INVESTMENT THESES

Opportunity areas we believe in.

While we’re industry agnostic, there are a few tech sectors that we’re bullish on and excited about their potential for growth.

THESIS AREAS

The fastest growing sectors we see huge potential for driving innovation.

AI Agents

Autonomous agents will transform every industry with their capabilities extending to redesigning workflows, simulating complex scenarios, reducing the need for human intervention, and beyond.

Vertical AI

The AI-ification of every industry is upon us and there will be massive potential for AI solutions designed for a specialized industry to be the driver for the next generation of great enterprise SaaS businesses.

Healthcare

Healthcare is ripe for innovation, with opportunities to combat challenges such as staffing shortages and financial strains, as well as drive progress with AI for detection, diagnosis, and proactive care.

FinTech

Technological advancements are transforming the financial sector and the wider economy, affecting all aspects of our work - from payments to lending, to policy and financial regulation.

Supply Chain

Supply chain and logistics is in the midst of transformation, with countless opportunities to improve efficiency, reduce costs, enhance transparency, and ensure sustainability.

The Future of Work

How we work is changing rapidly, with automation and robotics transforming jobs and skills across every industry, building a more productive, flexible and inclusive future.

MARKET MAPS

Discover the B2B SaaS companies leading these tech sectors right now with Forum Ventures’ market maps.

FOUNDERS BUILDING IN THESE SPACES

Portfolio founders leading the charge.

Kaylee Lieffers
CEO
Blanka
INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHT

Blanka's technology makes it easy for brands of any size to source and customize the highest quality beauty products. Founded by a 2x entrepreneur and 30 Under 30 recipient, Blanka's platform is the wholesale hub and fulfillment partner for branded beauty. Kaylee joined Forum's Accelerator Program in 2021 where the team was able to scale rapidly and raise a 3.7M CAD Seed round in 2023 led by Dundee Venture Capital, with participation from Storytime Capital and Disruption Ventures.

Edmund Zagorin
CEO
Arkestro
INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHT

Arkestro is an AI Powered software to automate negotiation for enterprise procurement. Edmund joined Forum’s Accelerator Program in 2018 as BidOps before rebranding to Arkestro. In 2022, they raised a $26M Series A led by NEA, Construct, Koch Disruptive Technologies (KDT) and Four More Capital, a division of Henry Crown & Company.

Steven Simoni
CEO
Allen Control Systems
INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHT

Steven joined Forum’s Accelerator Program in 2015 as the CTO and Co-Founder of his first company, Vidfluent. In 2017 he founded Bbot, which became the second investment out of our first Seed Fund in 2020, and was acquired by DoorDash in 2022. When we heard that Steven was founding another company, Allen Control Systems, we were eager to be a part of this journey too. Allen Control Systems is a defense technology company for a new era of drone warfare and to completely change battlefield economics. In April 2024, they raised $12M in Seed funding led by Craft Ventures with participation from Forum Ventures and Rally Ventures.

Anthony Kennada
CEO
AudiencePlus
INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHT

Anthony Kenada joined Forum Ventures as a mentor and advisor in 2014 when he was the CMO of Gainsight. In 2022 he founded AudiencePlus, building products and a community to help usher in a new era for the B2B marketing industry. Anthony and his team raised their $5.4M Seed round in 2023 led by Emergence Capital, with participation from Forum Ventures, Worklife Ventures, and GTMfund.

Bucky Khan
CEO
Finni Health
INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHT

Finni Health provides world-class behavioral healthcare for children with Autism. Bucky joined Forum’s Accelerator Program in 2020 and closed their $3.2M Seed round in 2023 led by General Catalyst, with participation from YCombinator, Wayfinder Ventures, Andrew Adams (Headway), and Divya Bhatt (Virta).

Patricia Thaine
CEO
PrivateAI
INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHT

Private AI develops privacy-preserving machine learning and natural language processing tools making privacy and GDPR compliance reliable. Patricia joined Forum's Accelerator Program in 2019, and then we re-invested through our Seed fund in 2021. Private AI has since gone on to raise an $8M Series A led by BDC Capital with participation from new investors GIT1K, and Panda Angel Partners.

Sean Thorne
CEO
People Data Labs
INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHT

People Data Labs enables companies to build innovative, trusted people data driven products at scale. Sean and his team joined our San Francisco Accelerator Program in 2015 and we were the first check into the company. They have since gone on to raise more than $55M across a seed, Series A and Series B from funds including Susa Ventures, Craft Ventures, 8VC and Founders Fund.

Krish Ramineni & Sam Udotong
Co-Founders
Fireflies.ai
INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHT

Fireflies.ai is an AI assistant for meetings that records and transcribes voice meetings. Co-founders Krish and Sam joined our San Francisco Accelerator Program in 2017. Today, their team operates out of 5 continents. They raised $5M in seed funding in late 2019 led by Canaan Partners, and in 2021 raised a $14M Series A led by Khosla Ventures.

Chris Herd
CEO
FirstBase
INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHT

Chris joined our NYC Accelerator Program in early 2020. His company, FirstBase, provides remote worker setup for companies. FirstBase raised a $2M round at the end of our program, and with sales skyrocketing, raised a $13M Series A led by Andreessen Horowitz only 9 months later. Within two years of joining Forum’s portfolio, they raised a $50M Series B led by Kleiner Perkins.

RESOURCE HUB

Discover everything you need to succeed on the early-stage SaaS journey.

Market Insights - AI Agents

A Call for Founders: 5 Core Sectors Ripe for Innovation

Market Insights - HealthTech

Opportunities for Innovation at Health Systems: Part 1 of a Series

Market Insights - HealthTech

Unraveling Healthcare Innovation Spend: Where Healthtech Founders Need to Focus

More Resources
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