Understory, which makes software for the experience industry, has been named Startup of the Year 2026 at the Aarhus Investor Summit. The company is expanding into larger European markets, but says its product and engineering base will stay in Aarhus.
Christian Berndt, vice president of product, and Kasper Hermansen, head of data, accepted the award on the company’s behalf at the summit. Understory’s platform covers booking, payment, guest communication and marketing for businesses that sell experiences. Until recently its focus was mainly on the Nordic countries. Last year it raised €12 million, just under 90 million Danish kroner, in a Series A round, and since then it has entered Italy and Spain and opened a sales office in Barcelona.
That move brings a step up in scale. Berndt said: “We’re now looking at markets that are about ten times as large.” The Series A marked the start of a phase in which Understory has to show that its product can serve many more customers in markets far bigger than those at home. For a company that grew up serving Nordic customers, that means adapting the product to many more businesses with different needs. To manage that, the company hires local staff in each market, and Berndt said employees need to understand local culture as well as the language.
Product managers, engineers and designers remain in Aarhus, and Berndt sees the city’s talent pool as central to the company’s growth. He pointed to the university and to local data and technology communities, saying: “I don’t think there’s a real ceiling in Aarhus.” Hermansen described a local scene in which start-ups can work with one another, and Berndt said the award carried particular weight because it came from the Aarhus community the company belongs to.
Berndt also stressed that a start-up ecosystem has to create the conditions for the next generation of founders, investors and talent, not only reward those already succeeding. For Understory, the coming period will be about proving that a platform built in Denmark can win customers in southern Europe while keeping development at home. The recognition from the Aarhus Investor Summit comes as the company works to turn its Series A funding into growth in those larger markets. The Barcelona office gives it a sales presence in one of them.
