Luma Financial triples footprint with downtown HQ expansion

One of Cincinnati’s fastest-growing startups has upgraded and expanded its headquarters as it continues to grow its team and global footprint.

Luma Financial Technologies, a fintech that helps advisers buy, create and track more complex structured products and annuities, has tripled its space in downtown Cincinnati, recently overtaking the entire 25th floor in the US Bank Tower at 425 Walnut St.

Click through the gallery above to take a look inside.

The move comes amid a hiring spree as Luma continues to add a number of new international markets.

CEO Tim Bonacci said the new office, which offers best-in-class amenities and innovative design, also puts the company in the best position to continue to add talent. The company has 100 local employees — almost double the 54 it had when it first announced the HQ move in early 2021.

That number could hit 200 by the end of next year.

“We’ve been growing at a pretty active clip and actually ran out of space quite a while ago,” he told me. “I'm a huge proponent of people interacting in person, and this is a space where people can do that much more effectively. It's very forward thinking.”

Bonacci, a former bank executive at Fifth Third and PNC, founded Luma in mid-2018. The company quickly landed initial investments from Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley, and its customers currently include some of the largest financial institutions in the world.

Luma’s technology helps financial professionals more easily manage and alternative investments, like structured products, annuities or credit-linked notes.

These are typically considered more complex products, Bonacci said, so advisors benefit from the company’s technology, which helps make the overall process much more “transparent, accessible and mainstream.”

 At last count, it handled tens of billions of dollars a year in structured product volume.

Lately, global growth has been a significant driver, while the company also is looking to expand its product set. Luma moved into Latin America in 2020 and into Europe — the company now maintains an office in Zurich, Switzerland — in 2021. This May, the company formally announced its entry into Canada, fueled by new investments from Toronto-based TD Bank Group and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, or CIBC.

Bonacci said Luma will be looking to expand further East in short order.

“While our product is a niche product, globally it's a trillion-dollar industry, just because the financial markets are so big,” he said. “We have a significant amount of room to grow.”

As part of the expansion, the company did receive a four-year, 35% non-refundable job creation tax credit worth $171,712 from the city in 2021. The company also received a 2%, eight-year tax credit worth $935,000 from the state. In its application, Luma said Cincinnati was competing with New York, where the company maintains another office, for the jobs.

Before signing on to the 25th floor, Luma occupied half the 24th floor in the same building. It will maintain that space, Bonacci said. Coupled with the floor above, Luma now occupies about 25,000 square feet.

The office is highlighted by a virtual reality golf simulator, which also includes hockey, football, zombie dodge ball, baseball, rugby and soccer.

Other features include:

While Luma did not disclose its investment in the office move, Bonacci said the space aligns the company with some of the top fintech firms in the world.

While there’s constant push from outsiders to open offices in cities like San Francisco, he said the company is committed to growing the bulk of its team here.

“The benefit of having a high-growth fintech in the city, it brings in a certain skillset and mentality,” he said. “I’d love to see more of that. And that’s one of the benefits we can bring.”