniqs with sensitive data

Phoeniqs develops and operates cloud and AI infrastructure for companies with strict requirements for data protection and data security. Its core target groups are banks and other financial service providers.

As finews reported in mid-October, the company runs publicly available AI language models on its own infrastructure in Switzerland. Requests are processed domestically as well, according to the company. The setup is designed to let banks use artificial intelligence on confidential information without passing it to foreign AI services — a claim that hinges on the company's own assurances.

Demand has accelerated sharply with the spread of generative AI, Carla Bünger, co-founder and vice president of Phoeniqs, said in an interview with finews at the time.

Takeaway: the pitch is simple — Swiss AI for Swiss data, aimed squarely at financial institutions.

A supercomputer in Basel and a Sunrise partnership

In June, Phoeniqs put a commercial AI supercomputer into operation at the Uptown Basel innovation campus in Arlesheim. The company relies on high-performance computers and a self-developed operating system — vertical integration that distinguishes it from resellers of foreign cloud capacity.

On the sales side, Phoeniqs works with Sunrise, among others. Under a strategic partnership announced in May, the telecom company facilitates access to business customers while Phoeniqs supplies the underlying AI infrastructure.

Takeaway: owned hardware plus a telecom distribution channel gives Phoeniqs a two-sided growth engine.

What comes next: a first capital raise and international expansion

Bünger told finews that Phoeniqs is working with two investment banks on its first structured capital raise. No target volume was disclosed — a notable omission for a company now trading on award-driven visibility.

So far, the company has grown mainly from ongoing business, supplemented by individual investors. That bootstrap history makes the coming round a first test of outside institutional appetite.

Phoeniqs also plans to expand internationally. A subsidiary already exists in Spain. The company sees further growth opportunities particularly in Germany and the Middle East. In each market, the AI infrastructure and data processing are to be set up locally, in order to meet local requirements for data sovereignty — replicating the Swiss formula abroad rather than exporting it from Swiss servers.

Takeaway: the growth story now depends on raising outside money and proving data-sovereignty demand exists beyond Switzerland.

Who else won?

Two other Swiss entrepreneurs received honors alongside Taroni.

• Daniela Marino, "Scale-up Leaders" category: co-founder and CEO of Zurich-based biotechnology company Cutiss, which develops personalized human skin tissue, particularly for treating severe burns.
• Pascal Bourquard Jr., "Entrepreneurs in Family Business" category: head of the Jura-based family company Biwi, which manufactures specialty materials for the watch, medical, and automotive industries. Biwi holds more than 22 patents and supplies over 300 international brands.

Takeaway: the jury spread its recognition across tech, biotech and traditional industry.

For Phoeniqs, the award lands at a convenient moment. A publicly visible distinction, an operational supercomputer and a bank-led fundraising process together set up 2024 as the year the company must convert Swiss credibility into international scale.