The BEyond cohort on stage at the kick-off, under a screen reading Let's go above and Beyond
BEyond

Program · Scaling

Belgium's tech scale-ups, and the community behind them.

The only Belgium-wide twelve-month accelerator, equity free, with a community of mentors, investors, experts and partners behind every company as it grows.

The record

We have a solid track record.

80+
Scale-ups accelerated
95%
Of alumni still active or acquired
300+
Jobs created by the companies
+350M€
Raised in capital by the companies
  • Do itBEyondconventions
  • GrowBEyondyour comfort zone
  • ThinkBEyondyour exit
  • DeliverBEyondstandards
  • ConquerBEyondBelgium
  • ScaleBEyondbelief

The film

BEyond, in two minutes.

The program from the inside, told by the BEyonders.

What it is

The first million, and then what?

A Belgian scale-up that has found its market meets a different set of problems: hiring fast without breaking the company, raising the next round, and selling outside a small home market.

Since 2018, BEyond has been the only Belgium-wide accelerator built for this stage of growth. Every company finds a committed community there, and entrepreneurs who have already been through it.

Duration
12 months
Cohort
10 to 12 companies a year
Equity
None taken

Find out more

The community

The cohort in the middle.

BEyond is a community with an accelerator as its front door. The scale-ups sit at the centre, and five groups of people work around them.

80+

BEyonders

Scale-ups, across eight cohorts

100+

Mentors

Entrepreneurs and executives who have already scaled a company

600+

Investors

Business angels, venture funds and family offices

50+

Experts

Specialists on whatever the cohort is stuck on

30+

Ecosystem partners

Organisations that open doors across Belgium

6

Sponsors

Companies that fund the program and host its events

In their words

BEyond is, for me, a high-quality accelerator in Belgium. It is reserved for the best in class and, in return, provides access to the best mentors in the market, excellent workshops and incredible opportunities.

Chris Van de VoordeCEO, Juunoo · BEyond alumnus

The program gave us a sounding board of people who had already been where we were going.

Brecht KetsCo-founder and CEO, PlayIt

In Belgium it is hard to find a structured program to help scale-ups get over the next hurdle. What I value is the strength of the community and the access to a great many key players in the ecosystem.

Ludwig DumontCEO and co-founder, Willow

The value brought by expertise at several levels set it completely apart from every other program we have taken part in.

Josefien VanhuyseCEO, Neanex

BEyond, in three words? Long live Belgium.

Jean-François HeeringCEO, Vadis Technologies

The philanthropic vision of the BEyond program spoke to me. It's all about entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs and that's why it's so genuine.

Hans ConstandtFounder, Ontoforce · Alumnus and mentor

What we took from it was the network. Doors opened that we could not have opened ourselves.

Laurent-David HostynCo-founder, GiveMeFive

It went beyond my expectations. I did not think an ecosystem of that quality existed in Belgium, or that it was so active.

Xavier RoubyCEO and co-founder, Opal Solutions

It is valuable to have access to a community that can help you step out of your comfort zone and let you take on growth challenges from a different angle.

Louis-Philippe BrozeCEO and co-founder, Spentys

Sharing best practices and experiences with other scale-ups was extremely inspiring and will help our own company grow in the future.

Alexina SmetCo-founder, SHIPPR · BEyond alumna

The mentoring was the part that changed how we ran the company, not just how we thought about it.

Florian De BoeckCo-founder and CTO, Spentys

What really stands out is winning the Aureus Prize, an opportunity we would not have had without the BEyond program. It opened the doors of the American market to us.

Vincent DefourCEO and co-founder, Trensition

The community that was formed at the bootcamp is based on a mutual understanding of the different issues we all go through. We are already seeing how we can help each other, and we want to extend this to the wider BEyond community and then continue to build from there.

Tom MaesManaging Director, o2o

Why Pulse runs this

Belgium builds startups. It loses scale-ups.

The ecosystem is good at the first years. Past the first million in revenue, with a team of ten and real customers, the startup playbook stops working: the job becomes systems, culture, new markets and the right money, and almost nobody was serving that moment.

Pulse built BEyond for it, and takes no equity in return. A foundation can back the companies most likely to grow without asking for a share of them, and that is the whole reason this is a program rather than a fund.

Innovation, and the ambition to create value

BEyond helps Belgian companies grow abroad while their headquarters stay here, so the value they build stays with the country. What counts is room to grow, the jobs a company can create, and the will to go international while leaving more than a mark on Belgium. Each cohort covers most of the sectors where Belgium innovates.

Belgium needs more role models

A country follows the founders it sees succeed, so BEyond has a part to play: making them visible. That means the most innovative technologies aimed at the biggest problems of our time, and founders who look like the country they are growing. Background, origin and gender count from the selection onwards, not as an afterthought.

The power of a tribe

BEyond is an attempt at a Belgian tribe of entrepreneurs, built on shared values and a habit of paying it forward. Building that community is part of what the program promises, and it asks every founder in the room to give time to the others.

Internationalisation and scaling · Our own program · Since 2018

Next step

Ready to go BEyond?

Applications, eligibility and the current call all live on the BEyond site.

Go to the BEyond site
Rodrigue Viérin

Questions before you apply?

Rodrigue ViérinBEyond Program Director

Book a call with Rodrigue

Its partners

Who backs it.

  • ABN AMRO
  • Aureus Ars & Scientia
  • Cresco
  • Deloitte
  • Euronext
  • Orange

Inside the year

The BEyonders at work.

A founder listening at a bootcamp table, hands together
A mentor mid-sentence in a workshop, notes on the wall behind
A row of founders working along one long table at the bootcamp
BEyonders talking on a Brussels rooftop terrace in summer
A speaker at the kick-off, beside the Pulse Foundation banner
A whole cohort running across the lawn towards the camera

Keep looking

Two other initiatives.

01 · Second chance

Revival

A fast, human restart after bankruptcy, with a mentor, a coach and a room of people who have been through the process.

Discover
02 · Second chance

First Lights

Digital and human, for self-employed people and entrepreneurs in difficulty. An AI assistant available 24/7, trained volunteers when a real person is needed.

Discover