Fundraising Fox
Illuminate Ventures
Venture capitalOakland · Pre-Seed–Series A · 4 people tracked
Also known as ILLUMINATE MANAGEMENT, L.L.C.
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Investment thesis
Illuminate Ventures concentrates exclusively on B2B/enterprise software, leading Series Seed rounds that bridge the gap between angel capital and larger traditional VC rounds. The firm favors platforms and applications leveraging data and AI to deliver measurable ROI, backing talented, often diverse founding teams that pair 'creative destruction' with new technologies. Illuminate is usually a company's first institutional investor but can also fit established companies raising their first equity financing. Its team and advisors are enterprise/B2B software operators and investors, taking a hands-on board role and making customer and C-level introductions. When appropriate, it collaborates with large-scale firms for follow-on financing while favoring lean, flexible early-stage startups.
Source: firm website, verified Sep 29, 2026.
Team · 4 people
from the firm's website & public directoriesFounder mafia
3 people who came through Illuminate Ventures went on to found or lead other companies.
What they invest in
from 31 of 51 portfolio companiesAI & Machine Learning ×22SaaS ×19Enterprise Software ×18Marketing Tech ×6Sales Tech ×6Data & Infrastructure ×5Cloud Computing ×4Digital Health ×4
HQs:United States×17United Arab Emirates×1Canada×1United Kingdom×1Hong Kong×1
Who they back
founder profiles across 16 portfolio companiesFounding team size:solo founder×112 founders×23 founders×14+ founders×2
Where their founders studiedfrom 15 founders with education data
Santa Clara University ×2Stanford University ×2
What their founders studiedfrom 17 founders with field-of-study data
Computer Science ×9Engineering ×5Business & Management ×3Finance & Accounting ×3
Investments · 51 tracked
founders shown can be your intro pathBy year:2025 · 22024 · 22023 · 22022 · 72021 · 12019 · 12018 · 12017 · 12016 · 12015 · 12014 · 120 dated
Coupang operates an online retail platform and logistics network offering same-day and next-day delivery of general merchandise, fresh groceries, and luxury goods; provides restaurant delivery, video streaming, and digital payment services; and operates a marketplace connecting merchants and luxury brands with customers across multiple geographies.
E-commerceFintechLogistics & Supply ChainSeattle, US
Bom Kim(Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board)
Co-investors137 VenturesCross Creek AdvisorsEntrée CapitalEvolution VC PartnersFJ LabsFounder Collective+16 more
Talkspace is an online mental health care platform that provides research-backed therapy and psychiatric services covered by insurance, allowing users to connect with licensed therapists and psychiatrists through text, audio, or video.
Digital HealthHealthtechMental Health
Oren Frank(Founder)inJon Cohen, M.D.inJon Cohen(Chief Executive Officer and Director)in
Co-investorsCompoundHDS CapitalNorwest Venture PartnersQumra CapitalRunway Venture PartnersVillage Global+14 more
Arkestro provides intelligent procurement software that automates supplier quote collection and comparison for enterprise procurement teams.
AI & Machine LearningEnterprise SoftwareSaaSSan Francisco, US
Edmund LeikenBen Leiken(Chief Product Officer (co-founder, originally CTO))inRob Desantis(Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder)inEdmund Adam Zagorin(Chief Strategy Officer and Co-Founder)Martin Meyer(Executive Officer)Neil Lustig(Executive Officer, Director)in
Board seatCindy Padnos· per SEC Form D
Co-investorsActivant CapitalAltira Group LLCCervinConstruct CapitalEl Cap EquityForum Ventures+5 more
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New York, US
Tom O'Flaherty(Executive Officer)Rami Musallam(Executive Officer, Director)in
BoardCliff Higgerson(Director)Robert Mylod(Director)Kenneth Tuchman(Director)
Board seatCindy Padnos· per SEC Form D · filed Dec 2016
Co-investorsRakuten Capital
IP Author is a generative AI platform for patent professionals that enables drafting, searching, and responding to patent office actions.
AI & Machine LearningLegalTechHong Kong, HK
Samir Raiyani(Executive Officer, Director)in
BoardRobert Stefanski(Director)in
Board seatCynthia Padnos· per SEC Form D
Co-investorseLab Ventures
Allocadia, now rebranded as Uptempo, provides marketing planning, budgeting, and performance software that combines budget management, campaign planning, and real-time analytics for marketing teams.
Enterprise SoftwareMarketing TechSaaS
Co-investorsSusquehanna Growth EquityAltos VenturesBeehive HoldingsInovia Capital
Bedrock Analytics provides a cloud-based data analytics platform that turns retail sales data into insights on product performance for consumer packaged goods (CPG) manufacturers.
AI & Machine LearningRetail TechSaaSOakland, US
William Salcido(Executive Officer, Director)
BoardNeeraj Gupta(Director)in
Co-investorsCervinCERVIN VENTURES
Birdie builds integrated software for homecare agencies to manage care operations, patient information, and team coordination.
Digital HealthEnterprise SoftwareHealthtechSaaSLondon, GB
Max Parmentier(Founder)in
Co-investorsIndex VenturesOMERS VenturesAstellaEndeavor CatalystKamet VenturesSofina+1 more
Birdie is an AI assistant that helps sales and prospecting teams research leads, generate personalized outreach copy, and manage follow-ups integrated with existing sales tools.
AI & Machine LearningEnterprise SoftwareSaaSSales TechSan Francisco, US
Daniel Hung(Co-founder / CEO)in
Co-investorsSoma CapitalTRAC (Third Round Analytics Capital)Wayfinder VenturesY CombinatorAstellaEndeavor Catalyst+8 more
Birdie is a customer intelligence platform that connects customer data from multiple sources (CRMs, support tools, product analytics, surveys) into a unified context layer with structured taxonomy and business rules.
AI & Machine LearningEnterprise SoftwareMarketing TechSaaS
Patrícia Osorio(Founder)in
Co-investorsAstellaFusionEndeavor CatalystSoftBank GroupSoftbank Latin America Fund
Brevity provides AI-powered sales simulation and practice platform for sales teams, enabling them to rehearse calls with realistic AI buyer personas that provide immediate feedback and coaching to develop selling skills.
AI & Machine LearningSaaSSales Tech
Co-investorsBlack Tech Nation VenturesHomegrown CapitalLightship CapitalMairs & Power VC
BrightEdge is an enterprise platform for AI search and SEO visibility, giving marketers a single view of their presence across Google, AI Overviews, ChatGPT, and Claude.
AI & Machine LearningMarketing TechSaaSSan Mateo, US
Jim Yu(Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder)inLemuel Park(Chief Technology Officer and Co-founder)inTim Compton(Chief Financial Officer)inMichael Sundareson(Chief Revenue Officer)inRan Van Riper(Chief Customer Officer)in
Co-investorsBattery VenturesInsight Partners
CafeX develops an AI-powered platform for enterprise process optimization and application development that integrates data sources, enables real-time collaboration, and accelerates deployment for corporate developers.
AI & Machine LearningData & InfrastructureDeveloper ToolsEnterprise SoftwareSaaS
Co-investorsHemisphere Ventures LLCTransition Level InvestmentsIntel CapitalRakuten Capital
Contentstack offers an Agentic Experience Platform combining a headless CMS, real-time customer data, and AI agents to generate, translate, and personalize content across channels.
AI & Machine LearningEnterprise SoftwareMarketing TechSan Francisco, US
Neha Sampat(CEO)inNishant Patel(CTO)inMatthew Baier(Executive Officer, Director)inDavid Overmyer(Executive Officer)in
BoardTeddie Wardi(Director)in
Co-investorsInsight PartnersJMI EquityGeorgianGingerbread Capital
San Francisco, US
Tristan Zajonc(Founder)in
Co-investorsAmplify PartnersInspired CapitalWayfinder VenturesZero Prime VenturesData Community FundGTMfund
RADCOM provides AI-native service assurance software for telecom operators running 4G/5G networks, turning real-time RAN-to-core data into per-subscriber visibility, customer experience analytics, and automated remediation.
AI & Machine LearningData & InfrastructureEnterprise Software
Co-investorsMomenta VenturesAmplify Partners CVData Community FundGTMfundInnovation EndeavorsInspired Capital+1 more
Hoopla builds a digital platform and physical tools designed for parents and caregivers to help children ages 3–8 manage emotions and navigate challenging moments through body-first techniques.
ConsumerHealthtechMental HealthWellness & FitnessDubai, AE
Co-investorsTechstarsTrinity Ventures
Hoopla provides gamification and performance visualization software for sales teams, connecting to CRMs like Salesforce and HubSpot to display real-time metrics, leaderboards, and competitive challenges on TV displays and mobile devices.
Enterprise SoftwareFuture of WorkHR TechMarketing TechSaaSSales TechSports Tech
Influitive provides a SaaS platform and professional services for customer advocate marketing, helping companies discover and mobilize their customer advocates to drive sales and customer lifetime value.
Marketing TechMedia & EntertainmentSaaS
Mark Organ(Founder)inPuneet ArorainRich Stollerin
Co-investors500 GlobalExtreme Venture PartnersExtreme Venture Partners LLPGolden VenturesHummer Winblad Venture Partners (HWVP)Lightspeed Venture Partners+8 more
Intelo builds AI agents for retail merchandising that operate as transparent partners to human teams, automating labor-intensive tasks across product planning, pricing, and inventory management.
AI & Machine LearningEnterprise SoftwareRetail TechSaaS
Roopesh Nair
Jacobi provides investment management technology for designing and managing multi-asset portfolios, serving institutional investors with workflow tools that integrate data, analytics, and client reporting capabilities.
AI & Machine LearningCloud ComputingData & InfrastructureEnterprise SoftwareFintechSaaSSan Francisco, US
Co-investorsPLG VenturesQIC Ventures
Jacobi Robotics builds a hardware-agnostic, AI-first software platform for industrial robots, combining high-fidelity simulation, fast motion planning, and reinforcement-learning agents so robots adapt to variable, unstructured environments.
AI & Machine LearningDeep TechLogistics & Supply ChainRoboticsEmeryville, US
Lars Berscheid(Co-founder / Chief Architect)Max Cao(Co-founder / CEO)Yahav Avigal(Co-founder / CTO)inJeff Ichnowski(Co-founder / Chief Roboticist)inKen Goldberg(Co-founder)Arno Strotgen(VP, Head of Business Development)in
Co-investorsFoothill VenturesFronturesHumba VenturesMoxxie VenturesSwift VenturesBerkeley SkyDeck Fund+2 more
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JetStream DR provides continuous data protection and disaster recovery for enterprise data center applications, replicating workloads to Azure cloud storage with minimal complexity and downtime.
Cloud ComputingCybersecurityData & InfrastructureEnterprise Software
Serge ShatsTomMartinSanthosh
Labra provides a Propensity to Buy scoring platform that helps sales teams identify and prioritize high-intent accounts using Ideal Customer Profiles and advanced filtering.
AI & Machine LearningCloud ComputingEnterprise SoftwareSaaSSales Tech
Sridhar A.(Founder)in
Co-investorsUlu VenturesLunaCap VenturesNew Age Capital
Mpathic provides red-teaming and model safety evaluation services for conversational AI systems, using a curated network of over 5,000 licensed U.S.-based clinical experts including psychologists, psychiatrists, and social workers to surface harms, test for bias and misinformation, and design evaluation frameworks.
AI & Machine LearningCybersecurityDigital HealthEnterprise SoftwareMental Health
Co-investorsFirst Row PartnersGraham Walker VentureIdeashipNext Frontier CapitalPortland Seed FundVerissimo Ventures+2 more
Opsmatic provides observability and monitoring software for cloud-native applications, AI agents, and microservices, enabling teams to detect and resolve issues automatically.
AI & Machine LearningCloud ComputingDeveloper Tools
Co-investorsDetroit Venture PartnersFreestyle CapitalGeneral CatalystIndex VenturesSlow Ventures
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Pex develops AI-powered audio and video content identification technology used to detect copyrighted content and user-generated content across digital platforms, serving music companies, rightsholders, and online platforms for licensing, royalty attribution, and fraud prevention.
AI & Machine LearningCreator EconomyMedia & EntertainmentSaaSSilicon Valley, US
Rasty Turek(Founder)in
Co-investorsEvolution VC PartnersMachina VenturesPartners ResoluteRockaway Ventures
Provarity provides a presales platform that automates technical evaluations and manages the presales workflow for complex enterprise sales.
AI & Machine LearningEnterprise SoftwareSaaSSales Tech
Co-investorsCheyenne VenturesCrosslink CapitalRembrandt Venture Partners
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.Candou VenturesCorrelation VenturesBenhamou Global VenturesBGVDoubleRock
Displai (Raydiant) provides digital signage, employee experience tools, and location analytics powered by AI for brick-and-mortar and enterprise businesses.
AI & Machine LearningEnterprise SoftwareRetail TechSaaSSan Francisco, US
Chester Ng(Executive Officer, Director)inBobby Marhamat(Executive Officer, Director)Tuan Ho(Executive Officer)in
BoardJack Abraham(Executive Officer, Director)in
Co-investorsBeaconsfield CapitalBloomberg BetaFernbrook Capital ManagementNextView VenturesOverton Venture CapitalTransmedia Capital+12 more
SonoThera is developing a nonviral, non-invasive gene delivery technology that uses ultrasound and microbubbles (ultrasound-mediated delivery) to deliver genetic payloads to targeted sites in a redosable way.
BiotechDeep TechDigital HealthHealthtechSouth San Francisco, US
Kenneth Greenberg(Co-Founder, President & CEO)in
Co-investorsVida VenturesLeaps by BayerARCH Venture PartnersFoothill VenturesIllumina VenturesMedical Excellence Capital+8 more
TAZI provides autonomous AI agents that give financial institutions such as RIAs, community banks, and credit unions explainable recommendations for retaining, growing, and acquiring customers.
AI & Machine LearningEnterprise SoftwareFintech
Zehra Cataltepe(Founder)in
Co-investorsFoothill Ventures
Xactly provides an intelligent revenue platform for sales teams that combines sales compensation, planning, forecasting, and territory management capabilities.
AI & Machine LearningSaaSSales Tech
Chris CabrerainArnab Mishrain
Co-investorsVista Equity PartnersCamber PartnersCheyenne VenturesRembrandt Venture Partners
Other
Tracked investments with no reachable website or further public details — typically companies that wound down, renamed, or were absorbed.
Birdie SSOT Corp.Bid OpsCaféXCalmSeaContinual IQDigital FuelHoopla SoftwareJetStreamnFluxPBNPerceptive PandaPerceptixRed ArilSenseSense PlatformVivantWildPockets
Rows marked “SEC filing” are inferred from directors named on the company's SEC Form D — public regulatory data, not a portfolio list published by the firm.
Exits · 5
2 IPOs · 3 acquisitions · showing 3CoupangNYSE: CPNGTalkspaceNASDAQ: TALKContinualacq. by RADCOM
Portfolio news
latest coverage across their companiesSonoThera · finsmes.com · Jun 10, 2026
Xactly · trysignalbase.com · May 11, 2026
Intelo · infotechlead.com · Oct 16, 2025
Arkestro · finsmes.com · May 14, 2025
Frequently asked questions
- How many investments has Illuminate Ventures made?
- Illuminate Ventures has 51 tracked investments, 5 of which have exited, including 3 dated in the last 24 months.
- What stage does Illuminate Ventures invest at?
- Illuminate Ventures invests at the Pre-Seed, Seed, Series A stages.
- What is Illuminate Ventures's typical check size?
- Illuminate Ventures typically writes checks of $100K – $1.5M.
- What sectors does Illuminate Ventures focus on?
- Illuminate Ventures focuses on AI & Machine Learning, Cloud Computing, Cybersecurity, Data & Infrastructure, E-commerce, Enterprise Software, IoT, SaaS.
- Where is Illuminate Ventures located?
- Illuminate Ventures is headquartered in Oakland, US.
- Does Illuminate Ventures lead rounds?
- Yes, Illuminate Ventures leads investment rounds.
- Who does Illuminate Ventures co-invest with?
- Illuminate Ventures most often shares deals with Cervin, Cheyenne Ventures, Evolution VC Partners, among 73 tracked co-investors.
Media · Podcasts & interviews
featuring the teamHighlights about Illuminate Ventures from Cindy Padnos
FinStrat Management, Inc. · Cindy Padnos
Smart Seed Investing With Illuminate Ventures Founder and Managing Partner Cindy Padnos
FinStrat Management, Inc. · Cindy Padnos
MPods - Episode 7 - Cindy Padnos - Founder and Managing Director of Illuminate Ventures
MPods · Cindy Padnos
CIO Exchange: Investing One Step Ahead - Cindy Padnos, Founder/Managing Partner, Illuminate Ventures
VMware · Cindy Padnos
Ep 17 Cindy Padnos Illuminate Ventures
Founders Pack · Cindy Padnos
Episode #52 Cindy Padnos, Founder & Managing Partner at Illuminate Ventures on Fireside with a VC
Andrew Romans · Cindy Padnos
Co-investors · 45
Foothill Ventures is a technology-focused venture fund based in Los Altos, California, run by a team with founder and operator backgrounds. It makes early-stage investments in frontier technology, particularly infrastructure and AI applications.
New Enterprise Associates (NEA) is a venture capital firm that invests in and provides long-term support to founders building new companies.
Insight Partners is an investment firm focused on accelerating revenue and profit growth in software companies, providing capital and operational support through its Insight Onsite team.
Cervin is a venture capital firm run by seasoned entrepreneurs that partners with product visionaries building enterprise software companies, offering strategy, network, and customer support in addition to capital.
Sequoia Capital is a venture capital firm that partners with founders to build technology companies.
Norwest is a venture capital and growth equity investment firm that has backed over 700 companies across technology, consumer, and healthcare over its 65-year history.
Susa Ventures operates two early-stage technology funds that invest in companies leveraging data, network effects, and economies of scale.
Freestyle Capital is a venture firm that leads seed rounds in early-stage technology companies, backing founders with operating experience, connections, and conviction.
Crosslink Capital is an early-stage venture capital firm founded in San Francisco that partners with founders building category-defining enterprise and consumer technology companies.
Primary Venture Partners is a seed-stage venture fund that backs founders at the earliest moments, combining deep sector specialization with a large operating team that provides hands-on support.
ARCH Venture Partners is a venture capital firm that invests in and helps build transformational companies, with a strong focus on the life sciences and biotechnology sector.
Johnson & Johnson Innovation is the innovation arm of Johnson & Johnson, working to advance life science innovation through early partnerships, incubation via JLABS, venture investing through JJDC, and late-stage partnerships to address global health challenges.
▶33 more co-investors
AstellaMedical Excellence CapitalAstiaVertex Ventures HCGingerbread CapitalTenacity Venture CapitalLong Journey VenturesFoundation CapitalCanaan PartnersPartech VenturesBling CapitalForerunner VenturesSignalFireScale Venture PartnersBowery CapitalSierra VenturesCatapult CapitalBlockchain CapitalHustle FundTSVCMS&AD VenturesNextGen Venture PartnersBaseline VenturesStorm VenturesDig Ventures Management LimitedSmash CapitalRoot Ventures Manager, LlcANIMO VenturesConductive VenturesLaconiaLavrock VenturesAlphaPrime VenturesSure Ventures
Firms observed investing alongside Illuminate Ventures, from public investor directories. Shared companies are the overlap with Illuminate Ventures's recorded portfolio.
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