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Lufthansa Innovation Hub
The Lufthansa Innovation Hub’s mission is to accelerate the next in travel. Founded over a decade ago in Berlin, it brings together diverse talent to shape the...
Lufthansa Innovation Hub
The Lufthansa Innovation Hub’s mission is to accelerate the next in travel. Founded over a decade ago in Berlin, it brings together diverse talent to shape the future of the travel industry. It builds partnerships and innovation potential through a growing presence in the ecosystem. Its team deliberately draws mostly from tech, e-commerce and innovation rather than aviation to challenge the status quo from an outside-in perspective.
General information
Firm type
Corporate Venture Capital
Year founded
2014
Location
Region
Europe
Country
Germany
City
Berlin
Corporate office
Berlin, Germany
Additional offices
Singapore
Principals
Xavier Lagardere
Managing Director
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
Who makes investment decisions at Lufthansa Innovation Hub?
Managing Director Xavier Lagardere leads the investment team in Berlin, with oversight from Lufthansa Group's digital strategy function. The Hub operates with a lean team structure typical of corporate venture units, making concentrated bets rather than running a high-volume portfolio.
How is Lufthansa Innovation Hub structured relative to the parent airline?
The Hub is a wholly owned GmbH subsidiary of Lufthansa Group but is physically headquartered in Berlin, separate from the group's Cologne base. This structural and geographic separation is deliberate — it allows the team to recruit from the Berlin startup ecosystem and operate with decision-making speed closer to a standalone VC than a corporate division.
Does the Hub invest from a dedicated fund or the corporate balance sheet?
The Hub invests from the Lufthansa Group corporate balance sheet rather than from a dedicated committed fund. This means deal capacity is not constrained by fund lifecycle or LP redemptions, but it also ties investment pace to the group's annual budgeting cycle and strategic priorities.
What kind of value does the Hub offer startups beyond capital?
The core differentiator is distribution access: portfolio companies can integrate directly into Lufthansa's passenger and cargo operations across 300+ destinations. This includes pilot programs on the airline's digital booking platforms, loyalty ecosystem touchpoints, and freight logistics infrastructure — effectively a built-in enterprise customer from day one.
How does the Hub's Singapore office operate?
The Singapore office functions as the Hub's Asian deal-sourcing and partnership origination point, focusing on the rapidly growing travel-tech ecosystems in Southeast Asia and India. It mirrors the Berlin team's model of coupling investment with commercial partnership development, targeting startups that can leverage Lufthansa's Asian route network.
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