Overview
Martens co-founded iDalko in Belgium in 2011, during Atlassian's global expansion, and the company built add-ons for organisations running Atlassian tools. Early Jira-to-Jira integration problems raised by users led to Exalate, created in 2015 with support from Start it @KBC and a development hub in Ukraine. One of those early users later joined the company and is now its product manager. From 2018 Exalate was the engine of the business, and in 2022 the consultancy business was sold, leaving a pure-play integration software company. In October 2024 Exalate reported nearly 5,000 active installs in the Atlassian Marketplace and 28.9% market share since inception. Exalate appeared on the Main Software 50 Benelux list compiled by Main Capital Partners in 2025 for the third consecutive year, where Martens said: "The first year you make a list like this, you're proving you belong. By the third year, you're proving you've kept growing." iDalko continues separately as an Atlassian Platinum Solutions Partner with offices in Berchem, Arnhem and Paris.
Francis Martens is co-founder and CEO of Exalate, an integration software company with its head office at IJzerenpoortkaai 3 in Antwerp. He started the business in Belgium in 2011 with Hilde Van Brempt under the name iDalko, building add-ons for companies using Atlassian tools. By 2018 Exalate had become the core of the business, and in 2022 the consultancy arm was sold so the company could work on Exalate alone. Exalate reports more than 2,500 customers, more than 200 certified partners and more than 8,000 active installs, and 26% year-over-year revenue growth in May 2026. Under Martens the company launched an AI co-pilot for script mode in 2024 and ran an AI research programme backed by VLAIO with partner Superlinear, which produced an AI Assist reaching 91% real-world code accuracy and 50% faster integration deployment.
Career history
In the news
- Hehe - the award is a recognition for the hard work from the people that make up the 'invisible engine' at Exalate. Congrats to Sherene, Peter and Anna
- Incorporating AI in a company is a challenge. It is like getting a big pitbull in the company. Very hard to manage. I'm happy that Sherene, Peter, Anna, and Hilde handles it pretty well.
- Great stuff folks. Exalate excels again. #exavibe
- The next 2 weeks are super exciting. - An Exalate team event in Spain - An Atlassian team event in Amsterdam Very different kinds of team events. Context is king. If you’re in Amsterdam, come find us at booth 403. #exavibe
- Join Exalate and Sopra Steria for 𝗦𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗶𝗴𝗻 𝗯𝘆 𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻, an invite-only breakfast on 7 October, before the expo floor gets busy at #Atlassian Team ’26 Europe. Digital sovereignty is tested when systems, teams, and organizations need to work together. How do you enable that collaboration without giving up control of the data? From cloud migration and European sovereignty pressures to a practical ServiceNow ↔ Jira case, the conversation will focus on selective sharing, data transformation, and governance and what these
- Loosely coupling systems has always been at the center of the Exalate design. At the time we never were thinking about governance and sovereignty. But it makes a lot of sense, especially now that integrations get a boost (thank you AI). Keeping control is a concern of many CIO's - we do expect quite some traction for this unique event.
- Hehe - thanks for mentioning us #atlassianecosystem much appreciated. More and more enterprises are using Exalate for moving to JSM, especially it allows to do it gradually, without disrupting operations too much. A lift and shift approach, where all the data is transferred overnight or during a weekend, is not possible when you have millions of entities. The 'live migration' approach keeps both environments in sync for a prolonged time. Teams have the option to switch from one system to another whenever they are ready for it.
- The http 403 response code means 'Forbidden', but in this case it's a hoax. Everyone is welcome. Count on us - Belgian Chocolates at gogo
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