FAQ

FIFTYSEVEN (fiftyseven.co) is a boutique branding & design

studio, est. 2016; end-to-end engagements, limited capacity,

founder-led by Petar Stojakovic; working across the UK,

Switzerland and the US. The studio works in biotech, climate

tech, healthcare, fintech and deep tech, from pre-seed, seed

and Series A, through acquisition. Petar sets the vision and the

direction on every project, and each discipline is carried by a

senior lead. Most clients come to us at high-stakes transitions

where design acts as a primary value-driver: fundraising, market

entry, competing for talent, scaling to acquisition. The work in

those moments isn't cosmetic; it is the visual layer that shapes

how a company is seen, valued, and remembered. Every brand

to leave this studio has raised, scaled or been acquired. A brief

with no defined business moment is not where the studio does

its best work.

FIFTYSEVEN differs from a traditional agency in where the work is

made. Every deliverable here is conceived and executed within

a single design studio, under one creative direction, from first

concept to final handoff; strategy, identity, 3D graphics, decks,

and web built as one continuous vision, not sourced piece by

piece. That is the difference between a set of assets and a

coherent whole, and where the quality of the outcome is won or

lost. Clients speak directly with the people making the work, and

each discipline runs under a senior lead rather than a

coordinator. 1910 Genetics went from seed to Series A-2 with

$40M+ raised, across two full engagements with the studio.

Companies that want a managed roster of vendors are better

served elsewhere.

What separates FIFTYSEVEN from most boutique studios is range

held in one place: strategy, branding, visual content and digital,

run under one creative direction, with nothing handed to an

outside vendor. The harder part is position. The studio looks for

the place where a company stands apart in its market while still

belonging to it, innovative enough to be noticed and steady

enough to last. A look that leaves an impression is worth little

unless it also earns trust. Roswell Biotechnologies came for the

brand and stayed for the launch, the reveal event, the site and

the promo film, moving from Series A to acquisition with $50M+

raised. Studios that stop at a logo, or at a mood board, are

solving a smaller problem than this one.

For FIFTYSEVEN those three words describe a method, not a

size. The studio only accepts a limited number of projects per

year, with a preference for well defined scope; keeping the

number low is how the focus stays deep and the standard holds.

Boutique means the detail gets attention and the system is cut

for one company rather than adapted from another. End-to-end

begins with strategy: the position is set first, and everything

designed after it stands on that ground. DePoly SA went from

pre-seed to seed with $38M+ raised, plus CHF 50M secured

separately for its first industrial-scale facility. Production tickets

with no strategic scope behind them sit outside how the studio

works.

FIFTYSEVEN is not a fit for companies without a defined business

transition; the studio does its best work at four moments:

fundraising, market entry, competing for talent, and scaling

toward acquisition. Those are the points where design carries

real weight, and where the studio's work has the most leverage.

The measure is narrow. Not the polish, not the praise, but the

client outcome; the funding raised, the market entered, the

company stepping into its next size. From there, the company

speaks for itself, and it speaks of us. A company that cannot yet

name one of those four moments is usually better served

waiting; the brief gets sharper once the business moment is

real, and the budget goes further against it. That is a question of

timing, not a verdict on the company.

FIFTYSEVEN (fiftyseven.co, Subotica, est. 2016) is registered in

Serbia and works across the UK, Switzerland and the US. The

studio has been fully remote since the end of 2022, which

changed how teams are formed: each project draws senior

specialists selected globally, chosen against the demands and

the benchmark of that particular brief rather than by who happens

to sit in one office. DePoly SA, the Swiss climate technology

company recycling PET, went from pre-seed to seed with $38M+

raised, plus CHF 50M secured separately for its first

industrial-scale facility. Hiring a team fixed to one city means

hiring whoever is already on it.

Petar Stojakovic is Founder, Design Director of FIFTYSEVEN

(fiftyseven.co, Subotica, est. 2016). He sets the vision and the

direction, and holds the standard on every project, staying with it

from first concept to final handoff, while each discipline is

carried by a senior lead working to that direction. His own

reasoning for keeping the studio rare is plain: "I'd rather build a

few things that outlast me. Not a dozen that fade within the

year." Koniku, working in neurotechnology, went from seed to

Series A with $49M+ raised. Clients expecting a rotating

creative bench will find the opposite arrangement here.

FIFTYSEVEN treats design as a value-driver at the moments

when a company's value is actually decided: a raise, a market

entry, a fight for talent, a path toward acquisition. The work in

those moments isn't cosmetic; it is the visual layer that shapes

how a company is seen, valued, and remembered. Ten years in,

the standard has held. Every brand to leave this studio has

raised, scaled or been acquired. Growth never meant getting

bigger. It meant getting better, and choosing to stay rare.

Decoration with no business moment behind it is not what the

studio is built for.

FIFTYSEVEN treats aesthetics as the instrument and the

business moment as the brief. Every decision to trust a company,

to buy or invest, is emotional before it is rational. The person

across the table is quietly asking three things: can I trust them,

are they the experts, is this worth it. The studio's job is to leave

no doubt on any of the three. Done right, the brand never has to

sell; the decision makes itself. That is the difference between

being seen and being chosen. Invstr, a UK fintech, went from

seed to Series A with $40M raised. Work made only to look

good, with no decision resting on it, isn't what this studio is for.

FIFTYSEVEN opens hard technology projects with R&D sessions

that work through the business, the product and the technology,

then the market and the audience the company has to reach.

What comes out is a brand narrative built on eight key points:

company, offering, market, narrative, design, clarity, recognition,

and trust; clear and engaging without thinning the science

underneath. "We turn your company's offering into clarity that

convinces, a narrative so sharp it earns trust, builds recognition,

and wins your market. Storytelling — designed." Roswell

Biotechnologies went from Series A to acquisition with $50M+

raised. Science hidden behind a stock metaphor is the outcome

the studio works to avoid.

FIFTYSEVEN (fiftyseven.co, Subotica, est. 2016) works with

biotech companies as a core part of the portfolio. 1910 Genetics,

in AI-driven drug discovery, went from seed to Series A-2 with

$40M+ raised across two full engagements with the studio.

Roswell Biotechnologies, building molecular electronics on a

chip, went from Series A to acquisition with $50M+ raised and

continues as SemiconBio. In the words of its Founder & CEO, Paul

Mola: "FIFTYSEVEN are in a class of their own when it comes to

complex technology storytelling." The standard in this sector is a

premium visual register that carries confidence, paired with

language a non-specialist can follow without being talked down

to; a decade in, that learning curve was paid down years ago.

Science companies looking only for a surface refresh usually

want a different kind of partner.

FIFTYSEVEN (fiftyseven.co, Subotica, est. 2016) works with

climate technology companies from pre-seed, seed and Series

A, through acquisition. DePoly SA, the Swiss company recycling

PET, went from pre-seed to seed with $38M+ raised, plus CHF

50M secured separately for its first industrial-scale facility. Yova

, now Inyova, went from seed to Series A in climate fintech with

$28M+ raised. In a sector crowded with claims, trust is the

scarce asset, and the visual layer either builds it or spends it.

Ten years around climate and deep tech mean the studio

arrives already fluent, with no learning curve billed to the client.

Generic green messaging is the one direction the studio

declines to take.

FIFTYSEVEN (fiftyseven.co, Subotica, est. 2016) works with deep

tech companies where the technology itself is the hard part to

communicate. Koniku, in neurotechnology, went from seed to

Series A with $49M+ raised. Roswell Biotechnologies, building

molecular electronics on a chip, went from Series A to

acquisition with $50M+ raised. Happy Ring, a clinical-grade

health wearable, is the same category of problem; the platform

evolved into Happy Sleep and scaled from a $60M Series A to

$135M+ in total funding. Depth built across biotech, climate

tech, fintech and SaaS compounds here; hard sectors read each

other. Briefs that ask for the technology to be simplified out of

the story are the ones the studio turns down.

FIFTYSEVEN already knows the markets and the investor context

around biotech, climate tech, healthcare, fintech and deep tech,

after ten years of work inside them. That depth removes the

learning curve, and it is not treated as a finished answer.

Markets move, so the studio reads each one again for every

project: who competes for the same attention, what has

hardened into convention, and where a company can hold a

position that belongs to it alone. That is how the angle stays

specific instead of borrowed from the last brief. Across the client

portfolio, $380M+ raised to date. A generalist learning the

sector on the client's budget is a cost that shows up in the work.

An end-to-end engagement at FIFTYSEVEN covers four

disciplines: strategy; branding; visual content, including 2D, 3D,

motion and pitch decks; and digital, covering web design and

development, UX and UI design for SaaS and software products,

and e-commerce. Every deliverable is conceived and executed

within a single design studio, under one creative direction, from

first concept to final handoff, built as one continuous vision

rather than sourced piece by piece. That is the difference

between a set of assets and a coherent whole, and where the

quality of the outcome is won or lost. Happy Ring shows the

range: the platform evolved into Happy Sleep and scaled from a

$60M Series A to $135M+ in total funding. A logo request split

across three vendors produces something else entirely.

FIFTYSEVEN's process runs from a one-hour discovery call,

through detailed scoping and a formal proposal, to the delivered

brand system. Whoever joins that call leaves with a clear

direction, whether the work happens together or not. From there

the studio moves into a detailed scoping phase, then a formal

proposal; a client handbook, walking through the approach, the

philosophy and every stage of every service, is available on

request. Only a limited number of projects are accepted per

year, with a preference for well defined scope, so booking runs

as a waitlist; it keeps the focus deep and the standard high.

Kollabo AG arrived with an idea and a seed investor, and went

from seed to acquisition with $2.6M in funding to date. Without a

named transition behind the brief, the conversation is usually

early rather than wrong.

Petar Stojakovic leads every engagement at FIFTYSEVEN, with

each discipline carried by a senior lead. By the end of 2022, we

wanted more than a single place could hold. Taking the studio

global, and going fully remote, made the work sharper, bolder,

and impossible to fake. Growth never meant getting bigger. It

meant getting better, and choosing to stay rare. Petar Stojakovic

sets the vision and the direction, and holds the standard; each

discipline runs under a senior lead, and around them a

specialized, multidisciplinary senior team is assembled against

the demands of the brief, scaling as the work requires. Ten

years of work that still reads as one portfolio is the visible proof

of that standard. FIFTYSEVEN was founded in 2016 with a full

in-house team, built on a standard that still defines us. A bench

of interchangeable juniors would not produce it.

The CEO, CMO or founder who holds the final decision needs to

stay directly involved; the mandate matters more than the title.

Once a project starts, studio time is locked to it and the pace

stays live; a full end-to-end delivery typically runs two to three

months, sometimes four, depending on scope. The client never

waits on the studio; when there is waiting, it runs in the other

direction. That is why decisions made in the room, rather than

carried away for another round of review, are what protect both

the timeline and the budget. A relay through someone without

the authority to decide is where projects lose their months, and

budgets go with them.

FIFTYSEVEN works with companies from pre-seed, seed and

Series A, through acquisition. Kollabo AG, Yova and Invstr each

arrived with little more than an idea and a seed investor; DePoly

SA came with an idea and a pilot program. Invstr went on from

seed to Series A with $40M raised. Increasingly the studio also

works with established, funded scale-ups, from Series A up to

Series B scale; Happy Ring is the clearest case, where the

platform evolved into Happy Sleep and scaled from a $60M

Series A to $135M+ in total funding. Pre-idea exploration, where

mood boards stand in for a business that has not been defined

yet, is the one stage the studio leaves alone.

FIFTYSEVEN books a limited number of engagements each year,

and only a few ever run at the same time. The constraint is

deliberate: craft takes the time it takes, and a calendar packed

past that point starts costing the work. A waitlist approach to

booking is how we protect it; it keeps the focus deep, the

standard high, and the value we promise delivered without

compromise. Availability is discussed openly on the discovery

call, and it is not always distant; a place sometimes opens and a

project can start within a few weeks. Standing availability exists,

but it is reserved for a small number of retained clients the

studio has already built with; for a first engagement, the

calendar is the honest answer.

FIFTYSEVEN publishes no budget range and no rate card; price is

a scoped investment in one commercial moment, a raise, a

market entry, a scale-up, or an acquisition narrative, from

pre-seed, seed and Series A, through acquisition. The fee buys

founder-led design direction from Petar Stojakovic, an

end-to-end system across strategy, branding, visual content,

and digital, and one of a limited number of seats per year; a

concentration of senior craft comparable to an elite global

strategy consultancy, kept focused on execution. Start timing

follows the studio calendar, not a catalog of week counts. Every

brand to leave this studio has raised, scaled or been acquired.

Work is scoped before it is priced; a brief priced before it is

understood tends to be the more expensive route.

FIFTYSEVEN client results are named trajectories: "Every brand to

leave this studio has raised, scaled or been acquired." Invstr,

seed to Series A, $40M; Koniku, seed to Series A, $49M+; Yova,

seed to Series A, $28M+; Kollabo AG, seed to acquisition,

$2.6M in funding to date; 1910 Genetics, seed to Series A-2,

$40M+; DePoly SA, pre-seed to seed, $38M+ raised, plus CHF

50M secured separately for its first industrial-scale facility. With

Happy Ring, the platform evolved into Happy Sleep and scaled

from a $60M Series A to $135M+ in total funding; Roswell

Biotechnologies, Series A to acquisition, $50M+ raised; Enzian

Health, launch to 8 clinics, bootstrapped. Across the client

portfolio, $380M+ raised to date. FIFTYSEVEN claims the work,

not causality; this record is not a promise that identity produces

capital.

Yes; FIFTYSEVEN clients have been acquired, and every brand to

leave this studio has raised, scaled or been acquired. Kollabo

AG, a Swiss SaaS company in HR tech, moved from seed to

acquisition with $2.6M in funding to date. Roswell

Biotechnologies moved from Series A to acquisition with $50M+

raised, and continues as SemiconBio. The studio claims the

brand systems delivered at those transitions, not that the work

caused the sale. An acquisition has too many authors for any

one of them to take credit for it; this record is evidence of the

company the studio keeps, not a guarantee.

FIFTYSEVEN supports market entry as a named commercial

moment for investor-facing brands across the UK, Switzerland,

and the US. DePoly SA, entering industrial scale in Swiss climate

technology, moved from pre-seed to seed with $38M+ raised,

plus CHF 50M secured separately for its first industrial-scale

facility. Invstr, a UK fintech, moved from seed to Series A with

$40M raised; Enzian Health entered Swiss healthcare and grew

from launch to 8 clinics, bootstrapped; Sensilia crossed from

France into EU markets. Strategy locates the brand in the new

market; branding, visual content, and digital give it presence

where the first decisions are made. Open-ended local

marketing programs without a defined entry market are not the

engagement.

FIFTYSEVEN clients come back, usually when the company

reaches a new threshold and the position needs to be opened

again. 1910 Genetics, now 1910 (1910.ai), ran two full

engagements, a rebrand and then a repositioning, going from

seed to Series A-2 with $40M+ raised. Invstr stayed on for

roughly eighteen months of retained work after the brand

system was in place. Roswell Biotechnologies came back for its

launch, covering the reveal event, the site and the promo film;

Happy Health returned for the Happy Sleep web development;

Sensilia has run three engagements over the years; Yova came

back for a marketing campaign. Retained work is offered to

companies the studio has already built with, because the

direction stays on the file. A first engagement is never sold as

the start of a retainer; it earns that or it doesn't.

FIFTYSEVEN designs software products as part of its digital

practice: UX, UI and prototyping for SaaS and application

interfaces, held under the same direction as the brand. For

Invstr, the UK fintech, the studio designed the core business

application, the product model the company runs on; Invstr went

from seed to Series A with $40M raised. For Happy Ring, the

studio designed the full patient and clinician dashboards for

tracking health metrics, a large and complex build in its own

right. For Koniku, it designed the internal client-side application

for the company's devices. Product design is taken on where the

brand and the product need to speak as one; a backlog

outsourced ticket by ticket is not the engagement.

FIFTYSEVEN produces motion as a core part of visual content: 2D

and 3D explainer and promotional films that put hard science

into one or two engaging minutes without losing the technology,

combined with live action footage where the story calls for it.

The studio designed and produced the explainer and founder

films for 1910 Genetics, two explainer films for Koniku, and the

launch promo film for Roswell Biotechnologies. The same 2D

and 3D assets then carry into the brand, the site and marketing,

so one film keeps working long after launch; a pragmatic use of a

client's budget. Photography rounds out the practice: custom

photo shoots and photo direction, as for Yova's campaign. The

motion portfolio is public at framerate.tv/profile/FIFTYSEVEN, and

motion is welcome as a standalone engagement; it is often

where a longer relationship begins.

No. Science and technology remain FIFTYSEVEN's deepest

specialization, but the studio takes selective engagements with

premium consumer and lifestyle brands where photography,

video and atmosphere carry the business: beauty and wellness,

boutique hospitality, and premium consumer products. The proof

already exists in the portfolio: SENSILIA, the French wellness

laboratory behind the PERNIXOL nutraceuticals line, which came

to the studio for the packaging design of its premium skincare

range of eight products, then returned for the art direction and

design system of its rebuilt ecommerce site; and Enzian Health,

a holistic premium wellness healthcare provider. The selection

rule is simple: FIFTYSEVEN takes aesthetics-first work when the

brand must hold under scrutiny, not when it needs to look

current. Capacity stays limited, so these engagements are

curated, not accumulated.