# Sozo Ventures

> Sozo Ventures is a VC fund in Redwood City backing Software and SaaS. See 83 investments, check sizes, portfolio and contact details. Updated Aug 2026.

- Type: VC Fund
- Location: Redwood City, United States
- Total investments: 83
- Last investment: Jul 2026
- Lead investor: 25%
- Last updated: Aug 2026
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sozo-ventures
- Website: https://sozo.ventures/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sozoventures.venturecapital/

Sozo Ventures is a cross-border venture fund focusing on assisting US-based technology start-ups in global expansion. They are structured to connect the most ambitious entrepreneurial teams with the world's most advanced and respected customers and distributors.

## Contacts

5 contacts available for Sozo Ventures. Shizune tracks 12 team members at Sozo Ventures. Sign up free to unlock them: https://app.shizune.co/sign-up/investor-profiles/find-team-emails/sozo-ventures?utm_source=investor_profile

## Investment focus

### Industry

| Industry | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Software | 20 | 24% |
| SaaS | 12 | 14% |
| Artificial Intelligence | 12 | 14% |
| Analytics | 10 | 12% |
| Information Technology | 10 | 12% |

125 industries tracked in total.

### Stage

| Stage | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Series B | 20 | 24% |
| Series A | 12 | 14% |
| Series C | 10 | 12% |
| Series D | 9 | 11% |
| Seed | 5 | 6% |

10 stages tracked in total.

### Country

| Country | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| United States | 50 | 60% |
| Israel | 3 | 4% |
| Japan | 2 | 2% |
| Canada | 1 | 1% |
| United Kingdom | 1 | 1% |

## Team

| Name | Title | Investments | Profile |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Kazuhiro Kobayashi | Head of Japan | 0 | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/kazuhiro-kobayashi |
| Anna Nakayasu | Principal | 3 | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/anna-nakayasu |
| Bob Roe | VP, Narrative Development | 1 | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/bob-roe-1b31 |
| Elena Winefeld | CFO | 0 | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/elena-winefeld-cdc7 |
| Hiroki Matsuda | Principal | 0 | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/hiroki-matsuda |

## Investments

| Company | Description | Amount | Stage | Date | Website |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Senra Systems | Senra Systems operates in the manufacturing industry, focusing on software configuration to improve manufacturing processes. The company works to transform skilled assembly tasks into production lines, enhancing production efficiency. It also has involvement in the Aerospace and Defense industry. It collects anonymous data through Google Analyticsto analyze user behavior and use the insights to improve its services. | $65M | Series B | Jul 15, 2026 |  |
| MainFunc | MainFunc is a technology company building AI‑driven productivity tools, with a focus on enabling users, including knowledge workers and teams, to get real work done via autonomous AI agents. The company’s flagship product is Genspark, an AI workspace that automates tasks by collecting information from web searches, emails, meetings, and calls,processing it through a “Super Agent” that orchestrates many specialized AI sub‑agents, and generating outputs like full reports, slide decks, spreadsheets, or even prototype applications.In addition to productivity automation, MainFunc markets Genspark as an enhanced search and research tool: when users query the web, Genspark generates consolidated, bias‑reduced summaries using multiple underlying large‑language or multimodal models rather than relying on traditional keyword‑based ranking. | $100M | Series B | Jun 11, 2026 |  |
| Panthalassa | Panthalassa is a technology company focused on developing renewable energy systems in the ocean, particularly to power computing and artificial intelligence infrastructure. The company works on harnessing wave energy to generate electricity at sea, which can then be used to run offshore data centers or converted into fuels that are transported backto land. | $140M | Series B | May 04, 2026 |  |
| Kargo | Kargo's mission is to build a connective tissue between the physical world of freight and the digital ecosystem used to manage it. Kargo believes that advancements in smart infrastructure are critical to enabling a safer and more efficient future for logistics. Kargo's loading dock sensor platform verifies all incoming and outgoingfreight, aggregating data that enables shippers and carriers to efficiently manage dock operations, switch out suppliers and understand material flow in real time.Kargo was formerly known as Cognisense. It was founded in 2019 and based in San Francisco, California. | $42M | Series B | Dec 22, 2025 |  |
| Doppel | Doppel is an AI-native security platform that helps organizations defend against social engineering risks and digital impersonation. It continuously monitors threats across multiple channels, including domains, social media, paid advertising, messaging apps, and the dark web, then maps those threats into a real-time threat graph to identifyattacker infrastructure. Doppel’s platform automates threat takedowns using AI and expert analysis, while its simulation product generates realistic, multi-step phishing scenarios to test and train employees across email, SMS, WhatsApp, Telegram, and more. Through its tools, Doppel enables proactive defense by disrupting malicious campaigns and building human resilience to modern, AI-driven attacks. | $70M | Series C | Nov 19, 2025 |  |
| Doppel | Doppel is an AI-native security platform that helps organizations defend against social engineering risks and digital impersonation. It continuously monitors threats across multiple channels, including domains, social media, paid advertising, messaging apps, and the dark web, then maps those threats into a real-time threat graph to identifyattacker infrastructure. Doppel’s platform automates threat takedowns using AI and expert analysis, while its simulation product generates realistic, multi-step phishing scenarios to test and train employees across email, SMS, WhatsApp, Telegram, and more. Through its tools, Doppel enables proactive defense by disrupting malicious campaigns and building human resilience to modern, AI-driven attacks. | $70M | Series C | Nov 19, 2025 |  |
| Azalea Therapeutics | Azalea Therapeutics is a biotechnology company pioneering precision genome engineering directly inside the body, with a primary focus on developing cancer immunotherapies. Their innovative approach uses Envelope Delivery Vehicles (EDVs) to selectively locate and deliver genome editing tools to T cells within the patient, enabling the engineering ofthese cells in vivo rather than ex vivo (outside the body). This method aims to transform the patient’s own T cells into powerful cancer therapies safely and efficiently. | $65M | Series A | Nov 04, 2025 |  |
| Azalea Therapeutics | Azalea Therapeutics is a biotechnology company pioneering precision genome engineering directly inside the body, with a primary focus on developing cancer immunotherapies. Their innovative approach uses Envelope Delivery Vehicles (EDVs) to selectively locate and deliver genome editing tools to T cells within the patient, enabling the engineering ofthese cells in vivo rather than ex vivo (outside the body). This method aims to transform the patient’s own T cells into powerful cancer therapies safely and efficiently. | $17M | Seed | Nov 04, 2025 |  |
| Mercy BioAnalytics | Mercy BioAnalytics is a biotechnology company that aims to improve and save the lives of people through the early detection of cancer.It has developed a process that uses nano-particles that are extraordinarily abundant in blood and carry information about their parent cell – known as extracellular vesicles, or EVs – to detect stage I cancer.Paul Blavin and Joseph Sedlak founded the Natick, Massachusetts-based company in 2018. | $59M | Series B | Sep 03, 2025 |  |
| MaintainX | MaintainX is a software company that provides maintenance and asset management tools for industrial and frontline operations. Its platform helps organizations manage work orders, preventive maintenance, inspections, reporting, asset tracking, and parts inventory through a centralized digital system. The company integrates AI-powered features thatassist teams with troubleshooting, data collection, operational analysis, and predictive maintenance workflows. MaintainX is used across industries such as manufacturing, facilities management, food and beverage, retail, and distribution to improve equipment uptime and streamline maintenance processes. The platform also supports compliance and safety procedures by digitizing workflows and standardizing maintenance operations across multiple sites. | $150M | Series D | Jul 09, 2025 |  |

10 of 83 investments shown.

## Co-investors
- [Founders Fund](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/founders-fund) — VC Fund, 10 deals together
- [Emergence Capital](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/emergence-capital-partners) — VC Fund, 9 deals together
- [Sapphire Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/sapphire-ventures) — VC Fund, 8 deals together
- [Andreessen Horowitz](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/andreessen-horowitz) — VC Fund, 7 deals together
- [Kleiner Perkins](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/kleiner-perkins-caufield-byers) — VC Fund, 7 deals together
- [Bessemer Venture Partners](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/bessemer-venture-partners) — VC Fund, 6 deals together

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## FAQ

### What does Sozo Ventures invest in?

Sozo Ventures invests primarily in Software, SaaS and Artificial Intelligence startups, most often at Series B and Series A stage. Most of the 83 investments tracked by Shizune back companies in United States. The Investment Focus section breaks down every industry, stage and country in the portfolio.

### How do I contact Sozo Ventures?

Public channels for Sozo Ventures include LinkedIn, the website linked on this profile and Facebook. For a verified work email and phone number, create a free Shizune account — contact data is searched across 20+ sources and validated before delivery, so your outreach lands in the right inbox.

### Who are the partners at Sozo Ventures?

The team at Sozo Ventures includes Kazuhiro Kobayashi (Head of Japan), Anna Nakayasu (Principal) and Bob Roe (VP, Narrative Development), among 12 team members tracked by Shizune. The Team section lists each member with their title, investment count and links.

### Is Shizune's investor data accurate?

Yes — every stat on this profile is calculated from confirmed public funding rounds monitored across hundreds of sources since 2020. This profile was last refreshed in Aug 2026 and is updated monthly. Spotted something off? Use the “Suggest an edit” link near the top of the page.

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