John Cowgill
Partner at Costanoa Ventures
San Francisco, California
Writes $2M β $5M checks Β· typically $3.5M
About
Partner at Costanoa focused on cybersecurity and applied AI, leading the firm's cybersecurity practice. In venture since 2016 after a career in tech startups and consulting, he has backed 1-2 cybersecurity companies per year, mostly at or near formation.
Invests in
AI & Machine LearningCybersecurity
Experience
- Costanoa VenturesGeneral Partnercurrent2016 β presentSan Francisco Bay Area
- Manifold SecurityBoard Membercurrent2025 β present
- Empirical SecurityBoard Membercurrent2025 β present
- detections.aiBoard Membercurrent2024 β present
- RunRevealBoard Membercurrent2023 β present
- Muon SpaceBoard Membercurrent2021 β present
- Kepler Communications Inc.Board Membercurrent2019 β present
- CyberhavenBoard Membercurrent2018 β present
- FOSSABoard Membercurrent2019 β present
- DefiniteBoard Membercurrent2022 β present
- Locket LabsSeed Investorcurrent2022 β present
- Smile IdentityBoard Membercurrent2021 β present
- VividlyBoard Membercurrent2021 β present
- ZentistBoard Membercurrent2020 β present
- LeapBoard Membercurrent2018 β present
- Parallel DomainBoard Membercurrent2018 β present
- RoadsterBoard Observer2017 β 2021
- McKinsey & CompanyConsultant2013 β 2016Greater Chicago Area
- TechweekBusiness Operations2013 β 2014Chicago
- Clarity ConsultingSummer Associate2012Chicago
Education
- Northwestern UniversityB.S., Summa Cum Laude, Learning and Organizational Change
Skills & more
+4 more
Public SpeakingStrategic PlanningTeamworkStrategyFrom John's professional profile.
Deals Β· 6
Empirical SecurityBoard seat
via Costanoa Ventures Β· filed Aug 2026 Β· $25M raise
Leap Services, Inc.Board seat
via Costanoa Ventures Β· filed Mar 2026 Β· $15M raise
FOSSA, Inc.Board seat
via Costanoa Ventures Β· filed Jul 2025 Β· $5.1M raise
VIVIDLY INC.Board seat
via Costanoa Ventures Β· filed Jan 2025 Β· $31.5M raise
RunRevealBoard seat
via Costanoa Ventures Β· filed Mar 2023 Β· $2.5M raise
Muon SpaceBoard seat
via Costanoa Ventures Β· filed Jun 2022 Β· $25M raise
Attribution from SEC filings, press coverage, and firm rosters.
Colleagues at Costanoa Ventures
Network2
Investors connected to John in public investor directories β a warm-intro map.










