About
Rodolphe Ardant built Spendesk into the first spend management platform in Europe to turn a profit. He founded it in 2016 with Guilhem Bellion and Jordane Giuly out of the eFounders startup studio — after meeting its founder Thibaud Elzière and agreeing that company expenses were a shared misery worth solving — and grew it to more than 200,000 business users handling some €20 billion of spend a year. Tiger Global led a $114 million round in January 2022 that made Spendesk a unicorn at $1.14 billion, the fifth French company to reach that mark in a single month, and the business broke even in the first quarter of 2025. He handed the chief executive's seat to Axel Demazy in late 2024 and stayed on as president, focused on product and direction. It was not his first exit: he founded the advertising company Wozaik, sold to Solocal in 2013, and was chief operating officer of the car-sharing company Drivy.
Beyond investing
- More
- Handed the chief executive's role to Axel Demazy in October 2024 and continues as founder and president.
From Rodolphe's own website — common ground for a warm intro.
Founder & President at Spendesk
Intro paths
In turn, Rodolphe can intro founders to Spendesk's investors below.
Spendesk's investors · 7
Co-founders at Spendesk
Experience
- SpendeskFounder and Presidentcurrent2024 — present
- SpendeskFounder and CEO2015 — 2024Paris Area, France
- eFoundersFounder in residence2015Paris Area, France
- DrivyCOO2014 — 2015Paris Area, France
- Sotravo (Solocal Group)Project Director2013 — 2014Paris Area, France
- Wozaik - Acquired by Solocal GroupCo-founder, COO2008 — 2013Paris Area, France
- OC&C Strategy ConsultantsAssociate Consultant2007 — 2008Paris Area, France
- UBIFRANCEMission Economique - New Delhi2006New Delhi Area, India
Education
- École PolytechniquePhysics2003 — 2007
- Columbia EngineeringMS, Electical Engineering2006 — 2007
- Janson
- Janson
Skills & more
+11 more
AnalyticsBusiness DevelopmentCloud ComputingDigital MarketingWeb Project ManagementAffiliate MarketingDigital MediaProduct MarketingStrategic ConsultingStart-upOnline MarketingLanguages English · French · Italian
- Google AdWords Qualified Individual — Google
From Rodolphe's professional profile.
Frequently asked questions
- Who is Rodolphe Ardant?
- Rodolphe Ardant built Spendesk into the first spend management platform in Europe to turn a profit. He founded it in 2016 with Guilhem Bellion and Jordane Giuly out of the eFounders startup studio — after meeting its founder Thibaud Elzière and agreeing that company expenses were a shared misery worth solving — and grew it to more than 200,000 business users handling some €20 billion of spend a year. Tiger Global led a $114 million round in January 2022 that made Spendesk a unicorn at $1.14 billion, the fifth French company to reach that mark in a single month, and the business broke even in the first quarter of 2025. He handed the chief executive's seat to Axel Demazy in late 2024 and stayed on as president, focused on product and direction. It was not his first exit: he founded the advertising company Wozaik, sold to Solocal in 2013, and was chief operating officer of the car-sharing company Drivy.
- Where does Rodolphe Ardant work?
- Rodolphe Ardant is Founder & President of Spendesk.
- What check size does Rodolphe Ardant write?
- Rodolphe Ardant typically writes checks of $5K – $50K.
- What companies did Rodolphe Ardant found?
- Rodolphe Ardant founded Spendesk.
- Where did Rodolphe Ardant go to school?
- Rodolphe Ardant studied at École Polytechnique (Physics); Columbia Engineering (MS, Electical Engineering); Janson.
Paths to reach Rodolphe
People who overlapped with Rodolphe at the same organization — a shared school or employer with one of them is a warm way in.
Together at SpendeskRodolphe: Founder & President
Together at OC&C Strategy ConsultantsRodolphe: Associate Consultant
Founder mafias
École Polytechnique mafia70
Also came through, then founded or led a company.
+ 63 more
Columbia Engineering mafia21
Also came through, then founded or led a company.
+ 14 more
Same school
Also attended École Polytechnique152
+ 146 more
Also attended Columbia Engineering51
+ 45 more
Shared employers
Also worked at Spendesk5
Also worked at eFounders4
Also worked at Drivy2
Also worked at OC&C Strategy Consultants43
+ 37 more



































