"From hours to minutes, and we walk into every conversation better prepared"

LRM is an investment company with a clear mandate: stimulate sustainable economic growth in Limburg. Unlike a traditional private equity fund chasing returns across borders, LRM invests close to home, backing startups, scaling companies, and innovative real estate projects across its home region. It is a focused, long-term approach that requires reliable, fast, and local intelligence.

Two members of the LRM team shared how openthebox changed the way they work: Friso Alenus, Junior Financial Analyst, and Jeroen Symens, Senior Business Analyst.

The Challenge: Old Tools, New Expectations

Before openthebox, LRM relied on a data platform that offered detailed information but came with a significant drawback: an outdated interface that made day-to-day work slow and frustrating.

"It was really an old tool," says Friso. "No visual overviews, not easy to use, and if you wanted to combine data points or see the full picture of a company structure, it took a lot of time."

The friction had a deeper effect than just wasted hours. As the interface became harder to use, fewer people reached for it in their daily workflow.

Jeroen describes a similar problem from his perspective as a senior analyst: "Data was very fragmented. We had to gather information from different sources, annual accounts, various databases, public records, and build the structure ourselves. It was especially hard when dealing with larger companies with many subsidiaries and consolidated figures."

Mapping a group structure accurately, a core task when evaluating family businesses or investment targets, could take hours or sometimes an entire day.

Why openthebox

LRM started by evaluating three platforms. Pricing was comparable across all three. What tipped the decision was not cost. It was fit.

"openthebox is a local Flemish company," says Friso. "That matters to us. We have a regional focus, and we highly support local businesses. The interface is also highly intuitive, user-friendly, and fast."

The team also recognised that their international search needs were minimal. Less than 5% of daily queries went beyond Belgian companies. openthebox's deep focus on the Belgian market was a strength, not a limitation.

Getting internal buy-in was straightforward. Rather than pitching a single tool, LRM's team framed it as building a best-of-breed data suite: openthebox for local Belgian intelligence, PitchBook for global coverage. It was a clear, logical case. Management agreed, and that was that.

"The implementation was easy because the tool is so visual," Friso adds. "We had very little friction from the team compared to switching to other tools in the past. After the onboarding demo from openthebox, most people had everything they needed."

What Changed

For Jeroen, the most immediate impact came from the spider view, openthebox's visual map of how companies, people, and entities connect.

"Before, to understand a group structure with multiple subsidiaries, we would check different tools, cross-reference, and still wonder if we had everything. Now I look at the spiderweb and I have it. What used to take hours, sometimes a full day for a large group, is now a matter of minutes."

LRM looks closely at family businesses and ownership dynamics: who leads the company, who are the family members involved, how ownership is structured across generations.

"It gives us a lot of strength when we go into a conversation with a founder or owner," says Jeroen. "We are more prepared. We ask better questions. We feel more confident in what we say because we know we have the right data."

For Friso, the improvement in filtering and sector search changed how LRM approaches market research. "With our old platform, you had to type in a lot of details and parameters just to get a list of companies. With openthebox, filtering by industry or region is fast and intuitive. We can build an overview quickly and focus on what matters."

The consolidated figures feature also stood out. LRM works with groups that have complex structures, and being able to trust the consolidated numbers without manually assembling them from separate entity reports removes both time and risk of error.

The Results

• Group structure analysis: From hours or a full day down to minutes with the spider view
• Sector and regional searches: Fast, filterable, and reliable for Limburg-focused deal sourcing
• Conversation quality: Better-prepared meetings with founders and business owners
• Team adoption: Near-frictionless rollout thanks to an intuitive, visual interface
• Deal filtering: Faster identification of which dossiers do not fit LRM's criteria, allowing the team to say no quickly and focus on what does

Lessons and Outlook: Data as a Competitive Foundation

"We see a lot of data today," says Jeroen. "But is it the right data? That is the question. With openthebox, we have reliable, usable data in one source. That gives us comfort when presenting to the board, or when sitting across from a business owner. We make decisions based on this data and we need to know it is correct."

For LRM, the shift to openthebox is part of a broader recognition that data quality matters as much as data quantity, especially in an era where AI tools can generate answers fast but cannot always guarantee what those answers are based on.

That means for other investment companies considering a more data-driven approach, Friso's advice is direct: "Data will be very important going forward. Being forward-looking, staying on top of the technology that is out there. That is one of the key lessons we have taken from this experience."

For LRM, openthebox is not just a replacement for an outdated tool. It is a foundation for sharper analysis, stronger conversations, and better decisions in the region they know best.