Forum Ventures

Forum Ventures Research

Investment Thesis

Forum Ventures is committed to the entrepreneurial journey from zero to one, with a maniacal focus on founder experience. Founded in 2014, the firm has evolved from a traditional pre-seed fund into a comprehensive ecosystem of three distinct offerings: an AI-first venture studio, a B2B software accelerator, and a pre-seed fund. The firm believes that by becoming an extension of portfolio companies' founding teams, they can meaningfully impact the trajectory of early-stage B2B SaaS companies.

Their core investment thesis is founder-first: they invest in founders and their visions before companies second, creating a supportive, vulnerable, and honest partnership throughout the zero-to-one journey. The firm explicitly targets B2B SaaS companies and has identified specific technology areas including Agentic AI, Vertical AI, Healthcare, FinTech, Supply Chain & Logistics, and Frontier Tech (defense, robotics, and compute).

Sector Focus

Forum Ventures operates across multiple B2B SaaS sectors with particular emphasis on:

Core Sectors:

• Agentic AI: Autonomous agents transforming workflows and reducing human intervention
• Vertical AI: AI-ified solutions designed for specialized industries
• Healthcare Technology: Staffing solutions, financial innovations, and AI-driven detection/diagnosis
• FinTech & Payments: Payments infrastructure, lending, and financial regulation tech
• Supply Chain & Logistics: Efficiency improvements, cost reduction, transparency, and sustainability
• Frontier Tech: Defense tech, robotics, supply chain optimization, and advanced computing
• Developer Tools & Infrastructure: API-first companies and infrastructure platforms
• Enterprise Software: Vertical SaaS, workflow automation, security, and compliance
• Future of Work: HR tech, people operations, and workplace technology

The fund also invests in healthcare companies (general), procurement platforms, and API-first infrastructure providers. Their portfolio shows strength in 400+ B2B SaaS startups across these categories.

Stage Focus

Forum Ventures primarily focuses on pre-seed and seed stage:

• Pre-Seed: $100K-$750K typical range, with venture studio investments starting at $250K
• Seed: Early validation stage with initial customer traction
• Selective Series A: Occasional follow-on investments for existing portfolio companies

The firm is unique in that their venture studio co-creates companies from scratch, getting involved at the concept level before traditional pre-seed funding.

Check Size

Typical investment range: $100,000 - $750,000

• Venture Studio initial investment: $250K per company
• Pre-Seed Fund: $100K-$750K range
• Accelerator program: Equity-based support without explicit capital disclosure

The firm invests conservatively at pre-seed stage but maintains significant follow-on reserve capacity from their various funds.

Lead Tendency

Forum Ventures typically leads or co-leads pre-seed rounds. As a venture studio, they are the only investor at launch. In traditional pre-seed fund investments, they often lead given their hands-on operational support model. They explicitly mention "hands-on, end-to-end fundraising guidance" and helping founders raise from top-tier firms like a16z, Bessemer, and Backstage Capital.

Recent Activity

Forum Ventures has been actively deploying capital across all three offerings:

Recent Highlights (2025-2026):

• January 2026: Latest investment in Flip (Business engine, per PitchBook)
• December 2025: Publicly announced $20M raised across two new Venture Studio funds
• December 2025: BetaKit article highlighting Toronto expansion with $125M+ in AUM
• December 2025: Investments in Bloom AI (backed again for follow-on)
• Recent portfolio activity shows ~430 total companies funded with 5 new investments in last 12 months (as of Jan 2026)

The firm reports strong follow-on funding success: 450 SaaS founders helped raise capital, with $1B in follow-on funding from their portfolio. Recent investments include healthcare (Remo Health, Finni Health), procurement (Arkestro), supply chain (Blanka), AI companies (Fireflies.ai, PrivateAI), and API infrastructure (People Data Labs).

Portfolio Highlights

Notable portfolio companies represent diverse B2B SaaS verticals:

Technology & Infrastructure:

• Fireflies.ai (AI meeting transcription and intelligence)
• People Data Labs (API-first B2B data platform)
• PrivateAI (AI/Privacy technology)

Healthcare & Life Sciences:

• Finni Health (Healthcare technology)
• Remo Health (Healthcare services)
• Blooming Health (HealthTech)

Enterprise & Operations:

• FirstBase (Future of Work/HR tech)
• Arkestro (Procurement platform)
• Blanka (Supply Chain & Fulfillment)

Defense & Advanced Tech:

• Allen Control Systems (Defense)

B2B SaaS Services:

• Vendor PM, Scanifly, Legal Karma, Accountstory, REES, Pavilion, Hostfully, and 400+ others

The portfolio demonstrates early-stage founder support with companies successfully raising follow-on rounds from institutional investors.

Team

Forum Ventures operates with approximately 40 full-time employees including 5 Partners and 3 Managing Directors. The team is notably founder-first in composition:

Leadership:

• Mike Cardamone (CEO & Managing Partner): Former BD at Box, 10-year founder
• Jonah Midanik (Managing Partner): Founder of Limelight (alumnus of Forum accelerator)
• James Murphy (Managing Partner): Co-founder of Robly, serial entrepreneur
• Olivia O'Sullivan (Partner & COO): Former Innovation lead at Dow Jones
• Kevin Corliss (Managing Director): Founder of Roots (acquired by Deel)
• Neal Sarraf (Managing Director, Accelerator): Co-Founder of First Resonance

Studio & Operations:

• Alice Krenitski (Head of Studio): Business design and strategy background
• Karthik Srinivasan (CTO, Studio): Former VP Engineering at Zuva.ai
• Teija Bean (Head of Product Design, Studio): Product design and agency experience
• Daniela Pico (Head of Platform): Ed-Tech operator background

The team emphasizes vulnerability, empathy, and founder experience, with most leaders having founded or built at startups themselves.

Decision Process

Forum Ventures operates as a partnership model with clear leadership hierarchy. Investment decisions involve:

• Managing Partners and Partners (Cardamone, Midanik, Murphy, O'Sullivan, Dia) for pre-seed fund
• Studio leadership team for venture studio co-creations
• Accelerator team for batch program selections

The decision process emphasizes founder potential and team capability alongside market opportunity. Multiple leaders engage directly with founders, making it a relationship-driven process.

Decision Timeline

Estimated timeline varies by offering:

• Venture Studio: Ongoing concept evaluation, typically moves quickly to validation
• Pre-Seed Fund: 2-4 weeks for qualified founders with demonstrated traction
• Accelerator: Batch-based selection, rolling applications

The firm positions itself as accessible and responsive, particularly for founders already in their network.

Warm Intro Required

While not explicitly stated as required, Forum emphasizes relationship-driven investing. Warm introductions from their community, portfolio founders, or network are strongly preferred. The firm has built a founder community of 1,300+ across accelerator, studio, and fund activities.

Typical Involvement

Forum Ventures provides significant operational involvement beyond capital:

Venture Studio Companies:

• Fractional co-founders (Product, Engineering, Sales, HR, Marketing)
• Board participation and advisor roles
• Customer discovery and GTM support
• First hire recruitment assistance
• $100K+ in business perks (Google, AWS, Brex, HubSpot, Stripe)

Pre-Seed Fund:

• Board observer seats
• Hands-on operational support
• Fundraising guidance and VC introductions
• Customer acquisition support
• Founder peer community access

Accelerator:

• Intensive 12-week programs
• Go-to-market support
• Investor introductions and prep
• Founder mentorship

The firm explicitly states they become "an extension of your portfolio companies' founding teams."

Geographic Focus

Primarily United States with expansion:

• Primary: New York (headquarters), SF Bay Area
• Strong presence: North America broadly
• Recent expansion: Toronto, Canada (announced Dec 2025)
• Selective: International (implicit from portfolio geography)

The firm's geographic flexibility increased with venture studio model allowing remote team collaboration.

Recent News & Fund Status

Fund Status: Actively deploying from multiple vehicles

• Core pre-seed fund actively investing
• Two new venture studio funds ($20M total) launched December 2025
• Plan to co-create 30 new companies across North America, with 17 already launched

Organizational Growth:

• 10-year anniversary (2024)
• Growth from 1-person team to 33-40 full-time employees
• AUM grown from $3.5M to $100M+ (now $125M+)
• Portfolio expanded to ~430 companies (approaching 500)

Market Positioning:

• Explicitly bullish on AI/agentic systems
• Focused on B2B SaaS exclusively (not consumer)
• Strong emphasis on founder support and community
• Unique in combining studio + accelerator + fund model

Founder Preferences

Forum Ventures targets experienced B2B founders with specific characteristics:

• Deep industry experience and connections
• Strong point of view on market gaps or unmet needs
• Passion for AI/technology-driven solutions
• Previous founder experience or early-stage startup experience preferred
• Domain expertise enabling defensible competitive positions
• Underrepresented founder backgrounds (explicit diversity commitment)

They explicitly welcome first-time founders but prefer founders with clarity on their problem domain.

Notable Exits & Achievements

• Founder success metric: 450 SaaS founders helped raise follow-on capital
• Follow-on funding: $1B in total follow-on funding from portfolio
• Success rate: Among top 1-2% of thousands reviewed annually
• Portfolio diversity: 400+ companies across multiple sectors and geographies
• Founder retention: Founders report continuing relationship with Forum post-investment ("call Forum first")

Competitive Differentiators

1. Integrated Model: Only VC firm offering venture studio (co-create), accelerator, and fund in one
2. Founder Community: 1,300+ founder community with built-in support network
3. Founder Pedigree: Team of mostly ex-founders, not just operators
4. Operational Support: "Fractional co-founder" model goes beyond typical VC support
5. Speed: Venture studio can move from idea to funded company in weeks, not months
6. Accessibility: 10-year track record of being responsive and relationship-driven
7. Stage Coverage: Can serve founders earlier (pre-MVP) than most pre-seed funds

Investment Philosophy Summary

Forum Ventures is fundamentally a "founder-first" firm that believes the founder journey is isolating and difficult, and their role is to be the "steady hand" throughout. They combine capital with operational support, community, and emotional intelligence. The firm has built an institution that aims to serve founders "from zero to one and beyond," with explicit commitment to founder mental health, peer support, and long-term partnerships. Their recent expansion into AI/agentic systems and geographic growth reflects confidence in their model's scalability.