About
The lane, not the job title.
Raffael Hüberli
Raffael Hüberli is building Phaeacia, an early-stage project on multiplayer for agents, and is the former Co-Founder and COO of Downstream Intelligence. At Downstream, an AI-powered geopolitical forecasting startup, he led business development, marketing and client relations. He writes and speaks about how artificial intelligence is changing geopolitical analysis — for both institutions and everyday decision-makers. His background spans advising the Permanent Mission of Costa Rica to the United Nations, startup and public diplomacy work at Swissnex San Francisco, journalism, and ongoing service as a Press & Information Officer in the Swiss Armed Forces. He is completing a dual master's in Law & Diplomacy (The Fletcher School) and International Affairs & Governance (University of St.Gallen).
Raffael Hüberli baut an Phaeacia, einem frühen Projekt für Multiplayer bei KI-Agenten, und ist ehemaliger Mitgründer und COO von Downstream Intelligence. Bei Downstream, einem Start-up für KI-gestützte geopolitische Prognosen, verantwortete er Business Development, Marketing und Kundenbeziehungen. Er schreibt und spricht darüber, wie künstliche Intelligenz die geopolitische Analyse verändert – für Institutionen ebenso wie für Entscheidungsträgerinnen und Entscheidungsträger im Alltag. Zuvor war er Berater für die Ständige Vertretung Costa Ricas bei den Vereinten Nationen, in der Startup- und Public-Diplomacy-Arbeit bei Swissnex San Francisco sowie im Journalismus tätig; daneben dient er weiterhin als Presse- und Informationsoffizier in der Schweizer Armee. Er schliesst derzeit einen Doppelmaster in Law & Diplomacy (The Fletcher School) und International Affairs & Governance (Universität St.Gallen) ab.
- Full name
- Raffael Hüberli
- Based
- St.Gallen, Switzerland
- Languages
- German (native), English (C2), French (B2)
- Speaks on
- AI and geopolitical forecasting
- Portrait
- Available on request, in colour
- Nickname
The press bio is the version for print. This is what I'd say in short: I just pursued whatever I found interesting, whether it was videography and multimedia production, AI and startups, or geopolitics. Ultimately it led me to the point where I am now, having gained experience both in Switzerland and the US and founded two companies.
The through-line was never a plan. Wil taught me to find the story inside a business, San Francisco that a startup ecosystem runs on logistics and lunches, New York how a country's position gets written down before it is said out loud.
Beyond work
- Shoots photo and video
- Backcountry skier
- Runner
- Quarterback, retired
- 3× Swiss national champion
- St.Gallen Bears
Experience
Four cities, three time zones, two continents.
Newest first.
Phaeacia
Builder
Multiplayer for agents, at the very beginning: a working prototype for sharing an agent you have built, and shared memory so a team's agents build on what the others learned.
The day job now. Very early stage, not yet incorporated.
Downstream Intelligence
Co-Founder & COO
AI-powered geopolitical forecasting: every scenario with an upside, a downside and a base case, graded afterwards so the next ones get better. I led business development, marketing and client relations.
The first company I co-founded.
FDP.Die Liberalen St.Gallen
Policy & Communications Associate
Writing the consultation responses and the position papers behind them, and running the communications that carry them.
Home ground: cantonal politics in the canton I grew up in.
Permanent Mission of Costa Rica to the United Nations
Advisor · full-time
Diplomatic reporting for the Ambassador and the capital: what was said in the room, what it meant, and what answering it would cost.
Also the speeches, for the Ambassador and the mission's diplomats. It is easier to write a country's position once you have spent the morning working out what it should be.
Swissnex in San Francisco
Communications Associate · full-time
Three jobs wearing one title. Public relations and marketing: running the communications campaigns. Innovation and public diplomacy: putting Swiss startups and Swiss expertise in front of the Bay Area, and strengthening Swiss–US relations while doing it. Project management: coordinating the outreach and the event promotion behind both.
In practice that meant startup bootcamps, delegations to the Game Developers Conference, connect lunches with local academic institutions, messaging that made Swiss expertise legible to an American audience, and the partnerships holding all of it up.
Wiler Nachrichten
Journalistic internship · full-time
Interviewed the local business owners, photographed the businesses and their products, wrote the articles, and laid them out for print — the whole newspaper, at internship scale.
Where the rest of it came from: interviewing, photographing, weighing editorial quality against what a client actually wants — and taking feedback without taking it personally.
- Swiss Armed Forces
- Press and Information Officer · specialist officer, at captain's rank · 01/2020 – present
- University of St.Gallen
- Student Assistant in Multimedia, including photo- and videography · School of Management, the Institute for Accounting, Controlling and Auditing, and the Teaching Innovation Lab · 10/2020 – 08/2023. Three years of stills and video on commission — including most of the photographs on this site.
- Fletcher Student Council
- Representative · 08/2024 – 05/2025
Numbers