Forty.5 Ventures Research
Investment Thesis
Forty.5 Ventures is a boutique venture studio and early-stage venture capital firm founded in 2020, with offices in Los Angeles, Belgrade, and Singapore. The firm's stated mission is to back "the disruptors of global scale" — founders who see market opportunities early and have the discipline to build enduring companies around them. Its differentiated model pairs two integrated arms: F5V Build, a free zero-to-one venture studio offering curated founder cohorts up to $1M in product, infrastructure, and service credits before a company has a product or revenue; and F5V Capital, the firm's conviction-driven early-stage VC arm that leads or co-leads rounds once a venture is ready to scale. The partners describe themselves first as entrepreneurs and operators, and position "meaningful partnership" — not just capital — as their core edge with founders.
Sector Focus
Fund I is targeted at two clusters: Vertical AI, FinTech, and Cybersecurity, and the consumer stack of Gaming, Sports, Media, Entertainment, and creator-economy infrastructure. In practice the current portfolio spans B2B AI tooling (qooob, GetStuffDone), payments infrastructure (OTLRS), consumer/marketplace apps (yooop, Fashory), proptech and fractional-ownership platforms (Maestro, Lupa Technologies), sports agency and fan-engagement technology (Sportfolio Group, Arena+), consumer hardware (ANDEIM basketball shoes), crypto/digital-asset tooling (Veli), agtech marketplaces (Farmit), and AI marketing tooling (The Social Formula).
Stage Focus
The firm invests at Pre-Seed and Seed through Fund I, with selective Series A participation and a stated plan to raise a dedicated follow-on/Series A vehicle to give portfolio companies capital continuity into their most capital-intensive stage.
Check Size
Initial checks range from $200K to $1M depending on company maturity and traction; in syndicated deals, checks can exceed $1M.
Lead Tendency
Forty.5 Ventures leads or co-leads the rounds it enters — its own framing is to be "the first call on the hard decisions, not just a name on the cap table." Its most recent disclosed deal, a $500K seed round in qooob.co (August 2026), was firm-led.
Recent Activity
The firm closed its first institutional fund, Fund I, at $30M on September 15, 2026, backed by family offices, angels, and operator-investors across Europe, the US, and Asia Pacific. In August 2026 it led a $500K seed investment in Belgrade-based qooob.co, an AI-native "Leverage Studio" building growth and revenue-intelligence tooling. In September 2026 it also announced a strategic partnership with Renovarum Capital, an Italian investment-banking boutique, to give founders a pathway from early venture building through M&A, corporate finance advisory, and exit. The firm is actively deploying Fund I as of this research.
Portfolio Highlights
Notable active portfolio companies include qooob (AI-native GTM studio, Seed 2026), OTLRS (global payments and AI infrastructure venture studio, Pre-Seed 2026), yooop (global app for women founders, Seed 2025), GetStuffDone (AI operating system for SMEs, Seed 2026), Maestro (fractional ownership platform, Series A 2026), Hi-Duke (interactive urban-recreation playground technology, Seed 2026), Sportfolio Group (athlete representation and NIL technology, Series A 2024), Arena+ (athlete/fan engagement platform, Series A 2023), and ANDEIM (ankle-injury-preventing basketball shoes, Seed 2026). The firm also runs an "Advisory + Studio" bench of active-mentorship relationships including InvestingNote (Southeast Asia's leading investor community platform), Fashory, Veli (Vilnius-based crypto/digital-asset platform for financial advisors), Lupa Technologies (construction-data SaaS), Farmit (Belgrade farm-to-buyer marketplace), and The Social Formula (AI marketing intelligence).
Team
- Zoran Vasiljev — Group CEO & Founder, United States. Also writes the firm's essays (e.g., on conversational commerce) and was named to FinTech Magazine's Top 100 Leaders in FinTech.
- Riccardo Monti — Chairman & Venture Partner, Europe.
- Danijela Vasiljev — General Partner, United States. Also founder of portfolio company yooop.
- Bobby Napiltonia — Venture Partner, United States.
- Greg Tarr — Venture Partner, United States.
- Stipe Maric — Venture Partner, Europe.
- Veljko Vasic — Venture Partner, Asia.
- Rade Popovic — Venture Partner, Europe.
Decision Process
The firm operates as a partnership across a Chairman, Group CEO/Founder, a General Partner, and five regionally-distributed Venture Partners spanning the US, Europe, and Asia — consistent with a partnership-style decision process rather than a solo-GP or formal investment-committee structure.
Founder Preferences
The firm explicitly targets "founders who see around corners" — those with sharp insight and the ambition and discipline to turn it into an enduring company. It favors technical/operator founders building from Southeastern Europe (or with SEE roots) with global ambitions, and is comfortable engaging pre-product, pre-revenue teams through F5V Build.
Geographic Focus
Primary investment geography is Southeastern Europe (with a strong Belgrade/Serbia hub), plus selective investments in the United States and Asia Pacific. The firm maintains offices in Los Angeles, Belgrade, and Singapore to bridge founders from the SEE corridor into US and APAC markets.