Venture Capital

Costanoa Ventures

Costanoa Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm founded in June 2012 and headquartered in Palo Alto, California, with an additional office in San Francisco. Costanoa invests primarily at the Seed and Series A stages, writing checks of roughly $1M to $10M and taking concentrated 10-15% ownership across about 35 companies per fund. The firm's thesis is to fill the "missing middle" of early-stage venture by providing unusually hands-on, operator-led support to founders building applied AI, AI and data infrastructure, cybersecurity, national security / defense tech, fintech, and enterprise software companies. Costanoa was founded by Greg Sands (an early Netscape product manager) and manages roughly $2.8B in assets. In September 2024 it closed an oversubscribed Fund V at $275M alongside Opportunity Fund III at $119M, doubling down on AI-enabled B2B technology. Portfolio companies include Alation, Cyberhaven, Quizlet, PayNearMe, Auterion, Vannevar Labs, Kepler Communications, and Muon Space.

24 portfolio companies 3 publish APIs here 11 properties
Venture CapitalEarly StageSeedSeries AApplied AIData InfrastructureCybersecurityNational SecurityFintechEnterprise SoftwareSan Francisco Bay Area

Costanoa Ventures has 24 portfolio companies tracked on the APIs.io network, of which 3 (12%) publish APIs indexed here.

Its highest-rated API providers on the network are Alation, Basis Theory, Highnote.

Portfolio on the Network

Portfolio companies that publish APIs indexed on APIs.io, grouped by their API Evangelist rating. Exemplar and Strong are expanded by default.

Developing 1 Usable, with meaningful gaps to close
Alation 4 APIs 50.4
Thin 2 Limited public surface area
Basis Theory 8 APIs 38.6 Highnote 7 APIs 35.3

Rest of Portfolio

21 further portfolio companies that don’t yet have a provider page on the network.

AssuredAuterionCapeComunCyberhavenEmpirical SecurityFelderaHidden LevelIvoKepler CommunicationsLivelyMarble HealthMuon SpaceNumaPayNearMeQuizletRerunRunRevealSGNLShepherdVannevar Labs

Scroll for all 21

Properties

Portfolio

Where the firm publishes its investments

Portfolio
Portfolio
 Portfolio
Portfolio
 InvestmentThesis
InvestmentThesis

Team

Partners and investing staff

Team
Team
 Team
Team

Content

Blog, podcast, newsletter, and research

Blog
Blog

Firm

The firm itself

Website
Website
 Jobs
Jobs
 LinkedIn
LinkedIn
 Crunchbase
Crunchbase
 Contact
Contact

Source (apis.yml)

apis.yml Raw ↑ 
aid: costanoa-ventures
name: Costanoa Ventures
description: >-
  Costanoa Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm founded in June 2012
  and headquartered in Palo Alto, California, with an additional office in San
  Francisco. Costanoa invests primarily at the Seed and Series A stages, writing
  checks of roughly $1M to $10M and taking concentrated 10-15% ownership across
  about 35 companies per fund. The firm's thesis is to fill the "missing middle"
  of early-stage venture by providing unusually hands-on, operator-led support to
  founders building applied AI, AI and data infrastructure, cybersecurity,
  national security / defense tech, fintech, and enterprise software companies.
  Costanoa was founded by Greg Sands (an early Netscape product manager) and
  manages roughly $2.8B in assets. In September 2024 it closed an oversubscribed
  Fund V at $275M alongside Opportunity Fund III at $119M, doubling down on
  AI-enabled B2B technology. Portfolio companies include Alation, Cyberhaven,
  Quizlet, PayNearMe, Auterion, Vannevar Labs, Kepler Communications, and Muon
  Space.
x-type: venture-capital
x-category: Venture Capital
image: https://www.costanoa.vc/favicon.ico
created: '2026-07-17'
modified: '2026-07-17'
specificationVersion: '0.20'
tags:
  - Venture Capital
  - Early Stage
  - Seed
  - Series A
  - Applied AI
  - Data Infrastructure
  - Cybersecurity
  - National Security
  - Fintech
  - Enterprise Software
  - San Francisco Bay Area
apis: []
common:
  - type: Website
    url: https://www.costanoa.vc
  - type: Portfolio
    url: https://www.costanoa.vc/portfolio
  - type: Portfolio
    url: portfolio/costanoa-ventures-portfolio.yml
  - type: Team
    url: https://www.costanoa.vc/team
  - type: Team
    url: team/costanoa-ventures-team.yml
  - type: InvestmentThesis
    url: https://www.costanoa.vc/approach
  - type: Blog
    url: https://www.costanoa.vc/perspectives
  - type: Jobs
    url: https://jobs.costanoa.vc
  - type: LinkedIn
    url: https://www.linkedin.com/company/costanoa-ventures
  - type: Crunchbase
    url: https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/costanoaventures
  - type: Contact
    url: https://www.costanoa.vc
  - type: Features
    data:
      - 'Stage: Seed, Series A (early-stage)'
      - 'Typical check: $1M-$10M'
      - 'Ownership target: 10-15%'
      - 'Portfolio construction: ~35 companies per fund'
      - 'Sectors: applied AI, AI & data infrastructure, cybersecurity, national security, fintech, enterprise software'
      - 'Geography: United States (San Francisco Bay Area focus)'
      - 'AUM: ~$2.8B (self-reported)'
      - 'Latest funds: Fund V $275M + Opportunity Fund III $119M (Sept 2024)'
      - 'Founded: June 2012'
      - 'HQ: Palo Alto, CA (office also in San Francisco, CA)'
    sources:
      - https://www.costanoa.vc
      - https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2024/09/18/2948355/0/en/costanoa-ventures-closes-oversubscribed-early-stage-fund-expands-investments-in-ai-enabled-b2b-tech.html
    updated: '2026-07-17'
maintainers:
  - FN: Kin Lane
    email: kin@apievangelist.com
    url: https://apievangelist.com
  - FN: APIs.json
    url: https://apisjson.org
  - FN: Costanoa Ventures
    email: info@costanoa.vc
    url: https://www.costanoa.vc