VADIAN.NET

What VADIAN.NET does

VADIAN.NET AG is a privately held Swiss internet company founded in 1995 (incorporated as an Aktiengesellschaft in 1996) and headquartered in St. Gallen. It operates five integrated business divisions: Mobile Messaging (ASPSMS.com, SMS Blaster, ASPT Token 2FA — serving over 200,000 registered customers with usage-based SMS APIs, SDKs, and software-vendor integrations); Domains (domains.ch and a suite of WHOIS, DNS, MX, IP history, and valuation tools across hundreds of TLDs); Directory (Kompetenzmarkt platform powering dozens of vertical Swiss business directories via APIs and whitelabel); Search (an in-development independent meta-search engine leveraging Open Source, Open Data, and P2P technologies); and Content (700,000+ news articles, wetter.ch, stellenmarkt.ch, seminar.ch, markenregister.com, and dozens of niche Swiss portals across hospitality, health, education, and real estate).

The company monetizes through transaction fees on domain registrations and premium domain auctions, usage-based SMS credit purchases (no license, setup, or monthly fees; credits do not expire), advertising and featured listings across its content and directory portfolio, and hosting/web services bundled into domain products. GTM is predominantly API-first and self-serve for the SMS and domain products, complemented by B2B sales to Swiss enterprises (banks, insurers, airlines, government, healthcare) and whitelabel/API partnerships with associations and municipalities for the directory technology. The company maintains ISO 27001 certification (2024), operates from a TIER IV data center (Rechenzentrum Ostschweiz, 99.998% availability), and processes all customer data in Switzerland under Swiss data protection law.

Corporate structure is lean (1-10 employees) but compensated by a broad network of joint ventures and spin-offs (AdSpot GmbH, Mediabox Digital AG, Likemedia GmbH, Montemedia AG, public.ch GmbH, theINDUSTRY AG, Swissguide AG) covering adjacent advertising and marketing services. Leadership comprises founder-CEO Piero Stinelli and a small executive board. The company exhibits characteristics of an operating-age cash-generative digital holding entity rather than a venture-backed growth company: no external funding rounds are disclosed, and historical revenue is not publicly reported.

Name

VADIAN.NET

Legal name

VADIAN.NET AG

Website

https://vadian.net

Company type

Private

Founded year

1995

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

VADIAN.NET AG is a privately held Swiss internet company (founded 1995, St. Gallen) operating five integrated divisions: SMS messaging APIs, Swiss domain registration and intelligence, vertical business directories, content portals, and an independent search engine, serving over 200,000 registered global customers with data processed entirely in Switzerland.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Saint Gallen

HQ country

Switzerland

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. SMS/Mobile Messaging Services: Revenue from SMS messaging APIs, SDKs, and platforms (aspsms.com, smsblaster.com). Customers purchase SMS credits for sending personalized advertising messages to hundreds of thousands of recipients. No license fees, setup fees, monthly fees, or hidden costs. Credits do not expire.
2. Domain Registration and Management: Revenue from domain registration across hundreds of TLDs via domains.ch. Includes premium domain sales, auctions, backorder services, and associated web/email hosting with Plesk administration.
3. Directory and Business Portal Services: Vertical business directories in dozens of industries (restaurants, hotels, beauty, fitness, wellness, real estate, construction, ICT, schools, etc.) with firm profiles, news, job listings, and seminars. Revenue from advertising and featured listings.
4. Search Technology Services: Search technologies for processing billions of endpoints. Meta-search functions and API-based third-party integrations.
5. Advertising Technology: Own advertising technology (vBanner) launched in 1996. Co-founded advertising companies including Mediabox Digital AG, AdSpot GmbH, Likemedia GmbH, Montemedia AG, and theINDUSTRY AG for human-focused advertising and TV spot streaming.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels1 record

Core offering

VADIAN.NET is an independent Swiss electronic media company that develops and operates SMS messaging APIs and SDKs (ASPSMS.com, SMS Blaster), a domain registration and intelligence platform (domains.ch), proprietary business directory technology (Kompetenzmarkt), an in-development independent universal search engine, and a portfolio of Swiss content platforms covering news, weather, jobs, trademarks, restaurants, and hotels. Its commercial offering centers on usage-based mobile messaging, domain registration across hundreds of TLDs, vertical business directories, content aggregation and syndication, and licensed directory/advertising technology for associations, municipalities, agencies, and media companies.

Product overview

VADIAN.NET AG is a Swiss B2B and B2C internet company founded in 1995 with core competencies in Mobile Messaging (ASPSMS.com, SMS Blaster), Domain Services (domains.ch with WHOIS/DNS tools), Search Technologies (meta-search and independent search engine development), Content Aggregation (news.ch, wetter.ch, job portals), and Directory Services (Kompetenzmarkt platform). The company operates one of Switzerland's oldest domain registrars and has launched numerous Swiss-specific platforms including news portals, weather services, job boards, business directories, and specialized vertical portals. The product portfolio includes both proprietary platforms and joint ventures (Mediabox Digital, Montemedia, theINDUSTRY) that extend advertising and marketing capabilities. The company serves over 200,000 registered customers in mobile messaging and operates with a commitment to Open Data, Open Source, and peer-to-peer technologies.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• aspsms.com: Professional SMS shipping solution with multiple API interfaces for software providers and portals
• domains.ch
• wetter.ch
• news.ch
• stellenmarkt.ch
• branchenbuch.ch
• restaurant.ch
• hotel.ch
• smsblaster.com
• markenregister.com

Products and services

• ASPSMS.com Professional SMS messaging platform with multiple API interfaces for software providers and portals, serving over 200,000 registered customers globally with usage-based pricing, no license fees, no setup fees, no monthly fees, and no hidden costs; credits do not expire.
• SMS Blaster Windows-based and web-based mass SMS broadcasting solution for personalized advertising messages to hundreds of thousands of recipients; serves SMBs including garages, hairdressers, dating portals, event organizers, and restaurants.
• ASPT Token (asptoken.com) Secure two-factor authentication (2FA) solution for web applications and software products.
• QuickReg (quickreg.ch) Guest data QR-code solution for restaurants and retail, developed during the COVID pandemic.
• domains.ch Fast domain registration portal covering hundreds of TLDs with premium domain auctions and instant purchases, backorder services, automatic WIPO UDRP case detection, trademark conflict identification, trust scores, archive data, historical screenshots, and domain value analysis; includes associated web/email hosting with Plesk administration.
• Domain Tools (reverseip.ch, reversedns.ch, reversewhois.ch, reversemx.ch, reversens.ch, iphistory.ch, hitanalyzer.ch, domainvalue.ch, portscanner.ch) Suite of domain analysis tools including reverse IP lookups, DNS analysis, WHOIS history, MX record checks, IP history tracking, port scanning, and domain valuation.
• Kompetenzmarkt Directory technology platform for associations, municipalities, agencies, and companies, available via APIs and whitelabel applications with firm profiles, news, job listings, and seminars across dozens of vertical industries.
• news.ch Independent Swiss news platform with multilingual content in German, English, French, and Italian that was the first publisher-independent news service in Switzerland.
• wetter.ch Swiss weather platform with weather data for thousands of locations worldwide, road reports, webcams, bioweather, and social feeds, published bilingually in German and English.
• stellenmarkt.ch Swiss job platform processing approximately 150,000 jobs per month across Switzerland.
• branchenbuch.ch Switzerland's oldest business directory with tens of thousands of companies, news, job listings, and seminars.
• firmen.ch Comprehensive Swiss company directory with extensive company profiles across all industries, job listings, training offers, and news.
• restaurant.ch Swiss restaurant directory with 30,000 restaurants, news, job listings, and seminars.
• hotel.ch Hotel booking platform offering approximately 135,000 hotels worldwide in cooperation with hotel.de.
• markenregister.com Brand registry with 300,000 brands for trademark search and protection.
• seminar.ch Education platform presenting thousands of seminars per month in collaboration with Bildungspool.
• screenshots.ch Swiss platform for online screenshots with historical screenshot archives.
• AdSpot Professional TV spot streaming platform, originally developed for the news.ch network and later licensed to media agencies, publishers, and direct clients.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 200,000 registered SMS customers worldwide
• +7 more outcomes

Named customers21 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature6 records

Partnerships

21 partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• theINDUSTRY AGcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2019Joint venture in Zurich. AdSpot GmbH, Mediabox Digital AG, and eyeonX AG combined their expertise and customers in a new powerful unit.
• public.ch GmbHminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2016Joint venture founded in Winterthur, specialized in regionalized advertising.
• Montemedia AGminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2013Co-founded by VADIAN.NET in Zurich. Founded with a young team to address the challenging market situation where retargeting and remnant inventory marketing caused falling advertising prices for Swiss online media houses.
• Likemedia GmbHminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2011Co-founded by VADIAN.NET in Zurich as an advertising marketing company.
• BildungspoolminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2010Partnership for seminar.ch launch, presenting thousands of seminars per month through the Bildungspool collaboration.
• AdSpot GmbHcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2009Spin-off of VADIAN.NET in Zurich. Professional TV spot streaming offerings made available not only to the news.ch network but also to media agencies, media houses, and direct customers who could now license the technology. The term AdSpot became a generic term due to large market penetration.
• Mediabox Digital AGcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2008Joint venture founded by VADIAN.NET in Zurich at the heart of the advertising scene. After previously trying all models of marketing their own websites (in-house marketing and external marketing by multiple marketers), VADIAN.NET founded its own marketing firm.
• Local partners in MexicominorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2005VADIAN.NET founded a joint venture with local partners in Mexico to bring Interactive TV services to Latin America. After a turbulent and very instructive year, they withdrew from the monopolistic market under the aegis of Carlos Slim and his telecom and TV conglomerates.
• hotel.decoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2004Partnership with hotel.de for hotel.ch launch in 2004, offering approximately 135,000 hotels worldwide for booking through the platform.
• Swissguide AGminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2003VADIAN.NET held a minority stake since 2003 in a large shareholder circle including Endoxon/Google. After an extensive restructuring and new shareholders, VADIAN.NET also entered operational processes and increased its stake in 2014.
• SwisscomcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2001Developed enter-adsl.ch, the inquiry and lead portal for Swisscom broadband prospects. VADIAN.NET supplied community features, messaging APIs, lead tools, and APIs for verifying bandwidth and availability of home connections across Switzerland.
• IFJ - Institut für JungunternehmenminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2000Launched Kompetenzmarkt on branchenbuch.ch and further portals. Long-term cooperation with IFJ - Institut für Jungunternehmen from St. Gallen. Platforms such as estarter.ch, ebusiness.ch, inno-suisse.com, venturekick.ch and venturelab.ch emerged from this partnership.
• Swisscom, Schweizerische Gewerbeverband, Valora Gruppe, Mobiliar, UBSminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2000Partners in the plenaxx.com B2B portal project with a budget of 50 million Swiss francs. The ambitious project was stopped shortly after in the midst of the great dot-com crisis. VADIAN.NET bought the domain plenaxx.com in 2019 out of nostalgia.
• Internet Archive SwitzerlandcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerInitiative to found and support the Digital World Archive project in St. Gallen. After 10 years of groundwork, Internet Archive Switzerland was finally founded in St. Gallen in 2025 and became operational in 2026 with a ceremony at the world-famous Stiftsarchiv in St. Gallen.
• sankt elektronika / Zukunft jetztminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-founding, partnership, and webspace provision for this initiative.
• elelab2minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerDigital and analog playground, cooperation, and spirit.
• BioDesign FoundationminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCloud infrastructure and services for sustainability projects plasticrace.org and the Earth Solution Platform.
• Klang und KleidminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerOffice cooperation, fancy API testing, webspace, knkorama, events, and spirit.
• Open IM AllianceminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPromotion project of the free instant messaging protocol XMPP.
• SaitenminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerEvent data, provision of office infrastructure, co-financing editorial staff.
• Various cultural venues (Kinok, Remise Kulturlokal, Palace, Grabenhalle, KUGL, HERRMANN Kulturstollen, Südkultur)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerVarious cultural venues supported with database logic for cinema programs, event CMS and CRM, webspace, and event support.

Scale indicators18 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Sinch: Public CPaaS vendor offering SMS, RCS, voice, and conversational AI across messaging channels. Comparable mobile messaging API focus to ASPSMS.com but with much broader geographic reach and tier-1 enterprise customer base.
• Infobip: Global CPaaS provider delivering SMS, RCS, WhatsApp, and omnichannel messaging APIs. Directly comparable to VADIAN.NET's messaging-API business model, with far larger scale and operator-direct routes.
• Vonage (Ericsson): Communications Platform-as-a-Service offering SMS APIs and programmable communications for enterprises. Comparable API-driven messaging business model to VADIAN.NET, now part of Ericsson's Enterprise Wireless Solutions.
• Twilio: Global cloud communications platform offering SMS, voice, and messaging APIs at massive scale. Comparable to VADIAN.NET's ASPSMS.com core offering but with vastly broader product range, international footprint, and enterprise GTM.
• MessageBird: Omnichannel CPaaS platform with SMS, WhatsApp, and Voice APIs plus a customer engagement suite. Comparable to VADIAN.NET's SMS/mobile messaging division with similar API-first GTM but global scale.

Regional players

• search.ch: Swiss web and phone directory search engine operated by Swisscom. Directly comparable to VADIAN.NET's 111.ch/auskunft.ch combined search offering in the same Swiss market with overlapping directory and number-lookup functionality.
• local.ch: Swiss online directory and search platform listing businesses, phone numbers, and locations across Switzerland. Direct comparable to VADIAN.NET's branchenbuch.ch and Kompetenzmarkt directory products within the same Swiss geography.
• Infomaniak: Swiss independent cloud and hosting provider operating its own data centers with strong data-sovereignty and sustainability positioning. Comparable to VADIAN.NET in Swiss-owned infrastructure, ISO/security certifications, and SME-focused services.
• Hostpoint: Swiss web hosting and domain registration provider. Comparable to VADIAN.NET's domains.ch business for domain registration, hosting, and related infrastructure services within the Swiss market.
• Switch (tld-box / SWITCHdns): Swiss foundation operating the .ch domain registry and providing secure, reliable internet infrastructure services in Switzerland. Comparable to VADIAN.NET's domain and infrastructure layer but positioned as a non-profit registry/operator rather than a commercial platform.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/vadiannet
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/vadian-net-ag

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Subsidiaries7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about VADIAN.NET