Spotlight on .lumen: Romanian Deep Tech with Global Impact

At the recent ZF Tech Day, Cornel Amariei, founder and CEO of .lumen, shared key updates about the company’s mission and what’s next. .lumen is developing cutting-edge assistive glasses for the blind, combining AI, robotics, and advanced sensors to enable increased autonomy for visually impaired individuals.

During his ZF Tech Day appearance, the Founder emphasized that .lumen is not building a gadget; it is building infrastructure. He explained how the company’s technology is being positioned similarly to a wheelchair: not as a consumer product, but as a medically certified assistive device that can be reimbursed through public health systems. The .lumen system replicates the key functions of a guide dog in a wearable format, offering a scalable solution for the more than 40 million blind individuals worldwide, a number that is expected to increase significantly in the coming years.

What’s coming next?
The company is preparing to announce major updates in the coming months, focusing on clinical validation and integration into public health systems. .lumen is actively working with government institutions in both Europe and the US to bring its product to those who need it most.

As a Catalyst Romania portfolio company, .lumen represents exactly the kind of high-impact, scalable innovation we look to support, tech that changes lives, built by ambitious founders with a global mindset.

More info here!

Social Impact Spotlight: Vola.ro Wins Best Social Initiative Award

We congratulate Vola.ro received the Best Social Initiative award in the Internal ESG Excellence Awards by Resource Partners.

The award celebrates “Acasă Regăsit”, a long-running initiative that helps reunite families separated by labor migration. By covering travel costs for over 50 families each year, Vola brings real human impact to a tech-driven business. Earlier this year, the program also won Europe’s Best Family Support Initiative at the 2024 CSR Awards.

Catalyst Romania was the first institutional investor in Vola.ro, playing a key role in its development into a regional market leader. The Fund exited the company in 2024, selling its stake to Resource Partners, one of the active private equity firms in Romania, whom we consider an ideal partner to support the company’s next stage of growth. It is inspiring to see a company combine scale with empathy, integrating social responsibility into its long-term strategy.

Congratulations to the entire Vola team for this well-earned recognition!

Vola.ro has also launched the “Free Seats Together” initiative as part of its summer campaign, “Higher Standards,” offering adjacent seats at no extra cost for families traveling with children in August—exclusively via the GoVola app. The move challenges the common airline practice of charging fees for seating parents next to their kids, promoting fairness, safety, and empathy in air travel.

A long-time travel tech innovator backed by Catalyst Romania Fund I, Vola.ro continues to prove that strong business performance can go hand in hand with genuine customer care.

🔗 Learn more about the award and initiative: Vola on LinkedIn

Leanpay Launches New Shopify Plugin to Simplify Installment Payments 

We are excited to share that Leanpay has just released its newest integration for Shopify merchants. This plugin enables business partners to effortlessly offer Leanpay’s installment payment option on their online stores with no technical effort required from the merchant side.

Why does this matter for online stores?

• Leanpay manages the entire technical integration process
• Merchants do not need to invest time or resources in development
• Stores can benefit from increased conversion rates and higher average order values
• Customers enjoy a smooth, fully integrated checkout experience

Catalyst Romania has supported Leanpay’s journey from early-stage innovation to becoming a leading regional payment solutions provider. This new Shopify plugin is a clear example of Leanpay’s commitment to driving growth and innovation in e-commerce payments. If you are interested in integrating Leanpay with your Shopify store, reach out to their team. They are ready to help you grow!

Footprints’ New Smart Delivery Filters for Retail Media 

Footprints AI proves its continuous goal to push the boundaries of retail media technology and recently they just announced their newest tools:

Smart Delivery Filters enhance ad relevance by allowing brands to tailor campaigns using real-time shopper context—such as weather, in-store traffic, and proximity—alongside predictive audience segments. This dynamic targeting improves engagement and enables retailers to command premium CPMs or CPCs.

Copilot, Footprints’ new AI-powered tool, automates campaign optimization by analyzing shopper behavior and providing real-time recommendations. It helps marketers create more effective campaigns, optimize budgets, and boost ROI with less manual effort.

Together, these tools demonstrate Footprints AI’s leadership in transforming retail advertising through data-driven precision and intelligent automation, elevating  retail advertising to a new level of context and performance! We encourage you to watch the demo and discover how Smart Delivery Filters can transform retail media campaigns.

Lastly, at the Startup Moldova Summit, Footprints AI Co-founder Paul Gheorghiu joined Catalyst’s Marius Ghenea for a candid fireside chat on building and scaling a tech company in a complex industry like retail media. The conversation covered Footprints’ early vision, the role of AI in their platform, going international with a non-traditional business model, and the importance of resilient VC partnerships.

This discussion is full of insights worth revisiting: Watch the full video here

Career Opportunities within the portfolio

Leanpay 

Leanpay is hiring an Accountant in Bucharest to manage daily bookkeeping, invoicing, tax declarations, and financial reporting in compliance with Romanian regulations. This role is ideal for candidates with at least one year of finance experience, strong Excel and ERP knowledge, and interest in the fintech space. Experience in non-banking financial institutions (IFN) and knowledge of IFRS are a plus.

Location: Bucharest
View full job description and apply here

.lumen

.lumen is hiring a Software Tester to help develop cutting-edge assistive tech for the visually impaired. The role involves testing embedded and object-oriented software, collaborating closely with developers, and validating products in real-world conditions. Ideal candidates have experience with Python or C++, software versioning (e.g., Git), and familiarity with ROS and Linux systems.

This is an opportunity to work on Pedestrian Autonomous Driving tech for the blind, contributing directly to life-changing innovation.

Location: Cluj Napoca
View full job post and apply here

If you want to be up to date with news from the Catalyst Romania portfolio, visit our LinkedIn page!