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

• May 2026investment
  Itera exited stealth with $12M in funding; Costanoa co-invested alongside Upfront Ventures and Colle Capital in the real-time electronics prototyping startup. tracxn.com
• Apr 2026investment
  Natter, a New York-based AI conversation intelligence platform, raised $23M with Costanoa participating alongside lead investor Renegade Partners, Kindred Capital, Rackhouse Ventures, Village Global, and Asymmetric Capital Partners. thesaasnews.com
• Mar 2026investment
  Shepherd raised a $42M Series B with Costanoa and Spark Capital participating; Intact Private Capital led the round. Costanoa and Spark Capital were noted as doubling down on the insurtech. tracxn.com
• Mar 2026investment
  Smack Technologies closed a $61M Series B (announced as $32M initially) to build domain-specific AI models for the U.S. Joint Force. Costanoa and First In doubled down in the round. tracxn.com
• Jan 2026investment
  Costanoa joined Ivo's $55M Series B alongside lead Blackbird Ventures, Uncork Capital, Fika Ventures, GD1, and Icehouse Ventures. techstartups.com
• Jan 2026press
  Costanoa named one of TIME's Top Venture Capital Firms of 2025. linkedin.com
• May 2025product
  Costanoa hosted a GTM Summit in San Francisco on May 28, focused on rethinking go-to-market strategy in the AI era, open to marketing and sales leaders. linkedin.com
• Sep 2024fundraise
  Costanoa closed Fund V at $275M and Opportunity Fund III at $119M, bringing total AUM to over $2.8B. superscout.co
• 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

Notable investments

• IteraSeedMay 2026tracxn.com
• NatterUnknownApr 2026thesaasnews.com
• ShepherdSeries BMar 2026tracxn.com
• Smack TechnologiesSeries BMar 2026tracxn.com
• IvoSeries BJan 2026techstartups.com
• System Two SecuritySeedUnknownlinkedin.com
• 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

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
• https://www.thesaasnews.com/news/natter-secures-23-million-in-funding
• https://techstartups.com/2026/01/20/top-startup-and-tech-funding-news-january-20-2025-2/
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/nancy-katz-61b2a38/
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/martinalauchengco/

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