What do you get when two seasoned entrepreneurs, a real-life assistant named Dana, and a booming AI scene come together in Ghent? Donna - a fast-growing AI startup that’s turning the chaos of CRM updates into seamless, voice-driven efficiency for field sales teams. “We’re not here to play the Belgian underdog. We’re aiming for pole position on a global scale!”

“What’s happening in Ghent?” It’s a question Jonas Deprez has been getting from investors repeatedly over the past year. “We don’t always realize it ourselves, but the ecosystem we have here right now is truly unique,” he says. “Wintercircus is its current high point, but it’s far from its origin. The pay-it-forward mindset that defines this building already thrived long before it had a roof.” Jonas speaks from experience. “When I launched my first venture ten years ago, I was amazed at how many seasoned tech founders in Ghent were happy to grab a coffee and share advice. I never forgot that generosity, and now I’m doing the same for others.”

In fact, Jonas sees it as a key reason why over thirty Ghent entrepreneurs have thrown their weight behind Wintercircus. Among them are Jonas Deprez and Nicolas Christiaen, who joined forces in 2023 to fire up Donna after previously founding and exiting Daltix and Cashforce, respectively.

“I’ve always been passionate about data,” Jonas says, “and with Daltix, we provided retail pricing and promotion data to companies like Unilever, Lidl, and Colruyt.” He sold the company to Colruyt Group in 2020. For his part, Nicolas co-founded and led Cashforce, a global financial software provider, which was acquired by the US-German company Treasury Intelligence Solutions in 2022.

So, by the time the two of them joined forces a year and a half ago, both entrepreneurs had plenty of experience under their belts. Together, they launched Donna - not just the name of their startup, but also the AI agent designed to make life easier for sales teams. “At Daltix, I noticed that large companies still rely heavily on field sales reps,” Jonas explains. “Meanwhile, at Cashforce, Nicolas saw firsthand how much his sales team dreaded updating the CRM (Customer Relationship Management) after every client meeting. They’d skip the CRM entirely and just call Dana, his assistant, to do it for them.”

Going from the real Dana to the AI Donna turned out to be a small step for the founders but a giant leap for field sales teams. After a meeting, reps simply call Donna from the car, and a detailed CRM emerges from the conversation that follows. “Donna doesn’t just transcribe,” Jonas explains. “She asks smart, relevant questions - like next steps, whether to schedule a follow-up meeting, or which tasks to assign to a colleague. Even better, before your next meeting, you can get her on the phone again for a quick refresher on what was discussed, which issues came up, and how those issues have been resolved since. She might even remind you that your client mentioned a holiday in Sicily, so that you can start the meeting with that!” In other words, Donna is not just a digital notetaker; Jonas likes to stress. “She’s a proactive assistant, coach, and conversational partner who thinks along with you.”

Another perk? She will adapt to your personal style. Maybe you prefer a chatty Donna who digs deep and asks about every detail - think the namesake assistant from the TV show Suits - or a quieter version who lets you monologue without interruption. And how about talking to her in Spanish or Scottish? “Spanish is definitely covered,” Jonas laughs. “One of our Belgian clients has a sales team in Mexico that uses Donna. At this point, she speaks about fifty languages, but no dialects just yet. That said, she’s surprisingly good at deciphering a Scottish accent!”

For companies, Donna is a no-brainer: “After just one quarter, most teams using Donna report six times more CRM data and double-digit growth in closed deals,” says Jonas. But there’s one small catch: Donna is growing very fast. So fast, in fact, that the team is outgrowing the Wintercircus Startup Campus. “Companies here are capped at fifteen people,” Jonas says. “We are currently surpassing that. Most customers want to test Donna with a small sales team ‘to see if that AI actually works.’ But after just one quarter, they want to roll her out company-wide.” He grins. “Yes, that AI really works.”

Donna’s rapid growth may be a bit unexpected, but Jonas isn’t exactly upset about that. “We’re an ambitious company in a market evolving at lightning speed. Everyone is building AI tools right now, so we know we have to think big and international. We don’t want a Chinese or American Donna to outpace us within a year. But you know, that’s fine! We’re not here to play the Belgian underdog. We’re aiming for pole position on a global scale!”

Jonas readily admits that Donna’s growth and major-league ambitions are no strangers to the fact that both he and Nicolas are second-time founders. “We’ve each made our share of mistakes the first time around - and learned from them! So yeah, that combined experience gives us the confidence to move faster now because we have a much clearer sense of direction. It’s like sailing through fog: if you’ve navigated the waters before, you’re more willing and able to take calculated risks.” Still, he says, timing is just as crucial. “The momentum around AI is insane - both in terms of the technology and how eager companies are to adopt it. Customers are trying to close deals faster than we can set them up. That kind of market pull? That’s new for us, too.”

Right now, the biggest challenge for the two founders is finding enough ambitious talent, including AI engineers, to keep up with Donna’s growth. Luckily, being based in Ghent helps. “There’s already a strong pool of SaaS talent here,” Jonas says. “And Ghent University keeps turning out promising AI graduates eager to keep learning on the job.” Plus, he says, Wintercircus draws them in. “Sure, we have to move soon, but we’re definitely not moving far. The Wintercircus Collective breakfasts are too pleasant, the talks and masterclasses too valuable, and I even went on a date with my wife here recently, to an evening of real circus and cabaret. Too much fun!”