Netlog

Founded in Ghent in 2003 by Lorenz Bogaert and Toon Coppens, Netlog was a European social networking platform that preceded Facebook's European expansion and reached tens of millions of users at its peak. The platform targeted a young, primarily European audience and competed in an era when regional social networks were still viable against American incumbents.

Netlog ultimately could not sustain competition against Facebook's global scale and shut down. However, its lasting contribution to the Belgian tech ecosystem extends far beyond its own commercial outcome. The company produced an alumni network that went on to found and lead some of Belgium's most important technology companies, including Showpad, In The Pocket, and Teamleader.

The concentration of founding talent, technical experience, and investor relationships generated by Netlog's early years helped establish Ghent as Belgium's most productive startup city outside Brussels. It remains the clearest example in Belgian tech history of how a single company, even one that fails, can seed an entire regional ecosystem.