Lars Windhorst

Lars Windhorst (born November 22, 1976) is a German entrepreneur and co-founder of Sapinda Group. He is best known for being the owner of fashion company La Perla.

In 2015, he was ranked in the Sunday Times Rich List, with his net worth reported as being £320 million. He notably founded businesses in his teens, filing for bankruptcy in 2003 as a result of the Dot-com bubble. The following year, Windhorst co-founded the Sapinda Group. Following restructuring, Sapinda Holding BV, founded in 2009, is the group's parent company. Windhorst is its Non-Executive Chairman.

In December 2007, shortly after Christmas, Windhorst was severely injured during a plane crash in Kazakhstan. One of the pilots died when the Bombardier Challenger 604 hit a wall and exploded after leaving the runway in Almaty.

Early life

At the age of 14, Windhorst, the son of a local stationery store owner, turned the family garage in his hometown of Rahden into a makeshift computer lab. He mobilised his classmates to help him build PCs, which he later sold in his father's shop, while seeking suppliers of individual components in China.

In 1993 while still at school, he established his first company. He was helped in administering its operations by his parents, given he was underage, such as by signing contracts on his behalf and driving him to work. Windhorst became well known as one of the most successful young entrepreneurs in Germany. Dubbed the "Wunderkind" and Germany's Bill Gates, he was invited to join the former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl on a trip to Asia as part of the official government delegation. It was on this trip that Windhorst developed international business contacts, being the youngest participant in the World Economic Forum in Davos.