What stage does Candou Ventures invest at?

Candou Ventures invests at the Pre-Seed, Seed, Series A stages.

What is Candou Ventures's typical check size?

Candou Ventures typically writes checks of $500K – $1M.

Where is Candou Ventures located?

Candou Ventures is headquartered in Menlo Park, US.

Candou Ventures

Venture capital

Menlo Park · Pre-Seed–Series A · 9 people tracked

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✨ Fox Verdict

Investment thesis

Candou focuses on providing the first institutional seed round for startups with unique, defensible ideas. It looks for innovative, differentiated technologies that solve a real problem and address a large market, explicitly excluding mobile apps. Beyond funding seed rounds in the $500K to $1M range, the firm positions itself as a hands-on partner that helps founders shape their plans into investible businesses and subsequently raise capital from tier-one venture firms. Candou emphasizes transparency in its interactions and leverages Silicon Valley operating experience, technical expertise and networks to support portfolio companies.

Invests inAI & Machine Learning Cloud Computing Consumer Data & Infrastructure Deep Tech Enterprise Software IoT SaaS Sector AgnosticCanadaMenlo ParkPalo AltoUnited States

Source: firm website, verified Aug 3, 2026.

Stage

Pre-Seed–Series A

Check

$500K – $1M

Menlo Park, California, US

Instruments

Equity

Founded

2015

Tracked investments

Team · 9 people

from the firm's website & public directories

Faraj Aalaei· Founding Managing Partner

Faraj Aalaei is the Founding Managing Partner at Candou Ventures with a four-decade career in the communications and semiconductor industry. He co-founded and served as CEO of Centillium and Aquantia, taking both companies through IPO; Aquantia was acquired by Marvell Semiconductors, where he continued as Executive VP leading the Networking and Automotive businesses. Earlier in his career he worked at AT&T Bell Laboratories on optical communication and broadband cable modem technology. He holds a Bachelor's in Electrical Engineering from Wentworth Institute of Technology, an MSEE from the University of Massachusetts, and an MBA from the University of New Hampshire.

f•••@candouventures.comreveal

Shahin Hedayat· Founding General Partner· United Statesin

Shahin co-founded Candou Ventures in 2015 and is passionate about high-tech startups solving complex problems.

s•••@candouventures.comreveal

Laleh Masnavi· Operating Partnerin

Laleh is an entrepreneur focused on driving business growth at scale through improved operating performance and disciplined strategy.

Susan Akbarpour· Managing Partner· Atherton, California, United Statesin

Susan Akbarpour is an entrepreneur and investor who has founded several technology and media startups over a 30-year career. She holds an MSc in Management from Stanford University Graduate School of Business and focuses on consumer-centric technologies. At Candou Ventures she sources, develops, and supports early-stage startups in SaaS, AI, blockchain, and consumer internet.

s•••@candouventures.comreveal

Mehdi Maghsoodnia· Venture Partner· Silicon Valleyin 𝕏

Mehdi joined Candou in 2023 as a Venture Partner while also serving as Co-Founder and CEO of 1health.

Nader Vasseghi· Venture Partner· San Francisco Bay Areain

Nader is a Silicon Valley-based executive coach, entrepreneur, and author focused on conscious leadership for CEOs and business leaders.

Linda Reddick· CFOin

Linda joined Candou Ventures in 2021 as CFO, managing the fund's finances and helping evaluate candidate startups' financial health, projections, and capital structure.

Sallee Hartbeck· Administrative Leadin

Sallee joined Candou in March 2021 with over 30 years of administrative and organizational experience supporting C-level executives at private and public technology companies.

Leela Najafi· Associatein

Leela Najafi joined Candou Ventures as an Associate in 2024, where she works on firm operations and processes and supports partners on projects including portfolio company support and partnership development. Before joining the firm, she served in a senior leadership role in the U.S. Senate as Nominations Director for Senate leadership and founded nonprofit organizations focused on removing financial barriers for underserved communities. She earlier held internships with the Senate Finance Committee and the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, and holds a B.A. in Communications, Legal Institutions, Economics, and Government from American University's School of Public Affairs.

l•••@candouventures.comreveal

What they invest in

from 9 of 19 portfolio companies

AI & Machine Learning ×6SaaS ×4Enterprise Software ×3B2B Marketplaces ×2Developer Tools ×2IoT ×2Cleantech ×1Crypto & Web3 ×1

HQs:United States×2Canada×1

Investments · 19 tracked

founders shown can be your intro path

1Health1health.io

Alteraaltera.com

ApplyBoard Inc.applyboard.comin

ApplyBoard operates a platform connecting international students with educational institutions across Canada, the US, UK, Ireland, Australia, and Germany.

B2B MarketplacesEdTechMarketplacesSaaSLondon, CA

Axysaxys.ai

Bodobodo.ai

Cimacima.vc

Cognichipcognichip.aiin 𝕏

Cognichip develops Artificial Chip Intelligence (ACI), an AI system designed to accelerate semiconductor design by reducing design effort and time-to-market for chip manufacturers.

AI & Machine LearningDeep TechDeveloper ToolsSemiconductors

entropyentropysystems.aiin

Entropy offers Entropy Workbench, a configurable multi-agent AI platform that orchestrates specialized AI agents across complex enterprise workflows with security, traceability and governance controls.

AI & Machine LearningEnterprise SoftwareSaaS

Exostellarexostellar.io

Medsienmedsien.comin 𝕏Jun 2022

San Francisco, US

HAMED AHMADI(Executive Officer, Director)SINA TORABI(Executive Officer, Director)

BoardDAVID RANGEL(Director)

Mimikmimik.comin 𝕏

mimik develops mimOE, a lightweight operating engine that lets devices act as nodes in an Agentic AI network, enabling agents to be discovered, coordinated, secured, and executed across devices and multi-cloud environments, including offline and on-device.

AI & Machine LearningDeveloper ToolsIoT

Movellusmovellus.comin 𝕏

Ninjatechninjatech.aiin 𝕏

NinjaTech offers a platform of autonomous "AI employees" that plan and execute multi-step business workflows end to end, operating around the clock from tools like Slack, Teams, and WhatsApp.

AI & Machine LearningEnterprise SoftwareFuture of Work

Oiioii.aiin

Oii.ai builds an AI-powered digital twin of a company's supply chain, called Goldiilocks, using patented technology to provide end-to-end visibility and real-time optimization across cost, service, and inventory.

AI & Machine LearningLogistics & Supply ChainSaaS

Omniscentomniscent.com

Omniscent builds MEMS-based micro gas chromatography analyzers that detect VOCs and other gases at sub-ppb levels without carrier gas, for continuous monitoring in harsh environments.

CleantechHardwareIoT

Pockytpockyt.io

Pockyt provides a cross-border payments platform that combines in-country virtual accounts in 11 markets, local payment methods, and multi-currency treasury (27 fiat currencies plus USDC) into a single programmable interface.

B2B MarketplacesCrypto & Web3Fintech

Pyzepyze.com

Pyze provides an "Execution Intelligence" data platform that captures how employees work inside business applications and extracts business rules from legacy systems, helping enterprises identify automation opportunities, deploy AI agents, and measure ROI.

AI & Machine LearningEnterprise SoftwareSaaS

Signalranksignalrank.co

Varana Capital Sakuusakuu.com

Portfolio news

latest coverage across their companies

Startup Funding: Q2 2026

Cognichip · semiengineering.com · Jul 13, 2026

Frequently asked questions

What stage does Candou Ventures invest at?: Candou Ventures invests at the Pre-Seed, Seed, Series A stages.
What is Candou Ventures's typical check size?: Candou Ventures typically writes checks of $500K – $1M.
What sectors does Candou Ventures focus on?: Candou Ventures focuses on AI & Machine Learning, Cloud Computing, Consumer, Data & Infrastructure, Deep Tech, Enterprise Software, IoT, SaaS, Sector Agnostic.
Where is Candou Ventures located?: Candou Ventures is headquartered in Menlo Park, US.

Media · Podcasts & interviews

featuring the team

Susan Akbarpour - Managing Partner - Candou Ventures

Dylan Conroy · Susan Akbarpour

The Defensible and Differentiated Idea with Faraj Aalaei, Founding Partner at Candou Ventures

Faraj Aalaei · kaltura.com

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