Koen Christiaens
TLDR
Koen Christiaens co-founded expense management scale-up Rydoo (formerly Xpenditure), built it to over one million users, and co-founded Pitchdrive in 2020, now one of Belgium's most active early-stage VC funds.
Overview
Koen Christiaens built his reputation as a product-first founder at Xpenditure and Rydoo, the Belgian expense management stack he co-founded alongside Boris Bogaert and other operators from the Massive Media / Netlog orbit.
He started with Cardwise, a digital card and expense startup, then co-founded Xpenditure, which grew to over 10,000 B2B customers before being rebranded as Rydoo. At Rydoo, Koen served as both Chief Product Officer and co-founder, helping scale the platform to more than one million users across the world. Sodexo Group acquired Rydoo in March 2017.
After the exit, Koen co-founded Pitchdrive in 2020 alongside Boris Bogaert and Wim Derkinderen. The fund was initially built from a syndicate of Belgian angels drawn from the Netlog/Twoo/StarApps founder generation. Pitchdrive closed its third fund at EUR 40M in 2024. Koen also serves as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Smartfin.
He is an angel investor and board member in more than 20 startups, with a focus on sales, marketing, and partnerships-driven growth.
Career History
- Managing Partner at Pitchdrive (2020 - present), co-manages fund with Boris Bogaert and Wim Derkinderen
- Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Smartfin (current)
- CPO & Co-Founder at Rydoo / Xpenditure (2012 - 2017), scaled to 1M+ users, acquired by Sodexo Group 2017
- CCO & Co-Founder at Cardwise (2012)
- Angel Investor & Board Member, 20+ portfolio companies
Education
About
Koen brings a strong product lens to Pitchdrive's portfolio, with a consistent focus on the go-to-market and product-market fit questions that determine early survival for B2B SaaS companies. He is described as a "product guru" in the Belgian ecosystem.