Costanoa Ventures

Costanoa Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm headquartered in Palo Alto, California, founded in 2012 by Greg Sands, who previously was a managing director at Sutter Hill Ventures and the first product manager at Netscape. The firm invests from pre-seed/seed through Series A in technology companies, with stated sector focus on applied AI and SaaS, AI and data infrastructure, cybersecurity, national security and defense, fintech, and data-and-analytics-driven enterprise software.

The firm describes its approach as backing a small number of founders tackling large, difficult problems and remaining engaged over long time horizons, positioning itself as an investor in the "missing middle" of early-stage venture. Reported practice includes concentrated ownership stakes of roughly 10-15% or more across approximately 35 deals per fund, with hands-on support delivered through monthly board meetings, participation in customer sales calls, and an in-house BuilderOps team covering sales, marketing and talent.

Portfolio companies cited across sources include Alation, Demandbase, Kenna Security, Quizlet, BillGo, Roadster, AppOmni, Cyberhaven, Bigeye, AKASA, Parallel Domain, Lively (a health savings account platform), Vannevar Labs, Muon Space and Kepler Communications. Named team members include Greg Sands (founder and managing partner), Mark Selcow (general partner), John Cowgill (general partner, cybersecurity and space), Amy Cheetham (partner), Martina Lauchengco (BuilderOps), Jared Franklin (vice president), Madison Hawkinson (investor) and Taylor Bernal (director of marketing and platform).

Founding story

Costanoa was founded in 2012 by Greg Sands, previously a managing director at Sutter Hill Ventures and the first product manager at Netscape, where he was involved in naming the company and in building the SuiteSpot business.

Business model

Costanoa operates as a venture capital fund manager, raising capital into successive early-stage funds and opportunity (follow-on) funds and deploying it as equity investments in early-stage technology startups, with returns generated through exits. It reports total AUM exceeding $2 billion.

As a fund manager, the firm's economics derive from management of committed capital across its early-stage and opportunity funds and from investment returns on portfolio equity.

Traction

Reported figures include total AUM of more than $2 billion, 252 investments and 26 exits, average check sizes cited variously as $2-5 million and $1-10 million, and a September 2024 close of $394 million across Fund V and Opportunity Fund III.

Latest developments

In September 2024 the firm closed Fund V ($275 million) and Opportunity Fund III ($119 million), with capital directed at fintech, AI-driven enterprise software and defense startups. It reported an exit of LifeRaft in May 2025 and is described as actively deploying Fund V with growing emphasis on defense tech and cybersecurity. Recent site posts cover portfolio company Smack Technologies (January 2026), an SGNL announcement (January 2026) and Ivo.