The company was established in 1923 by Axel Holstensson (full name Axel Harald Holstensson; 1889–1979). He was the son of an ore loader and had no training other than a few years of elementary school. He worked as an electrician and eventually as a travel fitter and foreman at ASEA years from 1907 to 1918. In his spare time, he studied electrical engineering. In 1918, he moved to Motala and started an electronics store and installation company Motala Electric Agency (). The post-war depression, however, almost led to bankruptcy, the situation was critical and the resort was to start building radios. Components procured from Germany and it was shown to be possible to sell a number of devices at a profit, so Axel Holstensson registered the Luxor Radio Factory Company () in 1923. The name Luxor was apposite and then very topical as the Tomb of Tutankhamun had just been discovered near the city of Luxor in Egypt.