Pieterjan Bouten
Founder & General Partner, Entourage; Co-founder, Showpad at entourage
Reviewed Updated Jun 13, 2026This profile is AI-generated. If you spot an error, please help us fix it by sharing a URL to the correct information.
Background
Pieterjan Bouten is a Belgian SaaS entrepreneur and investor based in Ghent. In 2011 he co-founded Showpad, a sales enablement and revenue enablement platform, together with Louis Jonckheere and Peter Minne 1. He served as co-CEO and then CEO of Showpad as the company scaled to more than 500 employees and 1,000+ enterprise customers across more than 50 countries, including Coca-Cola, GE Healthcare, Schneider Electric, and Dow 2. In August 2025, Vector Capital announced an agreement to acquire Showpad from Insight Partners, founders Pieterjan Bouten and Louis Jonckheere, and the management team, with plans to combine it with Bigtincan; the transaction completed on October 30, 2025 23.
In March 2024, Bouten launched Entourage, a Ghent-based combination of a venture studio (Entourage Studio) and an early-stage VC fund (Entourage Capital) with approximately $30M / €25M+ in initial capital 45. He serves as Founder and General Partner. Co-founders/partners include Maarten Mortier (Entourage Studio) and Evert Beeckman (Entourage Capital) 4. Reported backers of the fund include Jason Lemkin (SaaStr), his fellow Showpad co-founders Louis Jonckheere and Peter Minne, Stijn Christiaens (Collibra), Jan Hollez and Zhong Xu (Deliverect), and Joris Van der Gucht and Tim Vandecasteele (Silverfin) 5.
Bouten has been actively angel investing since approximately 2017, predominantly in European (and especially Belgian) B2B SaaS founders 6.
Stated Thesis
Entourage publicly describes its focus as backing European early-stage B2B SaaS companies — from seed to Series A — and combining capital with a venture studio model that builds new SaaS companies in partnership with operators 45. The firm has a strategic partnership with In The Pocket (a digital product studio of 200+ specialists) for studio-built companies 5.
Bouten describes the firm’s posture as founder-first:
“At Entourage founders will always be in the lead and in control. There is no single code to crack here, but we feel we have certainly cracked the mindset.” 4
“We aspire to be the builders and investors we dreamed of having by our side while building and scaling our companies.” 5
Inferred Thesis
Based on verified portfolio data (see Portfolio table below; sample size ~10 confirmed investments, plus aggregator-reported counts of ~20-25):
- Stage: Concentrated in pre-seed and seed, with selective follow-on through Series A/B as portfolio companies mature (Aikido reached Series B at a $1B valuation in 2025) 7. Entourage Capital is structured for seed-to-Series A first checks 4.
- Geography: Heavily Belgian / Benelux / European. The Ghent operator-angel cluster (Showpad, Teamleader, Aikido, Henchman, NineID, Silverfin alumni) is the dominant network from which deal flow emerges 45.
- Sector: B2B SaaS across enterprise software categories — sales/revenue tech, cybersecurity, legaltech, access control, AI-for-enterprise-workflow. Aggregator data tags him into Enterprise Applications, FinTech, and SaaS 6.
- Co-investor pattern: Frequently invests alongside other Ghent operator-angels and European seed funds (Notion Capital, Connect Ventures appear as Aikido follow-on leads) 5.
- Founder profile: Strong preference for operator founders, often ex-Showpad or known to the Ghent SaaS network. Aikido was co-founded by ex-Showpadder Roeland Delrue 5.
- Check size: Angel checks reported in the $5K-$50K range historically (Signal/NFX) 6; Entourage Capital institutional checks are seed-to-Series A scale.
Sample size is small enough that exact percentages are not reliable; the qualitative pattern (European B2B SaaS, Ghent-network-sourced, operator founders) is clear.
Portfolio
This table reflects publicly verifiable investments. Aggregator profiles (Tracxn, Signal/NFX) report ~20-25 total angel investments; only investments with primary or strong secondary citations are listed.
| Company | Year | Stage | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aikido Security | 2023+ (follow-on through 2025) | Pre-Seed to Series B | 57 |
| Henchman (legaltech) | ~2023 | Seed (Entourage Capital) | 5 |
| NineID | ~2024 | Seed (Entourage Capital) | 5 |
| tekst.com | 2024 (studio); Series A 2026 | Studio-built / Series A | 46 |
| ~unknown | Spendesk | (angel, pre-unicorn) | Reported in angel portfolio |
| ~unknown | Daltix | exit (reported) | Angel |
| ~unknown | DESelect | exit (reported) | Angel |
| Introw | 2025 | Seed ($3M) | 9 |
| Lexroom.ai | 2025-2026 | Seed/Series A | 6 |
| SereneDB | 2025 | Pre-Seed | 6 |
| Basalt | 2025 | Seed | 6 |
| CommerceClarity | 2025 | Pre-Seed | 6 |
| Dytto | 2026 | Pre-Seed | 6 |
| Handhold | 2026 | Seed | 6 |
Note: This table represents an estimated ~50-70% of total disclosed investments based on aggregator counts. Several earlier angel checks could not be independently sourced to primary press and are omitted.
In Their Own Words
“At Entourage founders will always be in the lead and in control. There is no single code to crack here, but we feel we have certainly cracked the mindset.” — Pieterjan Bouten, Entourage memo 4
“We aspire to be the builders and investors we dreamed of having by our side while building and scaling our companies.” — Pieterjan Bouten, on launching Entourage, March 2024 5
What Founders Say
No independently sourced founder testimonials about working with Pieterjan Bouten as an investor were found during this research pass. Public press coverage of Entourage portfolio companies (Aikido, Henchman, NineID) reports the investments but does not contain founder quotes specifically about Bouten’s post-investment support.
Connections
- Co-founder, Showpad (2011-2025) — alongside Louis Jonckheere and Peter Minne 12
- Founder & GP, Entourage (2024-present) — alongside Maarten Mortier and Evert Beeckman 4
- Backed by / co-investing with Jason Lemkin (SaaStr), Louis Jonckheere & Peter Minne (Showpad), Stijn Christiaens (Collibra), Jan Hollez & Zhong Xu (Deliverect), Joris Van der Gucht & Tim Vandecasteele (Silverfin) as LPs in Entourage 5
- Ghent operator-angel cluster: routinely invests alongside and is sourced into deals by alumni of Showpad, Teamleader, Silverfin, Collibra, and Deliverect 5
Sources
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Tech.eu, “Showpad co-founder launches Entourage, a venture studio and $30M early stage VC fund,” March 1, 2024. https://tech.eu/2024/03/01/showpad-co-founder-launches-entourage-a-venture-studio-and-30m-early-stage-vc-fund/ Accessed June 2026. ↩↩
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Silicon Canals, “Ghent’s Showpad acquired by Vector Capital, set to merge with Bigtincan,” 2025. https://siliconcanals.com/showpad-acquired-by-vector-capital-to-merge-with-bigtincan/ Accessed June 2026. ↩↩↩
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Showpad press, “Vector Capital Completes Acquisition of Showpad” (Showpad and Bigtincan merger closed), October 30, 2025. https://www.showpad.com/press/showpad-and-bigtincan-merger-closed Accessed June 2026. ↩
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Entourage, “Memo” (firm overview, partners, portfolio, philosophy). https://www.entourage.io/memo Accessed June 2026. ↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩
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TechFundingNews, “Showpad co-founder launches Entourage, a $30M fund and venture studio to back European SaaS founders,” March 2024. https://techfundingnews.com/showpad-co-founder-launches-entourage-a-30m-fund-and-venture-studio-to-back-european-saas-founders/ Accessed June 2026. ↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩
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Signal by NFX, “Pieterjan Bouten’s Investing Profile.” https://signal.nfx.com/investors/pieterjan-bouten Accessed June 2026. ↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩
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Aikido Security blog, “Aikido Security Raises $60M at a $1B valuation” (Series B). https://www.aikido.dev/blog/aikido-funding-series-b Accessed June 2026. ↩↩
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Tracxn, “Pieterjan Bouten — Portfolio & Founded Companies.” https://tracxn.com/d/people/pieterjan-bouten/__t0RPZgF3bwM44QC2YaY02Y4fvWxON1yAgS3iToDcLN4 Accessed June 2026. ↩
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TechFundingNews, “Belgian startup Introw scoops $3M to transform partner sales with AI platform.” https://techfundingnews.com/introw-ai-partner-management-funding/ Accessed June 2026. ↩