NYHED - 23 August 2022

INCUBA Award jury member Lars Louring: "Being a good investor is a very special craft"

Danish Business Angels' Investor Relations Manager, 39-year-old Lars Louring, will as part of the jury help select the winners of "Startup of the Year" and "Investor of the Year" for the INCUBA Award 2022. DanBAN is a non-profit network for business angels and is a partner at the Aarhus Investor Summit, where the award is presented. With Lars Louring's participation in the jury, DanBAN is helping to celebrate the investors and startups that are leading the way and inspiring others with their efforts in the startup ecosystem in Central Jutland.

Which startups and investors deliver significant results and contribute to pushing the local ecosystem forward? INCUBA asks this question with this award, which aims to shine a spotlight on success, ambition, courage, innovation and those who go the extra mile for their business or investments.

For Lars Louring, the INCUBA award celebrates the people who strive every day to make the world a better place, either through their own business or by helping companies move forward as an investor. To win the Startup of the Year award, Lars believes there are several different elements that need to be present:

"The company must have great potential and make a difference for many people. It should be scalable and have an international focus. If the company can show traction in terms of revenue, soft funding, research results, IP, etc. But most importantly, it's about the team and how they are covered in terms of competencies in the different positions," says Lars Louring.

But startup of the year is not the only award that will be presented in October. We also have to find the investor of the year. According to Lars Louring, it is crucial for startups to have investors on board who have tried to build a company themselves and possibly also made an exit. Both the knowledge and network that investors bring with them can prove to be just as important as the money they bring to the table:

"As an investor, you come across many startups on your way and for me, a good portion of helpfulness and curiosity is important - also towards the startups that you are not necessarily interested in investing in," says Lars Louring and adds:

"Of course, the investor of the year must also have invested in a number of startups and taken leads on some of them. Being a skilled investor is also a craft and a professionalism, and that should shine through."

Role models in the ecosystem are important

As a new startup, it is important to have other companies to look up to, which is why Lars Louring believes it is crucial that the Central Denmark Region and Aarhus get more startups that other entrepreneurs can be inspired by:

"When you as a start-up company see others succeed, it gives you courage and belief in things. It's important to have role models, and the more startups we get in the Central Denmark Region, the easier it will be to find each other and create synergies between companies," he says.

The INCUBA Award 2022 will highlight the biggest sources of inspiration that are particularly instrumental in taking the ecosystem to the next level. And Lars Louring is happy to contribute to this:

"I am part of the jury for the INCUBA award because I work in the intersection between startups and investors on a daily basis, and by being part of the jury, I can contribute to honoring the startups and investors who put their heart and soul into their companies every day," he says and concludes:

"INCUBA always guarantees great and well-executed events. I'm therefore looking forward to seeing the whole setup and feeling the good atmosphere that usually prevails. I'm also looking forward to talking to startups and meeting people from my network."

Many thanks to Lars Louring for sharing his thoughts on this year's INCUBA awards, which will be presented at the Aarhus Investor Summit at Aarhus City Hall on October 6th. You still have time to nominate your favorite candidates for "Startup of the Year" or "Investor of the Year".