Stina Ehrensvärd, co-founder of Swedish internet security company Yubico, has been named EY World Entrepreneur of the Year 2025 at an award ceremony in Monaco’s Salle des Etoiles.
Ms Ehrensvärd was selected from almost 5,000 participants that included 52 winners across 43 countries and jurisdictions competing for the global title.
She is the fourth woman to hold the title and first winner from Sweden in the award’s 25-year history.
EY Ireland Entrepreneurs of the Year 2024 Sharon Cunningham and Orlaith Ryan of Shorla Oncology represented Ireland at the event.
EY said Ms Ehrensvärd built an “industry-leading and highly profitable company that has set new standards for internet security”. She further created “exponential growth for her company and a lasting impact on Sweden and its people”.
Yubico was cofounded by Ms Ehrensvärd in 2007. Within a year, the company had launched its first physical security key for multi-factor authentication.
Over the following five years, it secured work with three of the biggest technology companies in Silicon Valley.
Since then, Ms Ehrensvärd has scaled Yubico to where it now protects 19 of the world’s 20 largest internet companies. Its compound annual growth rate has been 40 per cent since 2020.
EY chief executive Janet Truncale said Ms Ehrensvärd’s “defining philosophy that a secure digital identity is a basic human right is exactly the type of purpose-driven leadership we look to celebrate”.
Ms Ehrensvärd said she was “committed to saving the internet for democracy, for free speech, for education, for all the beautiful things we can do with it”.
“This recognition isn’t the finish line,” she said. “It’s fuel. We are building a safer digital world, and I won’t stop until that mission is fulfilled.”
The winner was chosen by an independent panel of judges against four criteria: entrepreneurial spirit, purpose, growth and impact.
