Showpad’s former CEO Pieterjan Bouten announces the launch of Entourage, a $30M (approximately €27.72M) Venture Studio and early-stage venture capital fund to support the next wave of European SaaS founders.
The Ghent-based company secured funding from a roster of B2B SaaS scale-up entrepreneurs.
These include Jason Lemkin (Saastr), Louis Jonckheere & Peter Minne (Showpad), Stijn Christiaens (Collibra), Jan Hollez and Zhong Xu (Deliverect), Joris Van Der Gucht & Tim Vandecasteele (Silverfin), Matthias Geeroms (Lighthouse), Ewout Meyns & Mattias Putman (Piesync, acquired by HubSpot), Gregory Blondeau (Proxyclick, acquired by Toma Bravo), Jeremy Le Van (Sunrise, acquired by Microsoft), Jeroen De Wit (Teamleader), Michiel Bearelle (Officient, acquired by Exact), and Piet Maes (Sofico).
Capital utilisation
Entourage plans to deploy the funds for building and investing.
Utilising a “vetted approach” through ‘Entourage Studio’ and a focused early-stage investment strategy via ‘Entourage Capital’, the funds aim to support European SaaS founders.
Bouten says, “Europe is in an exciting phase for early-stage investing. There’s a ton of successful European SaaS entrepreneurs who have built major companies and are now ready to pay it forward to the next generation of founders – who will become even more successful than the previous one. That’s our vision for Entourage.”
Entourage: A Venture Studio and early-stage VC
Pieterjan Bouten established Entourage. The venture aims to construct and fund the upcoming wave of B2B-focused SaaS enterprises, prioritising innovation in products and services that fuel growth and transformation within the enterprise sector.
Bouten, with firsthand experience in building and scaling a SaaS company, brings a track record of investing in over 30 B2B software scale-ups like Spendesk, Silverfin (acquired by Visma), Swan, Growblocks, and Bitmovin.
Entourage distinguishes itself by being exclusively led by seasoned entrepreneurs and operators.
Bouten, as the General Partner, collaborates with Maarten Mortier (formerly of Henchman, Robovision, Showpad) and Evert Beeckman (ex-Showpad), serving as Partners for Entourage Studio and Entourage Capital, respectively.
Bouten says, “We aspire to be the builders and investors we dreamed of having by our side while building and scaling our companies.”
“Our mission is to bolster the next generation of European SaaS founders to become even more successful than the previous one, by helping them make better decisions and shortening the timeline to achieve the next important milestone.”
Entourage Studio’s first incubated startup
Entourage Studio’s inaugural incubation is tekst.com, an AI platform streamlining support and back-office for enterprises.
Founded by Wouter Janssen and Tiebe Parmentier, tekst.com partnered with Entourage, achieving progress with clients like Becton Dickinson and leveraging a strategic alliance with In The Pocket for future growth.
Entourage Studio aims to create several high-growth B2B SaaS companies from the ground up in the next few years.
To realise this ambition, Entourage will capitalise on its partnership with In The Pocket, a European software development company led by Jeroen Lemaire, boasting over 200 experts across various facets of digital product development.
Bouten adds, “Having In the Pocket as a long-term partner and important backer of Entourage Studio is a unique differentiator.”
“Such a stellar team of more than 200 specialists skilled in every dimension of digital product creation allows us to move quickly and remain flexible when exploring en-studio ideas and opportunities.”
Entourage Capital’s first investments
Entourage Capital launches with a portfolio featuring three B2B SaaS companies: Aikido in cybersecurity, securing a €5M follow-on round from Notion Capital and Connect Ventures; Henchman in legal tech; and NineID in access control and contractor management.
Entourage specialises in early-stage investments, focusing on opportunities ranging from seed to Series A financing.
Entourage claims to seek strong founding teams demonstrating initial traction and “promising” growth figures in their early-stage investments, emphasising their role as “founders turned VC” with a wealth of firsthand company building and scaling experience.
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