Fortino Ventures Research
Investment Thesis
Fortino Ventures is the early-stage venture arm of Fortino Capital Partners, a European software investor that also runs private equity funds. Its stated mission is to help exceptional teams become category leaders in European B2B software and AI. The firm says it has spent more than 13 years in B2B tech, first riding the SaaS wave and now backing the AI shift. Its published views center on vertical and SMB SaaS, AI agents that replace manual workflows (sales, legal, accounting, bidding, payroll, recruiting), industrial and manufacturing software, cybersecurity and human-risk, and physical AI and robotics for manufacturing. Recent essays cover the Robot Economy and physical AI (Sep 2026), whether enterprise AI is going open source, whether companies should train their own models, and how application-layer companies stay model agnostic (Jul 2026), the human factor in scaling vertical SMB SaaS (Dec 2025), AI in the MSP industry (Sep 2025), and why now is the time to build manufacturing software and AI companies in Europe (Jan 2025).
Stage Focus
Pre-Seed to Series A. The third venture fund is built to move fast and close roughly 6 to 8 new deals a year, with offices in Ghent, Amsterdam and Munich. Fund III had a first close announced in April 2025 (third-party report); its size has not been disclosed on the firm's site.
Check Size
Third-party profiles put initial tickets at about 0.5M to 3M EUR. The firm's own site does not publish a range, so this is lower confidence.
Lead Tendency
Both. Press releases show Fortino co-leading Tanso's 12M EUR Series A with henQ, and being the named institutional investor in Billy Grace's 3M EUR round. In other rounds (revel8, D2X, Zaion, Spott) it participated alongside a different lead.
Recent Activity
- Dec 2025: Donna raised 4.8M USD led by Frontline Ventures; Fortino lists Donna as a portfolio company.
- Sep 2025: revel8 raised a 5.7M EUR seed led by Peak, with Fortino Capital participating.
- Aug 2025: Tanso closed a 12M EUR Series A co-led by henQ and Fortino Capital.
- Jul 2025: D2X raised 4.3M EUR with Fortino Capital among the renewed backers.
- Jun 2025: Bizzy raised 4M EUR; Altura raised 8M EUR.
- May 2025: Spott raised 3.2M USD led by Base10 Partners with Fortino Capital participating.
- Mar 2025: Billy Grace raised 3M EUR from Fortino Capital and angels.
- Jan 2025: Zaion raised 11M EUR led by 115K.
The fund looks to be actively deploying.
Portfolio Highlights
The portfolio page lists 44 companies. Exits flagged on the page include Teamleader, inSided, Getvisibility, Dobco, LetsBuild, Oqton, PieSync, ReaQta, Riaktr, SupplyStack, TrendMiner, Zentrick, Penbox, Kaizo, MobieTrain, Melita, Polysense and Illuminem, among others. Active names include TechWolf (AI data layer for workforce transformation), LegalFly (legal AI for in-house teams), Billy Grace (AI marketing OS), revel8 (human-risk cybersecurity), Spott (AI ATS and CRM for recruiters), Atira, Altura, Donna, Bizzy, Kosli, Tanso, Timeseer.ai, Valeria, Venly, Sides, Salonkee and Vertuoza. The page's exit labels do not map cleanly to a single company on every card, so exit status per company should be checked before relying on it.
Team
- Filip Van Innis, Managing Partner, Ghent. KU Leuven business engineering, Oxford financial economics, former BCG strategy consultant. Focus on vertical B2B SaaS and Office of the CEO. Works with Bizzy, Donna, Dytto, Flowlity, iObeya, LegalFly, Salonkee, Spott, TechWolf, Vaultspeed, Vertuoza, Zaion and others.
- Patrick Hermann, Partner, Munich. Joined 2024 to build the Munich office and launch the DACH VC franchise; previously seven years at Picus Capital. Focus on cybersecurity, infrastructure and industrial and manufacturing software. Works with Kosli, revel8, Tanso, Timeseer.ai.
- Wouter Goossens, Partner, Amsterdam. Previously ING Ventures (a 300M EUR fintech fund). Focus on e-commerce and vertical SMB SaaS. Works with Altura, Billy Grace, D2X, Sides, Venly.
- Hugh Phelan, Investment Manager, Amsterdam; Louise Vluymans, Investment Manager, Ghent; Luisa Buche, Investment Manager, Munich; Jasper Rosenthal, Analyst, Munich.
- Feyo Sickinghe, Operating Partner, Amsterdam; Duco Sickinghe, Executive Chairman, Antwerp.
Decision Process
Partnership. Three partners across three offices each own a sector lane, and the group invests as one firm. No formal committee structure is published.
Founder Preferences
Founders who share the conviction that focus, speed and execution win. The firm stresses working alongside founders, founder NPS as its north star, candid communication, and deliberate introductions through its European network. It offers operating help on go-to-market, hiring and follow-on fundraising, and has an in-house recruitment partner and AI engineer.
Geographic Focus
Europe, with a core in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany (DACH). The portfolio also includes French, Luxembourgish and Maltese companies.
Gaps
Fund III size, a firm-published check range, and AUM for the venture arm are not disclosed. The group figures found online (for example a 700M EUR PE III fund) belong to Fortino Capital's private equity arm and are not used here. The portfolio page gives no investment dates or stages, so stage per company is left empty.