About - Luca Ascani

Luca started his entrepreneurial career in Rome, aged 20, when he launched**BuyCentral.it**, the first Italian shopping comparison site, in 2000. It was sold to**Lycos**in 2004. Simultaneously, in 2002 he founded**ADVance**, which became the leading digital agency in Italy.**ADVance**was subsequently sold to**NetBooster**. In 2004 Luca co-founded**GoAdv**, later rebranded**Populis**, one of the largest vertical digital publishing groups in Europe and Brazil, which was listed on the Paris Alternext stock exchange in 2007.

In 2012 and 2013 Luca brought the**TechCrunch**conference to Italy, with the objective of connecting the Italian industry with international investors. For this same purpose, he co-hosted the 2017**Founders Forum**in Rome.

More recently Luca co-founded TAG DCU in Dublin, a co-working campus inside the university, with the aim of creating the most important hub for startups in Ireland.

Luca is also an active angel investor, his portfolio includes**Bear**, the Apple Design Award-winning notes App, Lendable, the UK leading lending company, **Emma App**, a leading UK personal budgeting aid, and**Gideon Brothers**, an autonomous robot technology company.

Other recent investments include Mansa, ScalaPay and Panther.