What stage does Cove Fund invest at?

Cove Fund invests at the Pre-Seed, Seed, Series A stages.

What is Cove Fund's typical check size?

Cove Fund typically writes checks of $250K – $1M.

Where is Cove Fund located?

Cove Fund is headquartered in Irvine, US.

Does Cove Fund lead rounds?

Yes, Cove Fund leads investment rounds.

Cove Fund

Venture capital

Irvine · Pre-Seed–Series A · 12 people tracked

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Investment thesis

Cove Fund is a seed-stage venture capital fund focused on powering innovation in Southern California. It invests in early-stage technology and life science ventures that show potential to address large markets with highly differentiated products and services, and that can reach significant value-creating inflection points with their seed funding. The fund is headquartered at 'The Cove' at UC Irvine Beall Applied Innovation, a gathering place for entrepreneurs, innovators and investors in the Southern California startup ecosystem.

Invests inAI & Machine Learning Biotech Consumer Data & Infrastructure Deep Tech Enterprise Software Hardware Healthtech Media & Entertainment Medical Devices New Materials SaaS Sector AgnosticIrvineUnited States

Source: firm website, verified Aug 3, 2026.

Stage

Pre-Seed–Series A

Check

$250K – $1M

Irvine, California, US

Leads rounds

Leads

Instruments

Equity

Founded

2015

AUM

$20M

Tracked investments

Team · 12 people

from the firm's website & public directories

Dr. Paul Voois· Fund Manager

Fund Manager at Cove Fund and member of Tech Coast Angels. Co-founded ClariPhy Communications (acquired by Inphi, later Marvell) and previously served as CEO of 8x8. Holds an MS and PhD from Stanford and a BS from Penn State in electrical engineering, and is an inventor on 36 US patents.

Mike Benvenuti· Fund Managerin

Fund Manager at Cove Fund and Expert in Residence at UCI Applied Innovation, and advisor/board member for early-stage startups. A veteran service-sector executive who was an early employee of PacTel Cellular (later AirTouch/Vodafone) and held senior roles in education-sector companies. Holds a BS in Civil Engineering and an MBA in Finance from UC Irvine.

m•••@covefund.comreveal

J.C. Ruffalo· Partner

Partner at Cove Fund involved in sourcing, evaluating and executing investments and supporting portfolio companies. Previously Director of LaunchPad at Octane accelerator, working with thousands of early-stage companies. Holds a BS in Entrepreneurship and Finance from Chapman University.

j•••@covefund.comreveal

Matthew McRae· Venture Partner· Laguna Niguel, Californiain

Matthew McRae is Chief Executive Officer of Arlo Technologies, Inc. He has held executive positions in the technology sector, with focus on consumer-facing technology and user experience design.

Bruce Hallett

Board of Advisors member; co-founder of Miramar Digital Ventures focused on Data, IoT and AI, and formerly Managing Partner of Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison's Orange County office.

Don M. Bailey

Board of Advisors member; former CEO of Questcor (sold to Mallinckrodt in 2014) and former Chairman and CEO of Comarco. Holds a BSME from Drexel and an MBA from Pepperdine.

Fariborz Maseeh

Board of Advisors member; founder and managing principal of Surlamer Investments and founder of The Massiah Foundation. Member of the MIT Corporation Board, Caltech Trustee and Harvard Medical School board of fellows.

Michael Beaudoin

Board of Advisors member; Director of Private Equities at Mark IV Capital and previously created AT&T's Aspire Accelerator focused on ed-tech startups. Holds an MBA from Pepperdine and a BS from Ball State University.

Mohannad Malas

Board of Advisors member; Principal and Co-Founder of IRA Capital and President/CEO of Dana Investments, a real estate operating company. Experienced in real estate acquisition, financing and development.

Richard Sudek

Board of Advisors member; former Chief Innovation Officer of Beall Applied Innovation at UC Irvine and Chairman Emeritus of Tech Coast Angels. An active angel investor with over 20 years of experience.

Paul Voois· Fund Managerin

p•••@covefund.comreveal

Ben Strom· Investor· Californiain

Ben Strom is a real estate investor and operator with portfolio interests spanning industrial, retail, multifamily, hospitality, and residential developments across markets including San Diego, Tempe, and Palm Springs. He serves as an operating partner and investment committee member at multiple venture capital firms, including Impact Capital and the Cove Fund, and holds advisory or board positions at early-stage companies and nonprofits. Previously, he spent 15 years as an analyst and portfolio manager in public equities, including roles as a partner at a consumer-focused fund and co-manager of a top quartile-ranked fund at PIMCO.

What they invest in

from 15 of 20 portfolio companies

AI & Machine Learning ×8Medical Devices ×4SaaS ×4IoT ×3Biotech ×2Cleantech ×2Deep Tech ×2Digital Health ×2

HQs:United States×6

Investments · 20 tracked

founders shown can be your intro path

3Laws3laws.io

AI-driven people analytics platformwethos.ai

blng.ai BLNGblng.aiin

BLNG provides AI-powered design and production tools for the jewelry industry, enabling designers to create photorealistic renderings from sketches or prompts and generate marketing-ready visual content.

AI & Machine LearningConsumerMarketing Tech

CARI Healthcarihealth.comin 𝕏

CARI Health develops a clinical testing platform that delivers rapid methadone concentration and metabolic data to clinicians at the point of care, enabling personalized dosing for opioid use disorder treatment.

BiotechDigital HealthHealthtechMedical DevicesSan Diego, US

Patrik Schmidle(Executive Officer, Director)

BoardGioia Messinger(Director)Charles Patton(Director)

Carrogetcarro.comin

CELITECHcelitech.comin 𝕏

CELITECH provides a global connectivity platform (eSIM/mobile data technology) that travel-related companies use to offer international connectivity to their customers.

IoTSaaSTravel & HospitalityLos Angeles, US

AL(Chief Executive Officer)

Cenfirecenfire.comin

Cenfire develops MEMS switches designed to overcome metal fatigue issues in conventional cantilever-based switches, enabling devices to withstand billions of cycles.

HardwareSemiconductors

Eirabioeirabio.com

Exokeryxexokeryx.comin 𝕏

Exokeryx develops microfluidic tools for automated isolation and analysis of extracellular vesicles (EVs) for research applications.

BiotechDeep TechMedical Devices

Gro Gurugroguru.comin 𝕏

GroGuru (operating as Goanna Ag) develops soil moisture sensing and canopy temperature technologies for irrigation management and scheduling, serving farmers and growers of row, tree, vine, and specialty crops.

AgTechAI & Machine LearningCleantechClimate TechIoTSan Diego, US

Roy Moore(Director)Patrick Henry(Executive Officer, Director)Farooq Anjum(Executive Officer, Director)Tom Dowling(Chief Operating Officer & Founder)

Icardio.AIicardio.aiin

iCardio.ai develops artificial intelligence software to automate the interpretation and analysis of echocardiogram ultrasound imaging for cardiologists.

AI & Machine LearningDigital HealthHealthtechMedical DevicesLos Angeles, US

Meliomelio.tech

Melio develops rapid diagnostic technology for bloodborne infections in neonatal care using microfluidics and machine learning, delivering results significantly faster than traditional blood cultures.

AI & Machine LearningDeep TechMedical Devices

Occuspaceoccuspace.io

Occuspace develops AI-enabled sensors that detect occupancy and space utilization through wireless signal scanning, without cameras or personal data collection.

AI & Machine LearningIoT

Quantumelementsquantumelements.ai

SigmaSightsigmasight.aiin

SigmaSight provides AI-powered analytics and negotiation tools for litigation defense teams.

AI & Machine LearningLegalTech

Timemltimeml.aiin

Time Machine builds and operates AI-powered training systems for organizations, combining adaptive learning infrastructure with enablement experts to extract knowledge, design simulations, and operationalize workforce development.

AI & Machine LearningEnterprise SoftwareHR Tech

Ike Kavas(Co-Founder & CEO)inCameron O(Co-Founder & COO)in

VECKTAveckta.comin 𝕏

VECKTA provides a platform and advisory service for commercial and industrial customers to assess, design, and procure solar and energy storage systems, combining software analysis with expert guidance to reduce costs and timelines.

CleantechEnterprise SoftwareSaaS

Visaicvisaic.comin

Visaic provides an AI-powered platform for sports leagues, clubs, federations, and conferences to stream content, engage audiences, and monetize through direct-to-consumer services including live games, pay-per-view events, and digital distribution.

AI & Machine LearningMedia & EntertainmentSports Tech

Xilo Insurance Distribution Automationxilo.ioin

Xilo provides customizable insurance software with dedicated support for agents and brokers to manage their operations without significant workflow changes.

InsurTechSaaS

Eli Zaragoza(Co-founder)Jon Corrin(CEO)

Zestyzesty.io

Zesty.io is a headless and hybrid CMS platform with drag-and-drop interface and AI-assisted features for managing content.

SaaSSan Diego, US

Gerard Widmer(Executive Officer, Director)Hem Suri(Director)Randy Apuzzo(Executive Officer, Director)David Hagewood(Director)

BoardMitch Patridge(Director)

Frequently asked questions

What stage does Cove Fund invest at?: Cove Fund invests at the Pre-Seed, Seed, Series A stages.
What is Cove Fund's typical check size?: Cove Fund typically writes checks of $250K – $1M.
What sectors does Cove Fund focus on?: Cove Fund focuses on AI & Machine Learning, Biotech, Consumer, Data & Infrastructure, Deep Tech, Enterprise Software, Hardware, Healthtech, Media & Entertainment, Medical Devices, New Materials, SaaS, Sector Agnostic.
Where is Cove Fund located?: Cove Fund is headquartered in Irvine, US.
Does Cove Fund lead rounds?: Yes, Cove Fund leads investment rounds.

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