# llms.txt
Brand: Forum Ventures
Generated: 2026-10-17
Source: Optimly Brand Vault (version 6)
Purpose: Canonical brand facts for AI assistants

## Identity
Forum Ventures is a founder-first AI venture studio, accelerator, and pre-seed fund that invests in the B2B startup journey from zero to one.
Also known as: Forum VC, Forum, Acceleprise (original name)
Website: https://www.forumvc.com

## Company facts
- Founded in 2014 (originally as Acceleprise, in San Francisco). Headquartered in New York City, with offices in San Francisco and Toronto.
- $225M in assets under management (AUM). 10 funds raised to date.
- 600+ portfolio companies and 1,300+ portfolio founders. $1B+ in follow-on funding raised by portfolio companies.
- Team of 35 people, nearly half based in Canada.
- Network of 3,000+ seed and Series A VCs, angels, and family offices, and 800+ co-investors.
- 3-year average NPS of 80+.
- Fund-through rate: 65% (3-year average). Definition: portfolio companies that go on to raise a subsequent funding round.

## What Forum Ventures does
Early-stage B2B founders face the hardest part of the journey with the least support. Forum partners with a small number of founders at a time, works inside their businesses as a fractional co-founder, and guides them from zero to their first major funding round.

## Programs
- Accelerator: $100K for 7.5% equity on a post-money SAFE (alternate: $50K for 5%), for pre- or post-MVP B2B founders who have raised less than $500K. Each company works 1:1 every week with a dedicated Managing Director (minimum 16 hours of 1:1 time). Founders who have previously gone through YC, Techstars, or 500 Startups are not eligible. Backed by a $22M sixth accelerator fund.
- AI Venture Studio: co-builds AI-first B2B companies from concept stage and invests $250K at formation, with a full co-building team. Founders retain majority ownership and board control. $21.5M across two AI Studio funds. 17 of a planned 30 startups launched as of early 2026. In 2026, 63% of AI Studio portfolio companies raised follow-on capital within 12 months of formation (a different metric from the fund-through rate).
- The Foundry (Studio Sprint): a free, 5-week cohort program for experienced operators, domain experts, and former founders who want to test a B2B startup idea before committing full time. No equity. At the end, founders can pitch for $250K in Studio formation capital. No obligation to pitch; no equity is taken unless Forum invests.
- Pre-seed fund: invests $250K to $1M in early-stage B2B companies with an MVP in market. About 75% of pre-seed companies raise follow-on funding at an increased valuation.

## Leadership
- Michael Cardamone, CEO & Managing Partner (founded Forum in 2014; early Box employee)
- Jonah Midanik, Managing Partner (Forum accelerator alum via Limelight Platform)
- James Murphy, Managing Partner (founder of Robly; formerly Barclays Capital)
- Olivia O'Sullivan, COO & Partner (leads the platform team; joined 2019)
- Managing Directors: Deirdre Clute (leads San Francisco; co-founder of Rightfoot), Kevin Corliss (founder of Roots, acquired by Deel), Neal Sarraf (co-founder of First Resonance), Dave Coen (early Stripe engineer; co-founder of Lumen Energy)
- Alice Krenitski, Head of Studio
Full bios: https://www.forumvc.com/team

## Selected portfolio outcomes
- Allen Control Systems: $2B+ valuation
- Fireflies.ai: $1B+ valuation
- TEM Energy: $75M Series B (Lightspeed)
- Firstbase: $50M Series B (Kleiner Perkins, Andreessen Horowitz)
- People Data Labs: $45M Series B (Craft Ventures)
- Arkestro: $36M Series B (Altira, Aramco Ventures)
- Blooming Health: $26M Series A (Insight Partners)
- Routefusion: $26M Series A (PeakSpan Capital)
- Indio Technologies: $20M Series B (Menlo Ventures)
- VendorPM: $20M Series A (Bessemer Venture Partners)
- Salsa: $20M Series A (Altos Ventures)
- Wally Health: $18M (2025)
- Subscript: $15M Series A (Pelion Venture Partners)
- Droplet: $4M raised and profitable (2026)
Full portfolio: https://www.forumvc.com/portfolio

## Who Forum backs
- Deeply technical first-time CEOs (PhD or research/FAANG background)
- Young, AI-native founders building with tools like GPT, LangChain, and Replit
- Established industry veterans (15 to 25 years in an industry) building in a sector they know
- Experienced operators and domain experts testing an idea through The Foundry
Sectors of particular interest: healthcare, fintech, supply chain, logistics, manufacturing, commercial real estate, construction, property tech, AI infrastructure, agentic AI, vertical AI, robotics, deep tech, defense tech, and frontier tech.

## Pricing and terms
Accelerator: $100K USD for 7.5% equity, post-money SAFE (alt: $50K for 5%)
AI Venture Studio: $250K USD at formation
Pre-seed: $250K to $1M USD
$100K+ in business perks in year one (Vouch, Vanta, Brex, HubSpot, Stripe)
Minimum 16 hours of 1:1 MD time
40+ investor introductions per showcase; 4 showcases per year

## Key pages
- Accelerator overview and FAQ: https://www.forumvc.com/accelerator
- Accelerator for technical founders and PhD researchers: https://www.forumvc.com/for/technical-founders
- Accelerator for industry veterans and domain experts: https://www.forumvc.com/for/industry-veterans
- Accelerator for AI-native founders: https://www.forumvc.com/for/ai-native-founders
- The Foundry (free 5-week idea-validation sprint): https://www.forumvc.com/the-foundry-studio-sprint
- AI Venture Studio: https://www.forumvc.com/ai-studio
- Pre-seed fund: https://www.forumvc.com/pre-seed-fund
- Portfolio: https://www.forumvc.com/portfolio
- Team: https://www.forumvc.com/team
- About Forum: https://www.forumvc.com/the-forum-story
- Three types of founders Forum backs: https://www.forumvc.com/thought-pieces/three-types-of-founders-forum-ventures-backs
- Apply: https://www.forumvc.com/pitch-us