Biography
Leonardo Saroni has been a full-fledged entrepreneur since 2001, when at the age of 19 he launched his first startup: Eurovacanza.com, a travel portal which he managed while completing his degree in Business Economics at the University of Pisa, a double degree in General Management at Bocconi University, and a CEMS Master in International Management at Copenhagen Business School.
After a brief spell in New York with an investment bank (San Paolo IMI) and at Piaggio, he joined Booking.com in 2008 to pursue a career in the technology sector, moving to Amsterdam. As a member of the Extended Leadership Team, he actively participated in the exponential growth of what is now the undisputed leader in the travel industry (Nasdaq: BKNG). During his 12 years of service, he managed teams in marketing and product development.
Leonardo has been active as an angel investor and board member of tech startups and scale-ups, including Voetbalshop.nl – a leading e-commerce company with over €60 million in revenue in the Benelux football sector, Fratelli Desideri – a fast-growing Italian food tech company, Reclamio – a leader in legal tech in Spain, and BeSafe Group, a fast-growing insurtech company in the hospitality sector.
In 2019, he became a partner at Prana Ventures, the first Italian operational venture capital firm focused on seed and post-seed stage companies.
In April 2024, he joined Travel Tech as a GP for the recently established TT2 fund.
