Fundraising Fox

John Cowgill

Partner at Costanoa Ventures

San Francisco, California

Writes $2M – $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

  1. Costanoa VenturesGeneral Partnercurrent2016 β€” presentSan Francisco Bay Area
  2. Manifold SecurityBoard Membercurrent2025 β€” present
  3. Empirical SecurityBoard Membercurrent2025 β€” present
  4. detections.aiBoard Membercurrent2024 β€” present
  5. RunRevealBoard Membercurrent2023 β€” present
  6. Muon SpaceBoard Membercurrent2021 β€” present
  7. Kepler Communications Inc.Board Membercurrent2019 β€” present
  8. CyberhavenBoard Membercurrent2018 β€” present
  9. FOSSABoard Membercurrent2019 β€” present
  10. DefiniteBoard Membercurrent2022 β€” present
  11. Locket LabsSeed Investorcurrent2022 β€” present
  12. Smile IdentityBoard Membercurrent2021 β€” present
  13. VividlyBoard Membercurrent2021 β€” present
  14. ZentistBoard Membercurrent2020 β€” present
  15. LeapBoard Membercurrent2018 β€” present
  16. Parallel DomainBoard Membercurrent2018 β€” present
  17. RoadsterBoard Observer2017 β€” 2021
  18. McKinsey & CompanyConsultant2013 β€” 2016Greater Chicago Area
  19. TechweekBusiness Operations2013 β€” 2014Chicago
  20. Clarity ConsultingSummer Associate2012Chicago

Education

  1. Northwestern UniversityB.S., Summa Cum Laude, Learning and Organizational Change

Skills & more

Microsoft Office21Microsoft PowerPoint4Microsoft Excel8Marketing15Data Analysis10Event Planning6Consulting5Heavy Lifting6Social Media Marketing8Business Development1Research5Leadership33
+4 morePublic SpeakingStrategic PlanningTeamworkStrategy

From John's professional profile.

Deals Β· 6

Empirical SecurityBoard seat

via Costanoa Ventures Β· filed Aug 2026 Β· $25M raise

press β†—

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.