Hendrik Franck
TLDR
Hendrik Franck is co-founder and CEO of Exhibitly, a Ghent-based AI & Machine Learning startup personalising B2B event websites for trade-show visitors.
Overview
Hendrik Franck previously worked at Belgian moving-services scale-up Smooved before co-founding ReadyEvent, a project management tool for event planners built inside Start it @KBC. After ReadyEvent failed to find sufficient traction he and Brent Coppens pivoted twice, ultimately landing on Exhibitly in 2025.
He runs Exhibitly out of Wintercircus in Ghent and serves as CEO. In the company's first nine months the team signed 114 events with organisers including Informa, Easyfairs, the Hyve Group, and the Dubai World Trade Centre, and closed a EUR 1.4M pre-seed round in May 2026 led by NewSchool.vc with 100IN and Allusion Ventures. He describes ReadyEvent as the school where the founders learned what the market actually needed, framing the pivots as a feature rather than a setback.
Sources
- https://be.linkedin.com/in/hendrik-franck
- https://www.eu-startups.com/2026/05/ghent-based-exhibitly-raises-e1-4-million-to-bring-ai-personalisation-to-b2b-events/
- https://itdaily.com/news/business/exhibitly-raises-1-4-million-euros-to-modernize-b2b-events-with-ai/
- https://tech.eu/2026/05/19/exhibitly-bags-eur14m-to-modernise-b2b-events/
- https://theorg.com/org/exhibitly-ai/org-chart/hendrik-franck