INCUBA Award 2024: Here are startup and investor of the year in Central Denmark Region
On Thursday 3 October, the INCUBA award was presented for the fourth time during the annual investor event Aarhus Investor Summit, which took place at Aarhus City Hall.
The award aims to recognise startups and investors in the Central Denmark Region that create significant results and contribute to pushing the local ecosystem forward.
Cleantech company Battman Energy and investor Christian Vinther won the honour and can now call themselves ‘Startup of the Year’ and ‘Investor of the Year’.
Startup of the Year: Battman Energy
Battman Energy, an innovative cleantech company, has quickly made waves in the industry with their energy solutions. The company focuses on sustainable energy storage and has already opened several energy parks, built a strong team and secured essential partnerships and funding to accelerate their growth.
‘Battman Energy represents the best in cleantech. They have impressively developed technologies that contribute to a greener future and show the way for how startups can combine innovation, realisability and sustainability. With the INCUBA award, we want to highlight companies that have both high ambitions and great scaling potential, and Battman Energy fully lives up to this,’ says jury member Jan Snogdal, partner at DLA Piper.
‘Battman Energy inspires with their innovative solutions and their ability to create sustainable change. They are a role model for the cleantech sector, bringing an important vertical in the city into play and an important part of the region's startup community,’ he adds.
Battman Energy participated in the final together with three other startups: Kanpla, Norfalk & Teitur Trophics.
BattMan Energy started in INCUBA StartupLab in 2023, quickly grew to 15 employees and expanded to a larger space. Today, they have created their own coworking space with a strong, independent culture - a perfect example of a successful INCUBA company that has used the space to scale and grow.
Investor of the Year: Christian Vinther
Christian Vinther is an experienced investor with a keen eye for the potential of early stage startups. He is affiliated with the Founderment Foundation, which works hard to promote Aarhus' startup ecosystem. Over the years, Founderment has supported several promising startups and helped them reach their growth potential.
‘Christian Vinther has made a remarkable effort to lift startups in the region. He excels at identifying promising companies and helping them scale to new heights. His commitment to the startup community and the investments he makes in Founderment create significant value, not only for the individual companies, but for the entire ecosystem,’ says jury member Søren Grønbæk Nielsen, Associate Director at EIFO and concludes:
‘The choice of Christian Vinther as Investor of the Year is supported by the many warm nominations with his name on it that we have received from startups he has helped over the years.’
Christian Vinther participated in the final together with angel investors Pernille Lynggaard Frandsen and Stefan Rosenlund.
The jury consisted of a number of players from the Aarhus startup ecosystem who bring both experience and expertise to the judging of the nominees:
- Jeppe Dørup, The Kitchen, Aarhus University
- Jan Snogdal, DLA Piper
- Søren Grønbæk, EIFO (Danish Export and Investment Fund)
- Lars Louring, DanBan (Danish Business Angels)
- Mathias Tannebæk, Danske Bank
- Sisse Melsen, The Link
- Finn Bødtker, Erhvervshus Midtjylland
- Jacob Mogensen, INCUBA