Hundreds of players from Luxembourg’s startup ecosystem attended Monday’s launch of Luxembourg Startups Association, a new platform created by founders for founders.
Around 300 people registered for the event to hear from the ten founding board members of startups.lu and Luxembourg economy minister Franz Fayot.
“Someone once said […] ‘move fast and break things’. I prefer to say move fast and build things,” said Fayot in his opening speech.
Fayot outlined some of the current initiatives aimed at supporting startups, including the Fit 4 Start Accelerator programme, which in the autumn will include a Sustainable Development Goal category.
Having recently returned from New York where the government submitted its second voluntary review on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), he said: “You all have a contribution to making a better and more sustainable world both here at home but also in the developing world.”
The minister acknowledged that the ecosystem is still lacking when it comes to scaling up startups, not only in Luxembourg but in Europe. He congratulated the founders on the initiative, adding: “I am looking forward to exchanging with you.”
Ten founding board members
Patrick Kersten, a serial entrepreneur best known for his startups AtHome and Doctena, serves as chairman of the ten-strong management board of the Luxembourg Startups Association. He is joined by:
- Christophe Folschette, co-founder of Talkwalker;
- Eric Busch, founder nexten.io;
- Gaelle Haag, co-founder inclusive investment firm Startalers;
- Genna Elvin, co-founder small data firm Tada Web;
- Ilana Devillers, founder Food4All, a platform combating food waste;
- Marc Oswald, co-founder Open Assessment Technologies (OAT);
- Jacques Lorang, founder Lux Caddy, online grocery shopping platform;
- Tom Michels, co-founder Salonkee, a beauty treatment booking platform;
- Xavier Buck, founder Namespace and Euro DNS.
“At the heart of our commitment are initiatives helping to fund a startup, promote female empowerment and develop entrepreneurial education”
Patrick Kersten, chair Startups.lu
The association, which is registered as a not-for-profit, aims to “make sure that Luxembourg is a startup-friendly location that rewards innovation and digital entrepreneurs.”
Kersten said: “We aim to boost Luxembourg’s startup ecosystem by creating sustainable connections between its stakeholders. At the heart of our commitment are initiatives helping to fund a startup, promote female empowerment and develop entrepreneurial education.”
The association focuses on three pillars: a tool box containing segment specific legal documents for entrepreneurs and founders; representation of the ecosystem to share the pain points with local, national and regional governments and the sharing of knowledge between stakeholders, including founders but also experts like lawyers.
