Luca app receives 30 million euros

The funding is intended to help reposition the app. One of the investors is facing criticism over his Russian backers.

Luca app operator Culture4Life has received 30 million euros to repurpose its app, as Finance Forward reported. In the future, the Luca app will help digitize the restaurant industry. The money to the venture comes from investors Ramin Niroumand and Julian Teicke. Both are also expected to join the company's board of directors. Target Global is also taking a stake in Luca. The Berlin-based VC has close Finance Forward has close ties to Russia. One of the founders of the investment company is Alexander Frolov, the son of a Russian oligarch of the same name, who is apparently also the fund's backer.

Luca founder Patrick Henning would stress that the agreement with Target Global was made before the Russian invasion of Ukraine. He also said the investment firm assured him that no sanctioned individuals were involved and that the firm strongly condemned the war.

Henning co-founded the Luca app with Philipp Berger. According to the startup, about 450,000 restaurants and cultural institutions and about 40 million citizens registered with Luca during the pandemic. With the new funding, the app now wants to find solutions to enable booking, ordering and paying in restaurants and hotels. To do this, the founders want to develop the "Luca Pay" service and collaborate with IDnow, an ID card verification service.