His success story is not an average one, as he has managed to build ventures with million dollar valuations.
There have been many success stories which has impressed us in the past but Luca Rubino’s is distinctively unique as he has built his successful start-ups well before 30, which is quite impressive. Today, he is the co-founder and CMO of one of the most promising sustainability-tech startups, the valuations of which are sky-high. His success has been recognized on global scale with him getting featured in the Italian Forbes’ list of 100 Under 30, Top 5 Italian Marketers, and top 100 Italian Future Leaders, which says a lot about his success. Having gone through loads of hardships and setbacks during his journey, this young man from Sicily has managed to build his vast empire from scratch.
Born in Palermo, Southern Italy, in 1992, into a modest family, he went through a lot of emotional traumas as a kid, with his parent’s divorce, loss of his best friend in an accident, losing his grandmother who raised him and a lot more which impacted him deeply. At 13, he began working in a local mechanic shop and at 16 he was delivering pizzas, in a bid to acquire financial independence. Studies didn’t interest him much which diverted him towards sports. He started off with his hometown football team and moved to Milan later to play in Italy’s first league, while simultaneously grabbing a scholarship for a top UK school, the University of Stirling. Thereafter, he moved to Scotland to pursue a BA of Arts, while also playing football for the school’s team.
Even while studying in Stirling, his mind always worked upon building his own business and that encouraged him to start his first company by taking advantage of the company incubator program provided by the university named Sweet Sicily, an import-export food and wine company, which didn’t make up for long. In 2016, upon obtaining his degree, Luca won the Future Leaders, Student Entrepreneur, and Social Impact scholarship which allowed him to move to San Francisco, where he got to work with a startup which was included in the 500 Startups’ portfolio, and that was the turning point of his career which helped him gain experience in numerous projects which honed his skills that built the foundation of his present.
In 2020, Luca along with two friends, Mauro Di Benedetto and Kai Schildhauer, founded Kiri Technologies, the first tech startup to incentivize sustainable behaviors. Today, the company’s signed valuation is $40 million, with interests in different verticals like Oil & Energy, Aviation, Grocery, Automotive and Transportation. Speaking on his success, Luca says, “no matter what your situation is, if you want to reach the skies, no one can stop you. You need to cut off from negativities and people who discourage you, even if they’re your own family members. You’re the only one who can follow your dreams and turn them to reality.”
Connect with Luca on his Instagram @rubikingdom to know more.
