Costanoa Ventures

Quick read

Costanoa Ventures is a seed-to-Series-A venture capital firm founded in 2012 and headquartered in Palo Alto, California. It focuses on AI-enabled B2B technology — Applied AI, AI infrastructure, cybersecurity, fintech, and defense tech — writing checks from company formation through Series A. In September 2024 it closed Fund V at $275M and Opportunity Fund III at $119M, bringing total AUM past $2 billion.

Key facts

Founded

2012

Founders

Greg Sands

Employees

29

Sectors

enterprise, ai, fintech, security, saas, devtools

Website

costanoa.vc

Investment thesis

Costanoa leads investments from company formation through Series A in Applied AI, AI infrastructure, cybersecurity, fintech, and defense tech, backing technical B2B founders with hands-on operational support across hiring, sales, and go-to-market from day one.

Recent activity

• Apr 2026investment
  Natter raised $23M with Costanoa among the investors, backing the AI video interview platform. tracxn.com
• Apr 2026press
  Costanoa sponsored the fifth annual MIT–Harvard Technology and National Security Conference Innovation Showcase, offering a $100K SAFE investment to the winning defense or cybersecurity startup. Greg Sands served as a judge. tdpelmedia.com
• Mar 2026investment
  Shepherd raised a $42M Series B with Costanoa and Spark Capital participating. tracxn.com
• Mar 2026investment
  Smack Technologies announced $32M in funding to build a frontier AI lab for national security, with Costanoa among the backers. tracxn.com
• Feb 2026fundraise
  Costanoa filed to raise $450M across two new funds: a $300M early-stage fund and a $150M growth fund focused on its existing portfolio. bizjournals.com
• Jan 2026investment
  Midship raised $4.15M to automate SOX testing with agentic AI, with Costanoa and Seguin Ventures backing the round. tracxn.com
• Sep 2024fundraise
  Costanoa closed Fund V at $275M and Opportunity Fund III at $119M, pushing total AUM past $2B. John Cowgill was promoted to General Partner, having led the firm's cybersecurity and space practices. techfundingnews.com
• Jun 2025press
  Costanoa published a BuilderOps Blueprint featuring Ching-Yu Hu, who joined SGNL as COO after serving as Executive-in-Residence at Costanoa. SGNL is an AI-led cybersecurity company focused on enterprise identity management. costanoa.vc
• May 2025investment
  Portfolio company LifeRaft exited, marking one of Costanoa's 26 recorded exits to date. superscout.co
• Sep 2024fundraise
  Costanoa closed two oversubscribed funds: Fund V at $275 million for early-stage investments and Opportunity Fund III at $119 million for follow-on rounds in existing portfolio companies, pushing total AUM past $2 billion. techfundingnews.com
• Sep 2024leadership
  John Cowgill was promoted to General Partner. He built Costanoa's cybersecurity and space practices and led investments in AppOmni, Cyberhaven, Muon Space, and Kepler Communications. techfundingnews.com
• Aug 2024press
  Costanoa's BuilderOps Blueprints series featured Comun, a fintech neobank for Latino immigrants that closed a $21.5M Series A. costanoa.vc

Notable investments

• Natterundisclosed ($23M)Apr 2026tracxn.com
• ShepherdSeries B ($42M)Mar 2026tracxn.com
• Smack Technologiesundisclosed ($32M)Mar 2026tracxn.com
• MidshipSeed ($4.15M)Jan 2026tracxn.com
• LifeRaftexitMay 2025superscout.co
• ComunSeries AAug 2024costanoa.vc
• SGNLUnknownJun 2025costanoa.vc
• Rerun Technologies ABSeedUnknownsynch.law
• Vannevar LabsSeed2019techfundingnews.com
• AppOmniUnknownUnknowntechfundingnews.com
• CyberhavenUnknownUnknowntechfundingnews.com
• Muon SpaceUnknownUnknowntechfundingnews.com

Key people

Named individuals at the firm. We don't expose direct email or phone — use their LinkedIn for outreach.

• Greg Sands · Founder & Managing Partner
• John Cowgill · General Partner
• Mark Selcow · Partner
• Tony Liu · Principal
• Pamela Magie · Director of Operations

Sources

• Costanoa Ventures LinkedIn
• Costanoa Ventures Closes Oversubscribed Early-Stage Fund
• Costanoa Ventures – Gilion VC Mapping
• Costanoa Ventures Portfolio – VCBacked
• Synch advised Costanoa Ventures – Rerun Technologies seed
• BAM Case Study – Costanoa
• Unveiling Costanoa Venture Capital (2012)
• https://www.costanoa.vc/perspectives/sgnl-blueprints-once-a-founder-always-a-builder
• https://superscout.co/investor/costanoa-ventures
• https://techfundingnews.com/costanoa-ventures-closes-394m-in-two-new-funds-focuses-on-ai-investments/
• https://www.costanoa.vc/perspectives/comun-blueprints-fueling-financial-freedom--and-the-american-dream
• https://www.costanoa.vc/perspectives/muon-space-blueprints-dont-fear-big-change-seriously-it-will-be-fine
• https://tracxn.com/d/venture-capital/costanoa/___LCWdUd_obhaNkVfxYb4WoJOZdHXx5Fox4b32OUKnSQ
• https://tdpelmedia.com/costanoa-ventures-awards-100k-safe-investment-to-winning-startup-advancing-national-security-solutions-at-mit-harvard-conference/
• https://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2026/02/20/costanoa-ventures-fund-filings.html

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