How many investments has Candou Ventures made?

Candou Ventures has 20 tracked investments.

What stage does Candou Ventures invest at?

Candou Ventures invests at the Pre-Seed, Seed 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.

Who does Candou Ventures co-invest with?

Candou Ventures most often shares deals with Gaingels, Plug and Play Ventures, Correlation Ventures, among 54 tracked co-investors.

Candou Ventures

Venture capitalActively deploying

Menlo Park · Pre-Seed–Seed · 13 people tracked

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Investment thesis

Candou Ventures focuses on early seed-round investing, writing the first institutional seed check in the $500K to $1M range. The firm backs entrepreneurs with unique and defensible ideas built on innovative, differentiated technologies that address a real problem and target a large addressable market. It explicitly avoids mobile apps. Beyond capital, Candou emphasizes hands-on support, helping shape founders' plans into investible businesses, offering attention and operating experience, and assisting portfolio companies in raising subsequent rounds from tier-one venture firms. The firm stresses transparency and clear communication with its portfolio companies.

Invests inAI & Machine Learning Cloud Computing Consumer Data & Infrastructure Deep Tech Enterprise Software IoT SaaSSector AgnosticCanada Menlo Park Palo Alto United States

Source: firm website, verified Sep 27, 2026.

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Stage

Pre-Seed–Seed

Check

$500K – $1M

Menlo Park, California, US

Instruments

Equity

Founded

2015

Tracked investments

Unicorns

Team · 13 people

from the firm's website & public directories

Faraj Aalaei· Founding Managing Partner· Atherton, California, United Statesin

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.

faraj@candouventures.com

Shahin Hedayat· Founding General Partner· United Statesin

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

shahin@candouventures.com

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.

Laleh Masnavi· Operating Partner· Palo Alto, California, United Statesin

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

Linda Reddick· CFO· San Jose, California, United Statesin

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

Mehdi Maghsoudnia

Nader Vaseghi

Sallee Hartbeck· Administrative Lead· Fremont, California, United Statesin

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.

Shahin Heyadat

Richard Thoms· Executive Officer

Leela Najafi· Associate· San Francisco Bay Areain

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.

leela@candouventures.com

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

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.

susan@candouventures.com

Founder mafia

3 people who came through Candou Ventures went on to found or lead other companies.

Faraj AalaeiFounding Managing PartnerFounded Cognichip +1 Nader VasseghiVenture PartnerFounded Vistage Mehdi MaghsoodniaVenture PartnerFounded Vitagene

What they invest in

from 15 of 20 portfolio companies

AI & Machine Learning ×10Enterprise Software ×5SaaS ×5Data & Infrastructure ×4Developer Tools ×4B2B Marketplaces ×2Cleantech ×2Deep Tech ×2

HQs:United States×11Canada×1

Who they back

founder profiles across 9 portfolio companies

56%

solo founders

5 of 9 mapped founding teams

40%

repeat founders

of 10 founders with career history

Founding team size:solo founder×52 founders×23 founders×2

Where their founders studiedfrom 12 founders with education data

Conestoga College ×2

What their founders studiedfrom 11 founders with field-of-study data

Engineering ×5Computer Science ×4Mathematics & Statistics ×2

Investments · 20 tracked

founders shown can be your intro path

By year:2023 · 1 2022 · 2 2021 · 1 2017 · 15 dated

Movellusmovellus.com in 𝕏Sep 2022

Movellus develops infrastructure IP for high-performance, energy-efficient silicon, offering solutions for clocking, droop detection, and power management.

Deep TechHardwareSemiconductorsSan Jose, US

Mo Faisal(Founder, President & CEO)inVikram Karvat(COO)inRas (Robert) Sheffield(CFO)inDavid Steer(VP Worldwide Sales)inSaif Alam(VP Engineering)inMUHAMMAD FAISAL(Executive Officer, Director, Promoter)

Board seatShahin Hedayat· per SEC Form D

Co-investorsIntel Capital Invest Michigan MESH Michigan Capital Network Michigan Rise Sand Hill Angels

1Health1health.io

1health is a healthcare platform that connects patient records across separate organizations, resolving patient identity and assembling one shared record so hand-offs like referrals, discharges, and results no longer rely on faxes and manual work.

Data & InfrastructureDigital HealthHealthtech

Co-investorsPlug and Play Ventures

ApplyBoard Inc.applyboard.com in

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

AI & Machine LearningB2B MarketplacesEdTechMarketplacesSaaSLondon, CA

Meti Basiri(Founder)in Martin Basiri(Founder)in Massi Basiri(Founder)in

Co-investors500 Global Artiman Ventures BDC Growth Venture Fund Celtic House Asia Partners Drive Capital ETS Strategic Capital +13 more

Bodobodo.ai

Bodo builds an auto-parallelizing Python compiler that brings high-performance computing speed to large-scale data processing, and develops data infrastructure to make analytics governed and usable for both humans and AI agents.

AI & Machine LearningData & InfrastructureDeveloper ToolsEnterprise SoftwareSan Francisco, US

Ehsan Totoni(CTO & Co-Founder)inBehzad Nasre(CEO & Co-Founder)

Co-investorsSnowflake Ventures Dell Technologies Capital Fusion Humans Of The Internet In-Q-Tel Koch Disruptive Technologies +2 more

Cognichipcognichip.ai in 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 ToolsSemiconductorsRedwood City, US

Faraj Aalaei(Founder)in Ehsan Kamalinejad(Founder)inSimon Sabato(Founder)

Co-investorsFPV Global Catalyst Partners Japan Lux Capital Mayfield Fund NewBuild.VC VSC Ventures +3 more

entropyentropysystems.ai in

Entropy Systems provides AI-powered compliance and evidence processing for product documentation, handling multilingual labels, test reports, and declarations to ensure consistent regulatory compliance and market access.

AI & Machine LearningDeveloper ToolsEnterprise SoftwareSaaS

Medsienmedsien.com in 𝕏Jun 2022

Medsien provides remote care management technology for medical providers to deliver chronic care to patients remotely.

AI & Machine LearningDigital HealthHealthtechSaaSSan Francisco, US

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

Board DAVID RANGEL(Director)in

Co-investorsMerus Capital Naples Technology Ventures

Mimikmimik.com in 𝕏

mimik powers the agentic economy by enabling real-time AI inference across endpoint devices including smartphones, drones, robots, and machines, combined with cloud capabilities.

AI & Machine LearningCloud ComputingDeveloper ToolsEnterprise SoftwareIoTSan Francisco, US

Fay Arjomandi(Founder and CEO)in

Co-investorsPier 88 Investment Partners

Ninjatechninjatech.ai in 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 WorkLos Altos, US

Arash Sadrieh(Founder)in Babak Pahlavan(Founder)in

Co-investors2.12 Angels Ferocity Capital Amazon Alexa Fund

Oiioii.ai in

Oii.ai provides supply chain planning solutions that help organizations align their logistics operations with strategic business objectives and optimize profitability.

AI & Machine LearningLogistics & Supply ChainSaaS

Co-investorsInterwoven Ventures

Omniscentomniscent.comJan 2017

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.

CleantechHardwareIoTSaratoga, US

Yogesh Gianchandani(Executive Officer)Sassan Teymouri(Executive Officer, Director)

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

Co-investors37 Angels Imagination Capital XRC

Pyzepyze.com

Pyze provides an Execution Intelligence platform that captures how employees actually work inside web-based enterprise applications, helping organizations measure workforce productivity, find automation opportunities, and evaluate AI agent deployments.

AI & Machine LearningData & InfrastructureEnterprise SoftwareSaaS

Co-investorsAAF Management Ltd.Correlation Ventures Illuminate Ventures Benhamou Global Ventures BGV DoubleRock

Signalranksignalrank.coMar 2023

SignalRank is an investment vehicle that uses an algorithmic selection process to identify top-decile, venture-backed Series B companies and provides pro-rata follow-on financing through a network of existing investors.

AI & Machine LearningData & InfrastructureFintechPalo Alto, US

Keith Teare(Executive Officer, Director)inMatt Melkonian(Director)Kayvan Baroumand(Director)

BoardFaraj Aalaei(Director)

Co-investorsAstanor Ventures

Varana Capital Sakuusakuu.com in

Sakuu manufactures commercial-scale dry-process printing equipment and technologies for producing batteries and supercapacitors, serving AI data centers and electric vehicle industries.

Advanced ManufacturingCleantechEnergyNew MaterialsSan Jose, US

Robert Bagheri(CEO)

Co-investorsCSVE Venture Partners Varana

Other

Tracked investments with no reachable website or further public details — typically companies that wound down, renamed, or were absorbed.

AlteraAxysCimaExostellarKeraCel

Portfolio news

latest coverage across their companies

Cognichip Raises $60M in Series A Funding

Cognichip · finsmes.com · Apr 2, 2026

Frequently asked questions

How many investments has Candou Ventures made?: Candou Ventures has 20 tracked investments.
What stage does Candou Ventures invest at?: Candou Ventures invests at the Pre-Seed, Seed 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.
Who does Candou Ventures co-invest with?: Candou Ventures most often shares deals with Gaingels, Plug and Play Ventures, Correlation Ventures, among 54 tracked co-investors.

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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