Cowboy Ventures
Palo Alto, CA · Invests in US · Website
Check size
🔒 $•• – $••Thesis
Partner with founders building generational software companies. We provide capital, operational support, and genuine partnership. Focus on technology-driven solutions addressing large and growing markets. Invest across enterprise and consumer software, with depth in AI-native software, fintech, infrastructure, security, vertical SaaS, healthcare, and future of work.
Likely not a fit for
Not interested in non-software or hardware-dependent businesses. Pass on companies without clear software differentiation, founders not targeting VC-scale outcomes, or businesses without technology as core competitive advantage.
How they invest
- Lead or follow
- Usually leads
- Typical decision
- ~2 weeks
- Warm intro
- Not required
- Involvement
- Takes a board seat
- Fund status
- Actively deploying
- Assets under mgmt
- $130M
- Decision process
- Partnership vote
Partners & team
6 contacts on file
Portfolio
Guild is a community management platform designed to build engaged and unified communities with over 100 integrations, allowing for automated scaling from 100 to 1 million members.
Homebase offers an all-in-one platform for employee scheduling, time tracking, payroll, and HR management, designed specifically for small businesses.
Portex is a company associated with platforms for sports data and language learning. Its sites include a sports database and a Taiwanese language dictionary.
Continuum is a privacy-focused AI platform offering interaction with leading AI models. It allows users to submit prompts and receive AI-generated responses, emphasizing privacy and user control.
Mutiny helps B2B companies generate pipeline and revenue from their target accounts through AI-powered 1:1 microsites and account intelligence.
Contra is a commission-free freelance network that connects independent professionals with job opportunities, allowing them to manage projects, invoices, and payments seamlessly.
ChartHop is a data-first HR platform designed for modern organizations that want to move faster and make smarter people decisions. It unifies people and business data in one place, combining core HR functions with powerful planning tools, performance management, and AI-driven analytics.
Crunchbase is a platform for company intelligence and investment data, providing profiles and funding information for startups to large corporations.
DocSend provides virtual data rooms for deals, fundraising, and compliance, allowing users to securely manage, track, and share documents during the deal-making process.
Ironclad is an AI-powered contract lifecycle management software that streamlines the entire contracting process for businesses, providing tools for creating, reviewing, signing, storing, analyzing, and fulfilling contracts.
Kiavi provides fast, reliable financing solutions for real estate investors, leveraging advanced technology to streamline the lending process.
Elementary Data provides a data and AI control plane that enables observability, quality, governance, and discovery of data, connecting engineering and business teams with AI-powered tools.
Recent activity
- May 2026
Eisen
Series A · Participant
- May 2026
Basata
Series A · Participant
- Apr 2026
Petual
Series A · Participant
- Mar 2026
Standard Kernel
Seed · Participant
- Sep 2025
Synchrony Medical
Seed · Lead
- May 2025
Palla
Series A · Lead
Cowboy Ventures in the news
Fortune
Eisen raises $18.5 million to help Americans recover over $70 billion in forgotten funds held by state governments
3 months ago
techcrunch.com
Inside the investor lens on AI startups at Disrupt 2025
11 months ago
Aileen Lee
Mar 2025
Artico Search Completes Search for Cowboy Ventures
Jan 2025
Continuum Raises More than $4M in Seed Funding
Nov 2024
Venture Capitalists Defy Funding Slump to Launch New Firms
Jun 2024
Why unicorns are still ‘magical’ for Aileen Lee
May 2024
fortune.com
Aileen Lee, the VC who coined ‘unicorns,’ on why it’s so hard to track billion dollar startups—and what she thinks of their dark cousins, ‘unicorpses’
Jan 2024
Cowboy Ventures' Aileen Lee coined the term 'unicorn' a decade ago
Jan 2024
Aileen Lee
Aug 2023
Cowboy Ventures goes bigger with $260M across two new funds, including an opportunity fund
Jan 2023
'It was scary': How Aileen Lee launched her own VC firm after 13 years at Kleiner Perkins — and became one of the best in the business
May 2022
Mutiny Raises $18.5 Million From Sequoia, Cowboy Ventures—And Even A Few Chief Marketing Officers
Sep 2021
Technology unicorns are growing at a record clip
Jul 2021
saastr.com
Which VCs Open Cold Emails? Keith Rabois. Aileen Lee. David Sacks. Satya Patel. And More.
Oct 2020
72 startups that will boom in 2020, according to VCs
Jan 2020
Cowboy Ventures’ Ted Wang on the appeal of unsexy tech
Nov 2019
news.crunchbase.com
Seed Series: Cowboy Ventures’ Ted Wang
May 2019
Emotional wellness startup Aura raises $2.7 million from Cowboy Ventures and Reach Capital
Oct 2018
inc.com
Why Is a Startup Worth $1 Billion Called a Unicorn? The VC Who Invented the Term Explains
Oct 2018
Cowboy Ventures Closes Capital For $95 Million Third Fund
Aug 2018
vox.com
Full transcript: Cowboy Ventures founder Aileen Lee on Recode Decode
Oct 2016
Aileen Lee of Cowboy Ventures: Aim to See Beneath the Surface (Published 2015)
Dec 2015
Similar firms
Seed-stage, operator-first firm offering deeply embedded weekly working sessions and hands-on hiring, pricing and go-to-market support, backing non-central casting B2B founders using data/AI in fintech, vertical SaaS, healthcare.
Research briefRead more
Add Cowboy Ventures to your investor list
Sign up free to save investors, see partner contacts, and track your raise.
Sign up