“Coalition of digitizers”: luca brings renowned tech entrepreneurs on board

luca is repositioning itself for the future after the pandemic and is attracting renowned tech entrepreneurs Julian Teicke (wefox) and Ramin Niroumand (Finleap, Solarisbank) as partners to build a European technology champion “Made in Germany” who is setting new standards for the digitization of gastronomy. Together with CEO Patrick Hennig, the two renowned founders will powerfully drive the development of luca forward.

They are supported by an extended management team: LUCA co-founder and CTO of neXenio Philipp Berger will remain part of the team in the future, long-standing Salesforce manager Sascha Gartenbach takes over the position of Chief Business Development Officer (CBDO), experienced venture and product strategist Maximilian Schneider-Ludorff joins the company as Chief Product Officer (CPO) and team and company developer Philipp Eisbacher becomes Chief Operating Officer (COO).

Since its founding, Luca has been concerned with finding the best solutions to make social life possible in culture and gastronomy: In just a few months, Luca has contributed to abolishing paperwork almost throughout Germany and making the lives of restaurateurs and cultural workers easier. 40 million registered citizens, more than 450,000 restaurants and cultural establishments and more than 300 health authorities have regularly used Luca to help interrupt chains of origin. Luca is now focusing more on supporting restaurant operators who are particularly affected by the economic consequences of the pandemic with efficient tools. Luca's goal is to completely digitize the customer journey in restaurants, from ordering at the table to payment and tips.

In order to further develop LUCA technology and also expand the solution into European markets, luca has raised 30 million euros from investors with extensive expertise in the FinTech and payment solutions sector, including Target Global, The Delta and embedded/capital. luca is therefore ideally placed to provide restaurants and culture across Europe with secure digital solutions for more efficient processes including payment processing. According to current forecasts, the global market for mobile payments is expected to increase sixfold by 2028*.

Julian Teicke, member of the Advisory Board, says: “This is a unique opportunity to form a European champion who is able to counter big tech companies like Facebook and Google with an ethical data model. Users don't have to exchange their own data for services. You can decide for yourself which data is used at what time and for what purpose. That is the LUCA principle. ”

Ramin Niroumand, Founder and Managing Partner of embedded/capital, says: “It is now more important than ever to make social experiences, such as a visit to a restaurant, as convenient and efficient as possible. A completely and seamlessly digitalized process from booking to ordering to payment with just one digital wallet is beneficial for both customers and restaurateurs. The new luca app is exactly what the market is longing for — a fast, convenient and fully integrated fintech solution for a range of different companies. We're thrilled to be part of it and can't wait to use the product ourselves.”

Patrick Hennig, CEO and founder of luca, says: “We are delighted that we were able to recruit some of Europe's leading technology experts for our projects. Together, we can help restaurants and cultural institutions revive public life. With their impressive expertise in the fintech sector, Julian and Ramin will help us to further improve the customer experience and bring restaurants, culture and other businesses on equal footing with global payment providers. luca will thus become a technology solution from Germany for the whole of Europe. We are looking forward to gradually rolling out our new features to German users over the coming months. ”

Patrick Hennig says about the selection of Target Global as an investor: “We have been talking to Target Global for a long time, one of the most active and successful venture capital funds, which has played a significant role in building the European startup ecosystem and in which well-known European institutional investors invest. Target Global has accompanied many European startups on their journey to unicorn, including Delivery Hero, Flink, and Auto1. That is why we are pleased to have such an experienced partner at our side. Against the backdrop of the ongoing debate, Target Global has credibly assured us of two things: First, that no sanctioned persons are involved and that no sanctioned money is invested in the fund. Second, that Target Global and all people involved strongly condemn the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine. ”

luca continues to provide health authorities with the LUCA system: With an on-demand model, the federal states can flexibly decide whether and when they want to access the infrastructure. The contact tracing system is set to standby and no new check-in data is collected as long as the infection situation does not require it. Existing user data such as names and telephone numbers, as expressly required by the Infection Protection Act, will continue to be reserved exclusively for contact tracing for a specific purpose.

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