Fundraising Fox
Sancus Ventures
Venture capitalActively deployingSan Francisco · Pre-Seed–Seed · 10 people tracked
Also known as SANCUS VENTURES MANAGEMENT, LLC
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Investment thesis
Sancus Ventures backs the core building blocks of software, focusing on software infrastructure startups. Founded by former founders and builders, the firm draws on a 500+ member community of infrastructure experts and decision-makers from large enterprises and fast-growing tech companies. It emphasizes deep technical understanding, help with product-market fit through customer insights, and access to top engineering talent — including CTOs, CIOs, and VPs of Engineering who serve as advisors, board members, and hires for portfolio companies. The firm positions itself as the type of investor its team wished existed when they were raising capital as founders.
Source: firm website, verified Sep 29, 2026.
Team · 10 people
from the firm's website & public directories
Founder mafia
2 people who came through Sancus Ventures went on to found or lead other companies.
What they invest in
from 30 of 37 portfolio companiesAI & Machine Learning ×23Developer Tools ×10Enterprise Software ×9SaaS ×9Data & Infrastructure ×7Crypto & Web3 ×6Fintech ×5Cybersecurity ×4
HQs:United States×13China×1
Who they back
founder profiles across 19 portfolio companiesFounding team size:solo founder×62 founders×63 founders×44+ founders×3
Where their founders studiedfrom 29 founders with education data
Harvard University ×3University of California, Berkeley ×3Cornell ×2Massachusetts Institute of Technology ×2Stanford University ×2UCLA ×2
What their founders studiedfrom 27 founders with field-of-study data
Computer Science ×18Business & Management ×5Engineering ×3Mathematics & Statistics ×3Finance & Accounting ×2Physics ×2
Where their founders worked beforefrom 32 founders with career history
Google ×5Microsoft ×4Uber ×4Reducto ×3Browserbase ×2Coinbase ×2Cruise ×2GitHub ×2
Accelerator rootsportfolio companies that came through a program
7 founders hold a PhD · 4 hold an MBA (of 32 with degree data)
Investments · 37 tracked
founders shown can be your intro pathBy year:2025 · 62024 · 12023 · 12019 · 12018 · 12011 · 111 dated
Cased uses AI to automate cloud infrastructure management, letting developers describe what they want to deploy and where while the tool handles tools like Terraform, Kubernetes, Docker, and AWS.
AI & Machine LearningCloud ComputingDeveloper ToolsSan Francisco, US
Garrett Bjerkhoel(Director, Promoter)inBen Bleikamp(Director, Promoter)inBryan Byrne(Executive Officer, Director, Promoter)
PartnerLake Dai· solo GP
Co-investorsAbstraction CapitalFounders FundAscend Venture Capital
Monterey AI builds an AI-powered product analytics platform designed to extract insights from qualitative user data and feedback.
AI & Machine LearningData & InfrastructureDeveloper ToolsEnterprise SoftwareSaaSSan Francisco, US
Chun Jiang(Founder)inBen Kramer(Co-founder, CTO)in
PartnerLake Dai· solo GP
Co-investorsExceptional CapitalSoma CapitalY CombinatorAlumni VenturesHat-Trick CapitalAmplify Partners+6 more
Achievego provides human-in-the-loop evaluation for voice agents and LLM-based systems by pairing automated scores with calibrated human review to identify failure gaps and root causes in production interactions.
AI & Machine LearningDeveloper ToolsEnterprise Software
PartnerLake Dai· solo GP
ALIGNMT AI provides AI governance infrastructure, including governance frameworks, risk monitoring, and certification support for enterprises in regulated industries.
AI & Machine LearningEnterprise SoftwareSaaS
PartnerLake Dai· solo GP
Co-investorsAIX VenturesAlumni VenturesBasecamp FundDent Capital
Anyscale provides a platform for building and deploying machine learning and AI applications at scale, enabling developers to run applications from laptops to data centers without managing underlying infrastructure.
AI & Machine LearningCloud ComputingData & InfrastructureDeveloper ToolsSan Francisco, US
Robert Nishihara(Founder)inPhilipp Moritz(Founder)in
BoardBen Horowitz(Director)inIon Stoica(Founder)in
PartnerLake Dai· solo GP
Co-investors11.2 CapitalAmplify PartnersAndreessen HorowitzavraFoundation CapitalIntel Capital+3 more
Aomni provides AI agents that automate account research and go-to-market work for B2B sales and revenue teams, aggregating data from 20+ sources to build account plans, personalized outreach sequences, and value propositions.
AI & Machine LearningSaaSSales Tech
David Zhang(Founder)
PartnerLake Dai· solo GP
Co-investors57Blocks CapitalDecibel Partners
Arena.ai is a platform for exploring and interacting with frontier AI models; user conversations may be shared with AI providers for research purposes.
AI & Machine Learning
PartnerLake Dai· solo GP
Co-investors515 VenturesAndreessen HorowitzAtacama VenturesFelicis VenturesVela PartnersKleiner Perkins+2 more
Artie provides a data replication platform built on change data capture (CDC) technology, enabling real-time data movement with sub-minute latency and zero data loss.
AI & Machine LearningData & InfrastructureDeveloper ToolsEnterprise SoftwareSaaSSan Francisco, US
Jacqueline Cheong(Founder)inRobin Tang(Founder)inArmando McIntyre-Kirwin(Executive Officer, Director)Ryan Horrigan(Executive Officer, Director)
PartnerLake Dai· solo GP
Co-investorsStandard CapitalCalano VenturesCanaan PartnersFJ LabsGeneral CatalystIA Seed Ventures+6 more
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Artie provides change data capture streaming that replicates database changes (e.g.
AI & Machine LearningData & InfrastructureSaaS
Bastion provides stablecoin issuance infrastructure with compliance and security features, enabling institutions to launch USD-backed stablecoins with customizable issuer models.
Crypto & Web3Data & InfrastructureFintech
Caroline Friedman(Founder)Nassim Eddequiouaq(Founder)Riyaz Faizullabhoy(Founder)
PartnerLake Dai· solo GP
Co-investorsa16z cryptoAndreessen HorowitzCogitent VenturesCoinbase VenturesSamsung NextSony Ventures Corporation+7 more
Brix connects companies with vetted remote software engineers sourced from outside their home market, handling sourcing, vetting, deployment, and ongoing management through its WorkViz platform.
AI & Machine LearningFuture of WorkHR TechMarketplaces
Katherine Duan(Founder)in
PartnerLake Dai· solo GP
Co-investorsMento vcBorderless CapitalCircle VenturesConsenSysParibu Ventures
CipherOwl provides AI-powered security and compliance infrastructure for institutional stablecoins and digital assets, automating screening, investigation, and regulatory reporting across blockchain networks.
AI & Machine LearningCrypto & Web3CybersecuritySan Francisco, US
Leo Liang(Founder)inMing Jiang(Founder)in
PartnerLake Dai· solo GP
Co-investors57Blocks CapitalCoinbase VenturesGeneral CatalystPredictive VCAME Cloud VenturesFlourish Ventures+2 more
CodeLock provides software supply chain security solutions.
CybersecurityDeveloper ToolsGovTechSaaS
PartnerLake Dai· solo GP
Co-investorsOakseed VenturesSoundboard Venture Fund
Dinari provides tokenized stocks and ETFs (dShares) that combine traditional equity securities with blockchain-based digital assets, serving financial institutions like neobanks, fintechs, brokerages, and institutional traders across 85+ jurisdictions.
Crypto & Web3FintechPalo Alto, US
Gabriel Otte(Executive Officer, Director)inAltay MalazgirtinJake Timothyin
PartnerLake Dai· solo GP
Co-investors500 GlobalAlliance DAO (ex DeFi Alliance)F-Prime CapitalFactor CapitalHack VCSilvermine Capital+4 more
Dyna develops general-purpose robots powered by foundation models that adapt across environments and learn new skills rapidly, with deployment across a fleet that continuously improves.
AI & Machine LearningDeep TechRobotics
Lindon Gao(Founder)inJason Ma(Founder)inYork Yang(Founder)in
PartnerLake Dai· solo GP
Co-investorsAlumni VenturesBig Brain HoldingsCRV (Charles River Ventures)FellowsHCVCINCE Capital+8 more
Exceeds provides an agent intelligence layer that tracks and attributes AI-generated prompts to merged pull requests across the software development lifecycle, measuring token efficiency and return metrics for engineering teams.
AI & Machine LearningDeveloper ToolsEnterprise Software
Mark Hull(Founder)inPradeepta Dash(Founder)
PartnerLake Dai· solo GP
Co-investorsSemperVirens Venture CapitalVenrock
PartnerLake Dai· solo GP
Napkin Labs provides an AI agent platform designed to support hardware engineering and manufacturing processes.
Advanced ManufacturingAI & Machine LearningHardwareBoulder, US
Warren Ng(Executive Officer, Director)Riley Gibson(Executive Officer, Director)
BoardWendi Burkhardt(Director)
PartnerLake Dai· solo GP
Co-investorsFirst Round Capital
Onyx provides an AI agent and CLI that runs parallel agent teams against a company's existing codebase to automatically discover and test code improvements for hardware and robotics systems.
AI & Machine LearningDeveloper ToolsRobotics
PartnerLake Dai· solo GP
Co-investorsBessemer Venture PartnersConvictionCyberstartsFirstMark CapitalG SquaredTCV
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Opennote is an AI-powered learning platform that consolidates lecture materials, notes, and readings in one place and provides contextual explanations, practice tools, and video tutorials to help students understand course content.
AI & Machine LearningConsumerEdTechSaaSSan Francisco, US
Rishi Srihari(Founder)inAbhi Arya(Founder)inVedant Vyas(Founder)in
PartnerLake Dai· solo GP
Co-investorsAfore CapitalY CombinatorAcrew CapitalAndreessen HorowitzLong Journey VenturesMetsu Capital+2 more
Opennote built a notebook application that helped users organize and make sense of scattered information and notes.
AI & Machine LearningEdTechSaaS
RishiAbhiVedant
Pax AI provides AI-powered compliance infrastructure for global trade, helping enterprises manage duty drawback and trade compliance across fragmented systems.
AI & Machine LearningEnterprise SoftwareFintechLogistics & Supply ChainSaaSSan Francisco, US
Penny Chen(Founder)inChris Le(Founder)in
PartnerLake Dai· solo GP
Co-investorsBasis Set VenturesGeneral CatalystInitialized CapitalSoma CapitalTranspose Platform ManagementY Combinator+9 more
The developer platform for fine-tuning and serving open-source LLMs
Developer ToolsEnterprise SoftwareSan Francisco, US
Devvret Rishi(Founder)inPiero Molino(Founder)inTravis Addair(Founder)inChris Ré(Co-Founder)
BoardSaam Motamedi(Board Member / Investor (Greylock Partners))inJason Risch(Investor (Greylock Partners))in
PartnerLake Dai· solo GP
Co-investorsFelicis VenturesGreylock PartnersAIX VenturesWorkday Ventures
Rare Bits is a San Francisco peer-to-peer marketplace for buying, selling and auctioning Ethereum-based crypto-collectibles (NFTs).
San Francisco, US
Amitt Mahajan(Executive Officer, Director)inDavid Pekar(Executive Officer, Director)
BoardNabeel Hyatt(Director)in
Co-investorsBlockchain CoinvestorsAccelAditya AgarwalAvichal GargBenchmarkCaffeinated Capital+16 more
Redcoat AI provides a cybersecurity platform focused on defending organizations against AI-driven social engineering attacks such as phishing, smishing, and deepfake impersonation.
AI & Machine LearningCybersecurityEnterprise Software
John Whaley(CEO and Co-founder)Kelly Byrd(Co-Founder)Mike Morris(Co-Founder)in
Co-investorsPear VCJ2 VenturesKyber Knight CapitalLeonis CapitalTekton VenturesZelda Ventures
Powerful APIs for NFT buying, selling & data
Danny Bernstein(Founder)in
PartnerLake Dai· solo GP
Co-investors1k(x)NascentUnion Square Ventures (USV)ArchetypeSevenX VenturesSquare Peg Capital+1 more
Silicon Data provides real-time price transparency and GPU performance data, along with GPU rental indices and forward curves, treating AI compute as a tradable commodity.
AI & Machine LearningData & InfrastructureFintechNew York, US
PartnerLake Dai· solo GP
Co-investorsF-Prime CapitalWintermute
Softmax builds AI systems based on organic alignment principles—the concept that agents remaining aligned with human values also maintain alignment with each other.
AI & Machine LearningDeep TechSector Agnostic
Emmett Shear(CEO & Founder)inDavid Bloomin(Founder)inYatharth Agarwal(Cofounder)inAdam Goldstein(Board Member and Founder Emeritus)
PartnerLake Dai· solo GP
Co-investorsJuniper Ventures Management, LlcLifelike CapitalLIONHEART VENTURESMythos Ventures Management, LlcNight CapitalSummit Peak Investments+2 more
Taiko is an open, community-driven project focused on scaling Ethereum.
Crypto & Web3Developer Tools
Daniel Wang(Founder)inBrecht Devos(Founder)
PartnerLake Dai· solo GP
Co-investorsBollinger Investment GroupFactionGenerative VenturesIOSG VenturesL2 Iterative Ventures (L2IV)Mapleblock Capital+12 more
zCloak develops blockchain protocols designed for enterprise and DAO use cases, emphasizing privacy preservation, auditability, and deterministic governance in financial infrastructure.
Crypto & Web3Data & InfrastructureEnterprise SoftwareFintech
Xiao Zhang(Founder)in
PartnerLake Dai· solo GP
Co-investorsAdvanced BlockchainARKN venturesBixin CapitalBixin VenturesDigital Finance GroupIOSG Ventures
Other
Tracked investments with no reachable website or further public details — typically companies that wound down, renamed, or were absorbed.
Bltz AITeablocks
Exits · 3
3 acquisitions · showing 1Opennoteacq. by Reducto
Portfolio news
latest coverage across their companiesSilicon Data · finsmes.com · Aug 12, 2026
Dinari · prnewswire.com · Aug 4, 2026
Arena · techcrunch.com · Jun 29, 2026
Artie · ycombinator.com · Jun 9, 2026
CipherOwl · finsmes.com · Oct 23, 2025
Bastion · finsmes.com · Sep 24, 2025
ALIGNMT AI · alignmt.ai · Sep 2, 2025
Frequently asked questions
- How many investments has Sancus Ventures made?
- Sancus Ventures has 37 tracked investments, 3 of which have exited, including 6 dated in the last 24 months.
- What stage does Sancus Ventures invest at?
- Sancus Ventures invests at the Pre-Seed, Seed stages.
- What sectors does Sancus Ventures focus on?
- Sancus Ventures focuses on AI & Machine Learning, Cloud Computing, Crypto & Web3, Data & Infrastructure, Deep Tech, Developer Tools, Enterprise Software, Robotics, SaaS.
- Where is Sancus Ventures located?
- Sancus Ventures is headquartered in San Francisco, US.
- Who does Sancus Ventures co-invest with?
- Sancus Ventures most often shares deals with Y Combinator, Alumni Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, among 81 tracked co-investors.
Images
Co-investors · 5
AIX Ventures is an AI-focused venture fund that backs founders building companies in artificial intelligence.
New Enterprise Associates (NEA) is a venture capital firm that invests in and provides long-term support to founders building new companies.
The General Partnership (thegp) is a venture firm that supports founders with hiring, product execution, and go-to-market help to close the execution gaps that can undermine growing companies.
Alpha JWC Ventures is a Southeast Asia-focused venture capital firm that, over its first decade, has backed founders in building transformative businesses across the region.
Firms observed investing alongside Sancus Ventures, from public investor directories. Shared companies are the overlap with Sancus Ventures's recorded portfolio.
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