Lorenz Bogaert

Co-Founder & CEO, StarApps; Co-Founder, Pitchdrive; Angel Investor at starapps

Reviewed Updated Aug 3, 2026

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Belgian serial entrepreneur based in Ghent, co-founder and CEO of StarApps venture studio and co-founder of Pitchdrive (40M Fund III in 2024). Angel and studio investments concentrate in B2B SaaS in Belgium/Benelux, with verified portfolio including Aikido Security, Henchman, Salesflare, and Realo. Co-founded Netlog (94M users), Rydoo, Delta (sold to eToro), and Realo (sold to Immoweb in 2024). Self-describes as an early-stage guy.

Location Ghent, Belgium

Check Size Angel checks, typically small tickets alongside Pitchdrive fund investments; personal ticket sizes not publicly disclosed with primary-source confirmation

Last Verified Investment Aikido Security (Series B) — Jan 14, 2026

Social @lorenzbogaert LinkedIn

Stage Focus

pre-seed seed series-a

Sector Focus

SaaS fintech proptech cybersecurity consumer-internet marketplace

Background

Lorenz Bogaert, born 1976, is a Belgian serial internet entrepreneur based in Ghent ¹. In 1999 he co-founded ASL.TO with Toon Coppens in Ghent — the site that was renamed Redbox in 2002 and then Netlog around 2006, reaching over 94 million registered users across 20+ languages at its peak ². Netlog was folded into the Massive Media group, which in 2011 launched Twoo, the dating/social-discovery product co-founded by Bogaert and Coppens ³. In December 2012 Massive Media was acquired by Meetic (subsequently part of IAC/Match Group) ³¹.

Bogaert went on to co-found or help launch several other Belgian tech companies that produced exits: Rydoo (formed in 2018 from the merger of Xpenditure and iAlbatros, backed by Sodexo, which took ownership) ⁴; Delta, a cryptocurrency portfolio tracker acquired by eToro in November 2019 ⁵⁶; and Realo, the property-data scale-up he co-founded in 2014 with Toon Coppens, Nicolas Van Eenaeme and Vincent Verlee, acquired by Immoweb (an AVIV Group / Axel Springer subsidiary) on January 23, 2024 ⁷⁸.

Today Bogaert is co-founder and CEO of StarApps, a Ghent-based venture studio, with co-founder Nicolas Van Eenaeme and the Realo/Netlog crew ⁹⁷. He also co-founded Pitchdrive, an Antwerp-based early-stage venture fund, in 2020, alongside Jonas Dhaenens (Team.Blue), Boris Bogaert, Wim Derkinderen, Koen Christiaens (Xpenditure/Rydoo), Toon Coppens and Luc Verelst (Droia) ¹⁰. Pitchdrive Fund III closed at €40M in May 2024 ¹⁰. He is a co-founder and chairman at Bizzy ¹¹, and he was listed as Belgium’s 4th most important angel investor in 2019 by an Antwerp Management School ranking cited on his Wikipedia page ¹. He was named Young Entrepreneur of the Year in Belgium in 2008 ¹.

Stated Thesis

Bogaert has not published a formal personal investment thesis. In his and& Festival 2023 speaker bio he is described as having co-founded Pitchdrive as an “investment platform and 30M€ fund” and StarApps as a venture builder ⁹. He is quoted in the Henchman seed-round announcement (February 2022) explaining what attracted Pitchdrive to that deal: “Henchman manages to cleverly address a widespread problem faced by lawyers. With Pitchdrive, we can help the strong team behind Henchman grow even faster on a global scale.” ¹²

In a 2022 Bloovi interview he framed his stage preference sharply: “Ik ben en blijf een early stage guy. Als ze komen aandraven met compliance officers en preventieadviseurs, dan ben ik weg.” (“I am and remain an early-stage guy. When they show up with compliance officers and prevention advisors, I’m out.”) ¹³

Inferred Thesis

This analysis is based on 4 verified investments where Bogaert’s participation (personally or via StarApps) is confirmed by a primary or contemporaneous source: Aikido Security (Series B, 2026-01-14) ¹⁴¹⁵, Henchman (Seed, 2022) ¹², Salesflare (Seed, 2018) ¹⁶, and Realo (co-founder equity via StarApps venture-studio spinout, 2014) ⁷. Signal by NFX lists 51 total investment positions and Tracxn cites 43 companies; those aggregate counts are not individually cross-referenced with primary sources in this profile ¹⁶¹⁷.

Sector distribution (small verified sample): Software-heavy — cybersecurity (Aikido), legal-tech SaaS (Henchman), sales-CRM SaaS (Salesflare), proptech (Realo). Aggregator-listed portfolio (per Signal/NFX and Angel Match) extends the same B2B-SaaS bias into logistics/robotics (OTIV), contract lifecycle (Contractify), field-service (FixForm), and consumer marketplaces (Maison Sport) ¹⁶¹⁸. Sample is too small for reliable sector percentages.

Stage distribution: Early-stage biased. The Pitchdrive Fund III thesis states pre-seed/seed tickets of €250K–€2M ¹⁰. Bogaert’s own quote — “I am and remain an early-stage guy” ¹³ — is consistent with the observed pre-seed / seed / early-Series-A footprint. Signal-listed 2025-2026 entries include multiple pre-seed and seed rounds (Vision Lab, Maurice & Nora, Feedelity, Donna, Stardust, Eagl, Driven) ¹⁶, with Aikido Series B (2026) as an outlier late-stage participation.

Geographic focus: Predominantly Belgium/Benelux with some pan-European extension. Aggregator counts cited on Angel Match state 31 of 37 investments are in Belgian startups ¹⁸. Pitchdrive itself has offices in Antwerp, Ghent, Amsterdam, Berlin, Barcelona, London and New York ¹⁰. StarApps is Ghent-based ⁹⁷.

Co-investor patterns: The recurring counterparties are the “Netlog/Massive Media” cluster and the broader Ghent tech network. Toon Coppens co-founded Netlog, Twoo, Realo and StarApps with Bogaert and shows up again as a co-investor on Maurice & Nora (2026, per Signal/NFX) ¹⁶⁷. Aikido’s Series B round-mates include multiple Ghent operators — Louis Jonckheere and Pieterjan Bouten (Showpad), Hendrik Isebaert (Showpad), Joris Van Der Gucht (Silverfin), Gilles Mattelin and Jorn Vanysacker (Henchman) — most of whom appear elsewhere in Bogaert’s or Pitchdrive’s portfolio ¹⁵¹⁴¹².

Founder profile patterns: Repeat operators and product-technical teams. Bogaert has publicly stated a preference for founders committed to the work: “Ik leerde dat ik moest focussen. Of een normale job kiezen, of 100 procent gaan voor het ondernemerschap. Je kan niet een beetje ondernemer zijn.” (“I learned I had to focus — either choose a regular job, or go 100 percent for entrepreneurship. You can’t be a part-time entrepreneur.”) ¹³

Notable pattern vs. framing: The recurring co-investment with Pitchdrive limited partners and StarApps co-founders in Ghent means many “personal angel” checks are entangled with the Pitchdrive fund and the StarApps studio — the distinction between “Bogaert angel,” “StarApps venture-studio equity,” and “Pitchdrive fund” is not always cleanly disclosed in secondary sources. Primary sources cited here name him or “StarApps” specifically.

Portfolio

Company	Year	Stage	Source
Realo	2014	Co-founder equity via StarApps	⁷
Salesflare	2018-05-28	Seed (€350K, with 2 other investors)	¹⁶
Henchman	2022	Seed (€3M, Pitchdrive led)	¹²
Aikido Security	2026-01-14	Series B ($60M; StarApps participated)	¹⁵¹⁴

This is a small, primary-source-verified table. Signal by NFX and Tracxn list 40+ additional portfolio positions across Bogaert’s personal, StarApps, and Pitchdrive activity — including OTIV, Contractify, FixForm, Bizzy, Sherpany, Accurat, Qollabi, Growbots, Cardify, Hotel Manager, Maison Sport, Donna, Stardust, Eagl, Driven, Vision Lab, Maurice & Nora and Feedelity — but round-level primary citations linking Bogaert personally to those specific rounds were not obtained within the time budget for this profile ¹⁶¹⁷¹⁸. Entries above represent only rounds where a primary or contemporaneous press source names Bogaert or StarApps.

In Their Own Words

“I am and remain an early-stage guy. When they show up with compliance officers and prevention advisors, I’m out.” (translated from Dutch: “Ik ben en blijf een early stage guy. Als ze komen aandraven met compliance officers en preventieadviseurs, dan ben ik weg.”) — Lorenz Bogaert, Bloovi interview, 2022 ¹³

“I’m addicted to the adrenaline of explosive growth.” (translated from Dutch: “Ik ben verslaafd aan de adrenaline van explosieve groei.”) — Lorenz Bogaert, Bloovi interview, 2022 ¹³

“There’s no magic formula and there are no shortcuts. The essence of entrepreneurship in my view is very simple: persevere, never give up.” (translated from Dutch: “Er is geen toverformule en er zijn geen shortcuts. De essentie van ondernemerschap is volgens mij heel eenvoudig: doorzetten, nooit opgeven.”) — Lorenz Bogaert, Bloovi interview, 2022 ¹³

“I learned I had to focus — either choose a regular job, or go 100 percent for entrepreneurship. You can’t be a part-time entrepreneur.” (translated from Dutch: “Ik leerde dat ik moest focussen. Of een normale job kiezen, of 100 procent gaan voor het ondernemerschap. Je kan niet een beetje ondernemer zijn.”) — Lorenz Bogaert, Bloovi interview, 2022 ¹³

“I have trouble with the statement that failing is not a big deal. If you have an idea for a problem that turns out not to exist, then you pivot.” (translated from Dutch: “Ik heb het moeilijk met de uitspraak dat falen niet erg is. Als je een idee hebt voor een probleem dat niet blijkt te bestaan, dan pivoteer je.”) — Lorenz Bogaert, Bloovi interview, 2022 ¹⁹

“Henchman manages to cleverly address a widespread problem faced by lawyers. With Pitchdrive, we can help the strong team behind Henchman grow even faster on a global scale.” — Lorenz Bogaert, quoted in Silicon Canals coverage of Henchman’s €3M seed round, February 2022 ¹²

“Realo becomes part of AVIV Group (Axel Springer) after its acquisition by Immoweb. What a ride once again! So humbled by this entrepreneurial journey and so thankful for the outcome. Huge thank you and respect to my co-founders at Realo (and at many other ventures through StarApps): Toon Coppens, Nicolas Van Eenaeme and Vincent Verlee. Thank you to our fantastic team and all our customers, partners, investors and advisors!” — Lorenz Bogaert, LinkedIn post announcing the Immoweb/AVIV acquisition of Realo, January 2024 ²⁰

What Founders Say

No independently sourced founder testimonials naming Lorenz Bogaert personally were located during this research pass. Coverage of his portfolio rounds (Henchman, Aikido, Salesflare) contains investor commentary and product framing but not portfolio-founder quotes about working with Bogaert specifically.