Lena Gercke Invests in Joy_ and Fronts Zugutschein TV Campaign

Berlin startup Joy_ has brought on model and entrepreneur Lena Gercke as an investor. She is also the face of a nationwide TV campaign that is launching now for the company's Zugutschein, a gift voucher that lets recipients decide freely what to buy.

Founders Titus Hüsken and Franz Koller appeared on the German show "Die Höhle der Löwen" in 2025. There they won over investor Janna Ensthaler, who offered 350,000 euros for 15 percent of the company. Since then, Joy_ has grown from an online voucher into a product that is also sold through retail chains.

A new product category

Recipients can personalize the voucher with their own photos and videos via a QR code. Hüsken says the founders wondered whether they had created a new product category rather than just another voucher. That led to the name Zugutschein, a play on the idea that the product is "too good to be true". Joy_ remains the brand, the Zugutschein is the product.

According to Hüsken, Gercke was initially unsure what she had to do with vouchers. After the founders explained the concept, she came on board. Joy_ hopes she will bring reach and a "young, fresh aura" that vouchers rarely have. Hüsken described the shoot as "super relaxed".

Retail rollout and revenue goal

The Zugutschein is now available at MediaMarkt, Saturn, Müller, Thalia, Edeka and Deutsche Post, as well as online through the company's website and partner platforms. According to Hüsken, more than 70,000 vouchers have been sold so far. The attention from the TV show helped the startup get noticed by large retailers.

The company is targeting 5 million euros in revenue for 2026. Hüsken says he is "very, very, very, very confident" of reaching it, and that current figures put the company on track. Next, the founders want to place the Zugutschein in as many large retail chains as possible, with the broader aim of changing the image of gift vouchers.