Ideas
Perspectives, podcasts and events from Forty.5 Ventures on building and funding companies across the US, South Eastern Europe and Asia Pacific.
Perspectives 11
Southeast Asia’s record year is one deal.
The headline says $7.25B, Southeast Asia’s strongest half since 2022. One data-center round is 62% of it. For every other founder, the market is the thinnest it has been since at least 2018.
You can’t outspend them. Out-build them.
Multistage funds now write seed checks from reserves no boutique fund can match. Don’t compete on size or price. Be useful before the seed round exists.
Stop selling talent. Sell product.
Southeast Europe has exported hours for two decades. AI is making hours cheaper; the next decade belongs to founders who own the product.
Seed is local. Scale isn’t.
A founder in Southeast Europe can raise a seed round at home. The Series B, the exit and the customers that justify them will mostly come from somewhere else.
Forty.5 Ventures launches with $30M first fund
Forty.5 Ventures announces the close of its first $30 million fund, investing at Pre-Seed and Seed across Southeastern Europe and selectively in the United States and Asia Pacific.
Forty.5 Ventures and Renovarum Capital Announce Strategic Partnership to Support Founders from Inception to Exit
Forty.5 Ventures and Renovarum Capital team up to create a seamless growth and financing pathway for entrepreneurs across Europe and global markets.
Conversational commerce is the future, and it's already here
AI, agentic workflows, and embedded payments are turning messaging from a communications channel into a commercial operating environment. The opportunity is no longer chat to pay; it's conversation to outcome.
Forty.5 Ventures Leads $500K Pre-Seed Investment in qooob.co
Forty.5 Ventures leads a $500K pre-seed investment in Belgrade-based qooob.co, an AI-native Leverage Studio building intelligent growth engines for global go-to-market execution.
Zoran Vasiljev recognised among the Top 100 Leaders in FinTech
FinTech Magazine's global list of the people shaping financial technology named Zoran Vasiljev among its Top 100 Leaders.
Riccardo Maria Monti invests in Renovarum Capital
Our Chairman takes a stake in the Naples-based M&A boutique and joins its board as chief strategy officer.
Karma Automotive names Greg Tarr Chief Strategy Officer
Greg Tarr joined the California luxury electric vehicle maker as Chief Strategy Officer, reporting directly to the CEO.
Podcasts 6
The world wasn't built for women
On the structural gaps facing women founders, and the products and networks being built to close them.
From basketball court to gaming boardroom: Zoran Vasiljev's journey
The long arc from professional sport to leading digital monetization and gaming businesses across Asia.
Greg Tarr, Partner at CrossPacific Capital: How did you hear about ATI?
Greg Tarr on cross-border investing, sourcing, and how the ATI network shaped his approach.
SPLET 2023: Zoran Vasiljev on keys to winning big in the US market
What founders from smaller markets get wrong about entering the United States, and how to get it right.
My voice in the world for the South: Riccardo Maria Monti at TEDx
Our Chairman's TEDx talk on the Global South, trade and the redistribution of opportunity.
Digital platforms: the key to growing big and fast
A Wild Digital SEA panel on platform business models and how they compound scale across Southeast Asia.
Events 4
F5V at SP Tech Week, São Paulo
The F5V team will be in São Paulo for SP Tech Week, 13–18 September. If you're building at Pre-Seed or Seed across Latin America and looking at global expansion, let's meet.
F5V hosts a pitch session at LA Tech Week
An intimate pitch session for founders building the future of AI, infrastructure, and consumer technology. Invitation only.
F5V invite-only dinner at Money 20/20, Las Vegas
A small, invite-only dinner at Money 20/20 in Las Vegas, 18–21 October 2026. For founders and operators rethinking financial infrastructure.
Riccardo Maria Monti at Global South Innovation 2025
Our Chairman on innovation, capital flows and why the growth story of the next decade is being written outside the traditional centres.