Lukasz Gadowski: The Berlin Builder Who Out-Founded Rocket at Its Own Game

What Is This About?

Lukasz Gadowski is the Polish-German company-builder who ran the Berlin factory model in parallel to Rocket Internet. Co-founder of Spreadshirt, Team Europe (now Team Global), and Delivery Hero — the DAX-listed food-delivery giant he still chairs in 2026 — and a Venture Partner at Point Nine Capital post its 2011 rebranding.

Introduction

The Rocket Internet story is usually told as a Samwer story, but Berlin's company-building era had a second protagonist who arguably built the single most valuable company to come out of the whole scene — and he did not carry the Samwer name. Lukasz Gadowski, born in Poland and raised in Germany, ran a parallel company-building operation that produced Spreadshirt, seeded through his incubator Team Europe, and co-founded Delivery Hero in May 2011, now a DAX-listed food-delivery giant. He also co-founded Team Europe Ventures in 2008 — the entity whose fund arm was later renamed Point Nine Capital in June 2011 under Christoph Janz, Kolja Hebenstreit, and Pawel Chudzinski (Gadowski became Venture Partner post-rebranding, not a founding partner of the fund). And he co-founded gruenderszene.de, the publication that chronicled the scene itself. This is the third piece in our Rocket Internet cluster, and within the broader story of European venture capital and DACH company-building, Gadowski is the proof that Berlin's factory model was not a Samwer monopoly — it was an ecosystem, and he was one of its most effective operators.

The Thesis: The Builder Who Beat the Machine at Its Own Game

Rocket Internet gets credit as Berlin's company-building machine. But Lukasz Gadowski, working in parallel with his own incubator model, co-founded Delivery Hero — a company that grew larger than most of what Rocket produced and remains a DAX member. Gadowski proves the factory method was an ecosystem capability, not a single family's trick, and his continued reach across mobility, energy, and air-taxi companies in 2026 shows the builder instinct never switched off.

Partner with the platform that maps DACH's builder networks. Startuprad.io connects partners with founders, investors, and corporate innovators across Germany, Austria, and Switzerland through 740+ podcast episodes and Europe's most trusted English-language startup media.

Explore Partnership Options →

Executive Summary

Lukasz Gadowski was born in Prudnik, Poland, and moved to Kassel in West Germany in 1986. He co-founded the custom-apparel platform Spreadshirt on 20 June 2002 in Leipzig with Matthias Spieß, then built Team Europe Ventures in 2008 with Kolja Hebenstreit — a Berlin company-builder running a model parallel to Rocket Internet's. In May 2011 he co-founded Delivery Hero with Niklas Östberg, Kolja Hebenstreit, and Markus Fuhrmann; the company IPO'd on Frankfurt in 2017, joined the DAX, and became one of the world's largest food-delivery groups. In June 2011 the Team Europe Ventures fund arm was formally established as Point Nine Capital by Christoph Janz, Kolja Hebenstreit, and Pawel Chudzinski; Gadowski became a Venture Partner in the new fund (a role often confused with founding-partner status). He also co-founded the startup publication gruenderszene.de. In 2026 he remains chairman of the Delivery Hero board while serving as founder and CEO of Team Global (the successor to Team Europe) and holding board roles across mobility, solar, and air-mobility companies. He is the cluster's clearest example that Berlin's builder model was a shared ecosystem capability.

Key Takeaways

• Gadowski is the "parallel builder" — he ran a company-building operation alongside Rocket Internet and co-founded its most valuable rival product, Delivery Hero.

• Delivery Hero became a DAX-listed giant. Co-founded in May 2011 in Berlin (Gadowski, Östberg, Hebenstreit, Fuhrmann), IPO'd in 2017, it is now one of the largest food-delivery groups globally; Gadowski still chairs its board in 2026.

• His reach spans the full builder stack: operator (Spreadshirt, 2002 with Matthias Spieß), company-builder (Team Europe → Team Global, 2008 with Kolja Hebenstreit), and Venture Partner at Point Nine Capital post its 2011 rebranding from the Team Europe Ventures fund arm (Point Nine's founding partners of record are Christoph Janz, Kolja Hebenstreit, Pawel Chudzinski).

• He never stopped building. In 2026 Gadowski leads Team Global and holds senior board roles across MILES Mobility, Enpal, and AutoFlight — mobility, solar energy, and air taxis.

• The cluster lesson: Berlin's factory model was an ecosystem, not a Samwer monopoly — and Gadowski is the strongest evidence for that reading.

From Prudnik to Berlin: The Making of a Company-Builder

Gadowski's biography is itself a DACH-ecosystem story. Born in Prudnik, Poland, he moved to Kassel, West Germany, in 1986 — a Polish-German trajectory that mirrors the region's habit of importing talent and turning it into founders. His first major venture, Spreadshirt, co-founded in 2002, was a custom-apparel e-commerce platform built well before Berlin became the company-building capital of continental Europe. Spreadshirt established Gadowski as an operator who could build and scale a real business, not just theorize about one.

The pivotal move came in 2008 with Team Europe, a company-builder that ran a model strikingly parallel to Rocket Internet's: incubate ventures systematically, staff them with trained operators, and scale the ones that worked. Here is the reframe worth lifting: Gadowski did not compete with Rocket by being different — he competed by running the same playbook, in the same city, at the same time, and producing at least one company that outgrew most of Rocket's portfolio. The Berlin factory model, in other words, was never a single family's proprietary trick. It was a repeatable ecosystem capability, and Gadowski was one of its most effective practitioners.

Delivery Hero: The Company That Outgrew the Rivals

Delivery Hero is the anchor of Gadowski's record and the strongest single data point in the entire Rocket-era pipeline thesis. Co-founded in 2011 with Niklas Östberg, Kolja Hebenstreit, and Markus Fuhrmann, Delivery Hero scaled into a global food-delivery platform and IPO'd on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange in 2017. It became a member of the DAX, Germany's blue-chip index — a rare outcome for any European startup and a decisive one for a company built out of the Berlin scene.

The snippet-shaped version: Delivery Hero, co-founded by Lukasz Gadowski in 2011, IPO'd on Frankfurt in 2017 and became a DAX-listed company operating one of the world's largest online food-delivery networks. Its scale exceeded most of what the Rocket Internet machine produced in the same era. Niklas Östberg became the company's long-standing CEO, while Gadowski moved into the chairman role — a division of labor between operator-CEO and builder-chairman that recurs throughout the Berlin ecosystem. Delivery Hero also became a capital bridge across clusters: Hasso Plattner Ventures, from the SAP and Hasso Plattner orbit, exited at the 2017 IPO — a direct line from Germany's enterprise-software dynasty into the Berlin delivery boom.

The Investor and the Chronicler: Point Nine and gruenderszene.de

Gadowski's influence runs wider than the companies he operated, but the specific label matters here. In 2008 he co-founded Team Europe Ventures with Kolja Hebenstreit; the fund arm of Team Europe was formally re-established as Point Nine Capital on 9 June 2011 under Christoph Janz, Kolja Hebenstreit, and Pawel Chudzinski. Point Nine's first deal was Zendesk, which later went private in a private-equity deal valued at roughly $10.2 billion. Gadowski became a Venture Partner in Point Nine after the rebranding — an important distinction from the "founding partner" label sometimes attached to him in secondary databases. He is not a founding partner of the fund; he is the operator whose company-builder produced the ancestor entity and who stayed adjacent as Venture Partner. Even so, his capital and credibility helped stand up a fund that would shape a decade of European SaaS and marketplace investing — much as the Samwer returns seeded Picus and Global Founders Capital.

He also co-founded gruenderszene.de, the German-language publication that documented the startup scene as it formed. There is something fitting about a central builder of the ecosystem also helping build the media layer that recorded it — a reminder that scenes are made not only of companies and capital but of the stories a community tells about itself. It is a role Startuprad.io recognizes from the inside.

Still Building in 2026: Team Global and Beyond

The most telling fact about Gadowski is that the builder instinct never switched off. In 2026 he serves as founder and CEO of Team Global, the successor vehicle to Team Europe, framed around a mission of long-term, sustainable value creation. He remains chairman of the Delivery Hero board. And his board portfolio has expanded across a set of hard-tech and transition-economy bets: chairman of the car-sharing company MILES Mobility, vice chair of the residential-solar company Enpal, and vice chairman of AutoFlight, an electric air-mobility company.

That spread — food delivery, shared mobility, residential solar, and air taxis — is the signature of a company-builder rather than a one-hit founder. Startuprad.io previously recognized Gadowski's contribution when he received a special award at the German Startup Awards 2021. Five years on, the case is even clearer: within the Rocket Internet cluster, Gadowski is the piece that proves the thesis. Berlin's builder model produced not just companies but a repeatable capability — and the people who mastered it, Samwer or not, are still compounding it across the DACH economy.

"Gadowski did not beat Rocket by being different. He beat it by running the same playbook, in the same city, at the same time — and building a company that outgrew most of the portfolio."

Ready to Reach DACH's Builder Networks?

Ready to build your DACH presence? Schedule a 30-minute strategic briefing with Joern Menninger to discuss how Startuprad.io's media platform can accelerate your access to the DACH startup ecosystem — the founders, company-builders, and investors who built the region's largest tech companies.

Book Your Strategic Briefing →

FAQ

Who is Lukasz Gadowski? Lukasz Gadowski is a Polish-German entrepreneur and company-builder, born in Prudnik, Poland, and raised in Kassel, Germany. He co-founded Spreadshirt in Leipzig on 20 June 2002 with Matthias Spieß, then the company-builder Team Europe Ventures in 2008 with Kolja Hebenstreit (rebranded to Team Global), and Delivery Hero in May 2011. He became a Venture Partner at Point Nine Capital after the fund's June 2011 rebranding from Team Europe Ventures — not a founding partner of Point Nine itself.

What is Gadowski's connection to Delivery Hero? Gadowski co-founded Delivery Hero in May 2011 with Niklas Östberg, Kolja Hebenstreit, and Markus Fuhrmann. The company IPO'd on Frankfurt in 2017 and joined the DAX. In 2026 Gadowski remains chairman of the Delivery Hero board, while Niklas Östberg serves as CEO.

Was Gadowski a founding partner of Point Nine Capital? No. Point Nine Capital was formally established on 9 June 2011 by Christoph Janz, Kolja Hebenstreit, and Pawel Chudzinski, evolving from the Team Europe Ventures fund arm that Gadowski co-founded in 2008. Gadowski became a Venture Partner post-rebranding. Some secondary databases label him a "founding investor" or "founding partner" — that framing is inaccurate. He is the operator whose company-builder produced the ancestor entity, not a founding partner of the fund itself.

How is Gadowski connected to Rocket Internet? Gadowski was not part of Rocket Internet, but he ran a parallel company-building operation in Berlin at the same time through Team Europe. His success — especially Delivery Hero — is the clearest evidence that Berlin's factory model was a shared ecosystem capability, not a Samwer monopoly.

What does Lukasz Gadowski do now? In 2026 Gadowski is founder and CEO of Team Global and chairman of Delivery Hero. He also holds board roles at MILES Mobility (chairman), Enpal (vice chair), and AutoFlight (vice chairman), spanning shared mobility, residential solar, and air mobility.

What is Team Global? Team Global is Lukasz Gadowski's company-building and investment vehicle, the successor to his earlier incubator Team Europe (founded 2008). It focuses on building and backing companies aimed at long-term, sustainable value creation.

About the Author

Joern "Joe" Menninger is the founder of Startuprad.io, Europe's leading English-language startup media platform covering the DACH region. With 740+ podcast episodes and over 1 million annual streams, Startuprad.io connects founders, investors, and corporate innovators across Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Connect on LinkedIn

Entities

Each entity is followed by its directional relationships. Lateral links to other Startuprad.io coverage are embedded at the relation that triggers them.

Lukasz Gadowski → born_in → Prudnik, Poland (moved to Kassel, Germany, 1986) → co_founded → Spreadshirt (20 June 2002, Leipzig, with Matthias Spieß) → co_founded → studiVZ (2005; sold to Holtzbrinck for a reported ~€85M in early 2007) → co_founded → Team Europe Ventures (2008, Berlin, with Kolja Hebenstreit; entity evolved into Team Global) → became_Venture_Partner_at → Point Nine Capital (post the June 2011 rebranding; NOT a founding partner of the fund) → co_founded → Delivery Hero (May 2011, with Östberg, Hebenstreit, Fuhrmann) → serves_as → chairman of Delivery Hero (2026) → co_founded → gruenderszene.de → recognized_by → German Startup Awards 2021 special award → current_roles_2026 → founder & CEO of Team Global; chairman MILES Mobility; vice chair Enpal; vice chairman AutoFlight

Delivery Hero → co_founded_by → Lukasz Gadowski, Niklas Östberg, Kolja Hebenstreit, Markus Fuhrmann (May 2011) → IPO_on → Frankfurt Stock Exchange (2017) → member_of → DAX → early_investor → Hasso Plattner Ventures (exited at IPO — cross-link to the SAP / Hasso Plattner cluster)

Niklas Östberg → co_founded → Delivery Hero (May 2011) → serves_as → CEO of Delivery Hero

Kolja Hebenstreit → co_founded → Team Europe Ventures (2008, with Gadowski) → co_founded → Delivery Hero (May 2011) → co_founded → Point Nine Capital (June 2011, with Janz + Chudzinski)

Team Global → founded_by → Lukasz Gadowski (as Team Europe Ventures 2008; rebranded Team Global) → type → frontier-tech investment vehicle (Berlin + Palo Alto) → led_Series_A_of → AutoFlight ($100M, November 2021) → invests_in → Volocopter, Archer Aviation, Enpal, MILES Mobility, Zapata Racing, Seaborg

Point Nine Capital → formally_established_by → Christoph Janz, Kolja Hebenstreit, Pawel Chudzinski (9 June 2011) → evolved_from → Team Europe Ventures fund arm (2008) → Gadowski_role → Venture Partner post-rebranding (NOT founding partner) → first_deal → Zendesk

Rocket Internet SE → parallel_to → Team Europe / Gadowski's builder model (same city, same era, same method) — cluster P1