Freesearch Ventures — Investment Thesis & Preferences

01Investment Thesis

Back experienced IT and Fintech founders with early PMF signals and global ambition targeting TAMs >$1B. Emphasize cross-border scalability across EU, US, MENA, and Southeast Asia.

Exclusion Criteria

No purely local market plays; avoid companies without revenue traction or experienced founding teams

02Investment Team

AV

Anton Vasiliev

General Partner

AY

Andrei Yuranau

General Partner

MT

Mike Torro

Associate

VM

Valentine Murzinkou

Associate

VK

Vladimir Kudriashov

Advisor

MM

Marat Minkin

Investor

03F4 Research Brief

Freesearch Ventures Research

Overview

Freesearch Ventures is a Singapore-based early-stage venture capital firm founded in 2022. The firm backs IT and Fintech founders with demonstrated early traction and long-term global vision. With a self-reported portfolio MOIC of 4.65x and 14 portfolio companies since inception, Freesearch operates with a lean team distributed across Singapore, Cyprus, Dubai, Italy, Poland, and Russia.

Investment Thesis

Freesearch's thesis centers on "elevating visionary entrepreneurs beyond limits, embracing the unknown." They specifically target experienced founders who have achieved early product-market fit signals and are pursuing large addressable markets. Their investment criteria require a total addressable market exceeding $1 billion and fast-growing revenue traction.

The firm focuses on cross-border and globally scalable businesses across key emerging markets including the EU, US, MENA, and Southeast Asia. They emphasize operational excellence, backing founders with "sharp thinking, strong leadership, and the energy to navigate complex growth."

Sector Focus

Freesearch primarily invests across the following sectors:

Fintech and Payments: The core of their portfolio is in fintech, spanning corporate spend management (Pluto), SME banking (Finom), on-demand payroll (BNINE), revenue-based financing (Getmo), Open Banking APIs (Quiltt), nonprofit lending (B Generous), and enterprise banking analytics (Torus). Fintech represents approximately 50% of their portfolio.

AI and MarTech: They back AI-powered tools for marketing (Otis AI), language learning (Praktika), wellness (Welltory), and insurance SaaS (Renova). AI is increasingly present as a thread across multiple portfolio companies.

B2B SaaS and Enterprise Software: Vertical and horizontal SaaS companies including workplace management (inspace), collaborative learning platforms (Parta), and analytics platforms.

E-commerce and Logistics: Last-mile delivery infrastructure including subscription-based electric vehicle rental for delivery workers (Whizz).

EdTech: AI-native language and corporate learning platforms (Praktika, Parta).

Stage Focus

Freesearch primarily invests at late Seed and early Series A:

Seed: Their bread-and-butter stage, typically $300K–$500K checks
Pre-Series A / Series A: Up to $1.5M for more mature companies with PMF signals

They frequently co-invest alongside other early-stage funds including Born Capital, Goanna Capital, Evolution VC Partners, Iterative, Ruvento, and Rhino Ventures.

Check Size

Typical check size range:

Seed: $300K–$500K
Pre-Series A / Series A: up to $1.5M

Lead Tendency

Freesearch co-invests alongside other funds and is explicitly described as "co-investment ready." They participate in syndicates rather than exclusively leading rounds.

Geographic Focus

Headquartered in Singapore with a globally distributed team. Their portfolio spans:

EU: Finom (Netherlands/Europe), Torus, Renova, Praktika, Parta
US: BNINE, Whizz, B Generous, Quiltt, Otis AI, Welltory
MENA: Pluto (UAE/MENA)
Southeast Asia: Getmo (SE Asia SME financing)

They actively seek companies with global expansion ambitions regardless of founding location.

Recent Activity

Freesearch has been actively deploying capital through 2024 and into 2025:

January 2025: Pluto (pre-Series A, part of $4.1M round led by Born Capital)
August 2024: B Generous (Seed) and Quiltt (part of $2M Seed round)
February 2024: Getmo (Seed)
December 2023: Torus (pre-Series A, part of €1.6M round)

They reference a "Seed VC – II" fund, suggesting they are on their second fund as of 2025.

Portfolio Highlights

Most significant mark-up: Finom raised a €200M Series C, representing the largest known portfolio milestone and a substantial valuation step-up from Freesearch's entry.

Noteworthy companies:

Whizz: Subscription e-bike/e-moped rental for delivery workers; secured NYC DOT contract and DoorDash partnership
Pluto: Corporate spend management for MENA businesses; backed by leading MENA/global early-stage funds
Welltory: AI wellness app with 8M+ users; significant consumer traction
Praktika: Immersive AI language learning with ultrarealistic avatars; expanded to 7+ languages

Self-reported metrics:

14 portfolio companies
4.65x portfolio MOIC (2025)
44% average ARR growth across portfolio
4x MOIC overall (separate claim)

Team

Anton Vasiliev, General Partner: MBA from Moscow School of Management SKOLKOVO (2014–2016); serves as mentor at Founder Institute Cyprus; one of the firm's co-founders
Andrei Yuranau, General Partner: Co-founder; active in sourcing and portfolio development
Mike Torro, Associate: Based in Limassol, Cyprus; supports deal flow and portfolio
Valentine Murzinkou, Associate: Based in Singapore; supports deal sourcing in Southeast Asia
Vladimir Kudriashov, Advisor: 10+ years in private equity and M&A; focuses on growth and international expansion
Marat Minkin, Investor: 11+ years in VC; also founder of AMM Ventures in Dubai; expertise in Web3 and venture building

Decision Process

The firm operates as a small partnership with a co-GP model (Anton Vasiliev and Andrei Yuranau). Given the lean team structure and early-stage focus, investment decisions are likely made jointly between the GPs without a formal investment committee structure. They move quickly given their deal size and stage.