Forty.5 Ventures has closed a $30 million, or about €26 million, venture fund targeting early-stage companies across Southeast Europe, adding a new source of institutional capital for Serbian technology founders seeking to move from product development into international markets.
The investment firm, which operates from Belgrade, Los Angeles and Singapore, said its first fund will invest primarily at pre-seed and seed stage, with selective investments also possible in the United States and Asia-Pacific.
Initial investments will range from $200,000 to $1 million, equivalent to roughly €173,000-€867,000, with Forty.5 seeking to lead or co-lead financing rounds.
The fund will focus on vertical AI, fintech and cybersecurity, alongside gaming, sports, media, entertainment and creator-economy infrastructure.
Forty.5 said the fund is backed by family offices, angel investors, entrepreneurs and business operators from Europe, the United States and Asia-Pacific.
Belgrade gains another institutional capital channel
For Serbia, the significance lies less in the fund’s absolute size than in where it sits in the financing cycle.
The country has developed a growing technology sector, but startups seeking their first substantial institutional round operate in a much shallower venture-capital market than companies in Europe’s main technology hubs.
A Belgrade-based investor able to commit as much as $1 million initially therefore adds another financing option at the point where companies are trying to turn products into commercially scalable businesses.
Forty.5 is also positioning its three-office structure as a bridge between Southeast European founders and customers, investors and partners in the United States and Asia.
The firm combines a venture-building platform, F5V Build, with its conventional investment arm, F5V Capital, allowing it to work with companies from product formation through institutional seed financing.
That model could be particularly useful in Serbia, where technical talent is relatively deep but access to global commercial networks remains a constraint for some early-stage companies.
AI becomes increasingly important investment target
The investment strategy also reflects a shift in Serbia’s technology sector away from a model dominated by software services and outsourcing toward companies building proprietary products and intellectual property.
Artificial intelligence, fintech and cybersecurity are well suited to that transition because products developed by relatively small teams can address international markets without requiring a large domestic customer base.
Forty.5’s emphasis on vertical AI — artificial-intelligence products designed for specific industries and business processes — therefore targets a potentially different generation of Serbian technology companies from those that drove the sector’s earlier outsourcing growth.
It also comes as Serbia invests more heavily in AI infrastructure, research and startup development.
Private venture funding remains important to that strategy because companies seeking international expansion eventually need commercial risk capital, not only grants or public support.
Follow-on capital is the next test
Forty.5 is already preparing a second vehicle for follow-on investments and Series A rounds.
That matters because the financing constraint in smaller startup markets often becomes more acute after seed stage, when successful companies require several million euros to expand sales, hire internationally and enter larger markets.
A fund manager capable of following companies beyond their first institutional round could help more regional startups retain substantial operations in Serbia while scaling abroad.
The first Forty.5 fund remains relatively small by European venture-capital standards and will invest across Southeast Europe rather than Serbia alone.
Its impact will therefore depend on the quality of companies it backs and their ability to attract larger subsequent rounds.
For Serbia, the broader significance is that another layer is being added to a still-developing venture-finance market. The test is whether that capital can help turn more locally built technology companies into internationally scaled businesses without requiring them to leave the region to finance their growth.
