Boris Bogaert

Location

antwerp

Region

flanders

Role

co-founder, managing partner

Company

pitchdrive

linkedin.com

Expertise

entrepreneurship, venture-capital, expense-management, saas, early-stage-investing

TLDR

Boris Bogaert is an Antwerp-based serial entrepreneur who co-founded expense management scale-up Rydoo (acquired by Sodexo for EUR 60M in 2017), and went on to co-found Pitchdrive, one of Belgium's most active early-stage VC funds.

Overview

Boris Bogaert's career follows the arc of the Flemish tech founder generation: early operator at a major internet company, then serial founder with successful exits, then institutional investor.

He joined Massive Media, the Ghent company behind Netlog and Twoo, in 2007 as an early employee. That company was acquired by Meetic (IAC) in 2012. During and after that period, Boris co-founded two SaaS startups focused on digital expense management: Cardwise and Xpenditure, which were later combined and scaled as Rydoo. Sodexo Group acquired Rydoo in March 2017.

In 2020, Boris co-founded Pitchdrive alongside Koen Christiaens and Wim Derkinderen, identifying a gap in pre-seed and seed-stage investment infrastructure in Belgium. Pitchdrive raised its first fund from a syndicate of Belgian operators and angels, including Lorenz Bogaert, Toon Coppens, Jonas Dhaenens, and Luc Verelst. The third fund closed at EUR 40M in 2024.

Boris has also built a portfolio of angel investments, with around 11 portfolio companies across enterprise applications and Fintech.

Career History

Managing Partner at Pitchdrive (2020 - present), co-manages the fund alongside Koen Christiaens and Wim Derkinderen
Co-Founder at Rydoo / Xpenditure (2012 - 2017), expense management SaaS acquired by Sodexo Group in 2017
Co-Founder at Cardwise (2012), digital card and expense startup
Employee at Massive Media (2007 - 2012), publisher of Netlog and Twoo, acquired by Meetic/IAC in 2012
Angel Investor, portfolio of approximately 11 companies

Connections

Closely networked with the Netlog-origin founder cluster: Lorenz Bogaert, Toon Coppens, Nicolas Van Eenaeme, Koen Christiaens. Pitchdrive serves as the institutional investment vehicle for this network.

About

Boris represents the operator-turned-investor path that has become common in Belgian tech. His Rydoo exit provided the capital and credibility to build Pitchdrive into a proper institutional fund rather than a loose angel syndicate.

Notes

Not directly related to Lorenz Bogaert despite the shared surname. The two are ecosystem peers who co-invested through Pitchdrive rather than family connections.