Luca-Code in Kampen in Schleswig-Holstein: The app will soon serve new purposes
Photo:
Axel Heimken / dpa
Given that Luca is no longer involved in dealing with the pandemic, the app is going down pretty well with investors.
In a current round of financing, the Luca makers have collected 30 million euros to convert the application into a payment app for gastronomy and the cultural sector.
The venture capitalists for the Berlin Culture4Life GmbH include the companies Target Global, The Delta and embedded/capital, the operating company announced on Thursday in Berlin.
With the financing round, the FinTech entrepreneur Julian Teicke, the founder and head of the Berlin start-up Wefox, takes over as Chairman of the Board of Directors.
According to the managing director of Culture4Life, Patrick Hennig, the musician Smudo is still involved in the company.
The rapper from the band Die Fantastischen Vier helped design the app and advertised it on television, for example.
Patrick Hennig told the magazine "Capital" that they wanted to integrate "suitable fintech and ID solutions" into the software in order to be able to "book, order and pay in restaurants or check-in in hotels" with the app in the future do.
The article goes on to say that Luca should become a digital wallet in which users can store their ID card, vaccination certificate and means of payment.
The aim is to completely digitize the restaurant visit “from ordering at the table to payment and tips”.
Federal states paid millions for Luca
Patrick Hennig announced on Monday that the Luca system would no longer collect any contact details to contain the corona pandemic because the contracts with the federal states expired at the end of March.
However, the function can be reactivated if necessary.
A total of 13 federal states purchased Luca in spring 2021 for a total of more than 20 million euros.
According to Capital, twelve of the countries have decided to let their licenses expire.
The magazine writes that only Hamburg has signed a rest agreement in order to be able to use the app again at short notice should this become necessary.
The Luca app was originally developed to collect the contact details of restaurant guests and event visitors, which is required by most infection protection regulations, in the most data-protection-friendly and efficient way possible.
40 million registered users
However, the Luca system has repeatedly been the subject of severe criticism.
Skeptics were particularly bothered by the concept of central data storage.
Critics such as the Chaos Computer Club warned of possible misuse of the data collected via the Luca system.
The Luca encryption system criticized by critics apparently withstood attacks, but the Luca makers could not prevent the police in Mainz from having the data of guests illegally queried via the health department in order to clarify a possible crime.
According to Patrick Henning, more than 40 million users have registered with Luca.
The Luca system has recorded a total of over 330 million check-ins at locations where the app has been used.
mbo/dpa
