Overview
Toon Coppens, born 1981, is one of the three original founders who built the Ghent tech cluster. He graduated as Master of Science in Informatics at Ghent University, and during his first year at university in 2000 he launched the chat platform that would become Netlog.
The site started as ASL.TO, founded in 1999 by Lorenz Bogaert and Toon Coppens. Toon served as CTO, building the chat and social infrastructure. The platform grew through multiple rebrands (Facebox, Bingbox, Redbox, Netlog) to over 94 million registered users in 20+ languages by March 2010.
In January 2011, the Massive Media group was formed, and Netlog was integrated. Toon and Lorenz also launched Twoo, a dating platform, in 2011. Massive Media was acquired by Meetic (IAC) in 2012 for approximately USD 25 million.
Post-exit, Toon co-founded Realo alongside Lorenz Bogaert and Nicolas Van Eenaeme, a data-driven real estate Marketplace. He has also been active as an angel investor with approximately 5 portfolio companies, and serves as Board Advisor at Pitchdrive, the institutional VC vehicle built by the Netlog/Rydoo founder generation.
Toon is the technical founding pillar of the Ghent mafia. While Lorenz became the more visible public face, Toon's platform engineering made Netlog operationally possible at scale before cloud infrastructure was commonplace. He also co-founded Opus Labs, the Ghent product studio behind the Delta crypto tracker acquired by eToro in 2019, and StarApps, the venture builder co-founded with Lorenz Bogaert and Nicolas Van Eenaeme. His continued engagement with Pitchdrive as Board Advisor keeps him connected to the institutional layer of the ecosystem.
Career history
- Board Advisor2020 - presentPitchdrivethe Netlog-generation VC fund
- Co-Founderproptech, real estate data platform, post-2012Realo
- Co-Founder & CTO2011 - 2012Match Group Belgiumacquired by Meetic/IAC 2012
- Co-Founder & CTO1999 - 2013Netlog94M+ users, 20+ languages
- Angel Investorapproximately 5 portfolio companies
- FounderNetlog
- FounderStarApps
- FounderPitchdrive
- FounderOpus Labs
- FounderMatch Group Belgium
Education
Master of Science in InformaticsGhent University(graduated approx. 2003)
Investments
Accurat
Accurat is a Ghent-based location intelligence platform helping retailers and brands understand real-world consumer behavior using GDPR-compliant mobility data.
In the news
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- Wat een avond! Vorige week mocht ik op het Show Up event van DPG Media Advertising België presenteren hoe we Local Impact Made Easy maken voor Belgische adverteerders en agencies. 🚀 Het geeft ontzettend veel energie om te zien hoe al onze DPG Media collega’s vanuit hun eigen expertise samen een ijzersterke, end-to-end inspirerende avond neerzetten. De perfecte balans tussen diepgang en puur entertainment! Aan de ene kant doken we de inhoud in met sessies over: - Optimale media planning strategie - De strijd tegen ad fraud binnen
Related profiles
Lorenz BogaertCo-founders- PNicolas Van EenaemeCo-founders
Nicolas Van HoordeCo-foundersStarAppsAdvises
- YGhentLocation
Boris BogaertEcosystem peers
Koen ChristiaensEcosystem peers
Peter SymonsEcosystem peers
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