Costanoa Ventures

Congratulations to two of our portfolio companies, Común and Highnote, on being named to the Forbes #Fintech50 🎉 We’re proud to back teams building enduring fintech infrastructure: • Comun, led by Andres Santos and co-founder Abiel Gutierrez, is expanding access to modern banking for Latino communities across the U.S. • Highnote, led by CEO John MacIlwaine and co-founder Kin Kee, is redefining embedded finance with a unified platform for modern issuing, acquiring, credit, ledger, and money movement. Such well-deserved recognition for both teams. We're proud to be on this journey with you! Full list here 👉 https://lnkd.in/eG2Q8NHH

You can’t attach the U.S. Air Force and Navy to fiber optic cables. Those who track the modern battlefield understand the growing threat of RF spectrum interference. Right now one of the only reliable ways to navigate today’s electromagnetic fog of war is by attaching drones to 10-kilometer-long fiber-optic tethers. That’s just not practical in near peer conflict. Things clearly need to change.  - On October 7th, much of Israel’s near-border technology went down in seconds. No country can afford this vulnerability. - More of our troops and systems rely on remote operation and autonomous systems. - Current hardware-based systems are too expensive and inflexible. - Constant visibility into connectivity risks = more operational resilience Ongoing radio frequency spectrum intelligence is the lifeline of modern warfare - communications, navigation, and targeting. We’ve seen firsthand the cost of not having the right tools on the battlefield. It’s why over the past few years, we’ve operated alongside allies of the free world to build the most important infrastructure of our time: the world’s leading RF spectrum intelligence and resilience platform. Today we’re announcing our oversubscribed $13.5M Seed round, led by Costanoa Ventures to build faster. We’re grateful to the partners backing us on this journey: Costanoa Ventures Viola Ventures Fresh Fund Jumpspeed Ventures BNF Group Caveret Ventures 1948 Ventures SOSA, Zeke Fraint David Chinn, Noam Ohana, Aviad Grinfeld, Rotem (Yehuda) Kakon, Tom Hennessey, Adam Kaplan All systems go! #Startups, #DefenseTech #NationalSecurity #RFSpectrum #ElectronicWarfare #AutonomousSystems #DeepTech #SeedRound #StartupFunding

Introducing our newest investment: Tenna Systems The invisible battlefield is already here. Tenna is making sure the right people can see it. During our investment process, Tenna’s CEO & Co-Founder, Avner Bendheim, had to reschedule our final meeting because he was operationally deployed in an elite unit somewhere in the Middle East. That told us a lot. Electronic warfare is no longer episodic or confined to active conflict. The RF spectrum is now a daily battlefield across air, land, sea, and space. Spoofing, jamming, and interference are constant grey-zone tactics shaping outcomes every minute of every day. As autonomy, drones, IoT, and critical infrastructure become more spectrum-dependent, understanding when and where systems may be compromised becomes mission-critical. Tenna is building software-defined, hardware-agnostic electromagnetic spectrum awareness — synthesizing data across sensors and domains to deliver a unified, vendor-neutral view of the environment. Already battle-tested. Designed to scale. Built for the realities of modern conflict and public safety. Proud to lead Tenna’s Seed round and to build on our national security work at Costanoa alongside Avner, Gabriel, Ronen, and the Tenna Systems team. All systems go! 🔗 Read the Forbes feature by David Hambling and more on why we invested as told by Greg Sands (both links in the comments) #nationalsecurity #defensetech #startups #venturecapital

The invisible battlefield is here. Tenna is making sure the right people can see it. During our investment process, Avner Bendheim, Founder/CEO of Tenna Systems, had to reschedule our final meeting. He was operationally deployed in an elite IDF unit somewhere in the Middle East. That pretty much told us what we needed to know. We’re excited to lead the Seed round in Tenna Systems, a company building software-defined electromagnetic spectrum awareness — already battle-tested in some of the most contested environments on earth. Electronic warfare is a constant. The RF spectrum is now a daily battlefield — across air, land, sea, and space. Spoofing, jamming, interference — this is happening in grey zones every minute of every day. Autonomy, drones, IoT, and critical infrastructure are increasingly spectrum-dependent, meaning one has to know when and where they might be compromised. Tenna is building the sensor-independent, vendor neutral integration layer to make sense of it all.  Proud to build on our national security work at Costanoa Ventures, working with Avner and his co-founders Ronen Shatz and Gabriel Bendheim.  Mission-driven founders with earned insight. Real operational credibility. Early traction with key defense customers. A clear path to being foundational infrastructure, solving a critical problem in national security and public safety. Let's make it happen! (Link in the comments)

We’re excited to sponsor the 2026 Innovation Showcase at the MIT–Harvard Technology & National Security Conference—and to back the next generation of founders building for real-world national security challenges. This year, we’ll award a $100K SAFE investment to the winning startup, recognizing early-stage teams turning bold ideas into operational impact across defense, security, and global resilience. The Innovation Showcase will be judged by leaders across venture and defense, including our very own Greg Sands and John Doyle (Founder & CEO, Cape). 🚨 If you’re a Pre-Seed or Seed-stage startup building for the frontlines, applications are now open. 👇 How to apply: - Complete the application form: https://lnkd.in/gwMhFSj8 - Deadline: 5 pm ET on March 4th, 2026 - Finalists will be notified by March 9th, 2026 - Submit any questions to nickmaynes@hks.harvard.edu 🎟️ Tickets for the conference: https://lnkd.in/gZh9mtEh 🔗 More details about the conference here: https://lnkd.in/dVMr_8B5 We exist to elevate founders building companies of consequence, and we’re proud to support builders answering some of the hardest problems in national security. #nationalsecurity #defensetech #startups #HBS #MIT #founders

We’re excited to sponsor the 2026 Innovation Showcase at the MIT–Harvard Technology & National Security Conference—and to back the next generation of founders building for real-world national security challenges. This year, we’ll award a $100K SAFE investment to the winning startup, recognizing early-stage teams turning bold ideas into operational impact across defense, security, and global resilience. The Innovation Showcase will be judged by leaders across venture and defense, including our very own Greg Sands and John Doyle (Founder & CEO, Cape). 🚨 If you’re a Pre-Seed or Seed-stage startup building for the frontlines, applications are now open. 👇 How to apply: - Complete the application form: https://lnkd.in/gwMhFSj8 - Deadline: 5 pm ET on March 4th, 2026 - Finalists will be notified by March 9th, 2026 - Submit any questions to nickmaynes@hks.harvard.edu 🎟️ Tickets for the conference: https://lnkd.in/gZh9mtEh 🔗 More details about the conference here: https://lnkd.in/dVMr_8B5 We exist to elevate founders building companies of consequence, and we’re proud to support builders answering some of the hardest problems in national security. #nationalsecurity #defensetech #startups #HBS #MIT #founders

This is huge! Congrats John Doyle & the entire Cape team 🙌