Cynthia B. Padnos, Illuminate Ventures

Cynthia B. Padnos (Cindy Padnos) is the founder and Managing Partner of Illuminate Ventures. See sector focus and contact routes.

About Cynthia B. Padnos

Cynthia B. Padnos (Cindy Padnos) is the founder and Managing Partner of Illuminate Ventures, a women-led Micro VC that invests exclusively in pre-seed and seed-stage B2B/enterprise software companies, particularly in cloud computing, SaaS, mobile software, and Big Data. She typically serves as a company’s first institutional investor, deploying check sizes ranging from $1 million to $5 million after angel rounds but before Series A. Her distinctive thesis focuses on “further along” teams with demonstrated resiliency and the ability to show rapid, measurable ROI, avoiding raw startups, hardware, and consumer internet. Notable portfolio companies include Red Aril (acquired by Hearst), WildPockets (acquired by Autodesk), BrightEdge, and Allocadia.

Cynthia B. Padnos at a glance

Role
Founder & Managing Partner
Organization
Illuminate Ventures
Location
Oakland, CA
Investor type
Venture Capital
Focus areas
Software

Frequently asked about Cynthia B. Padnos

What does Cynthia B. Padnos invest in?
Cynthia B. Padnos at Illuminate Ventures (Oakland, CA) — sector focus: Software.
How do I contact Cynthia B. Padnos?
Cynthia B. Padnos's published profile links (website, LinkedIn or X where available) are listed on the StartupFundraising.com investor profile.
Where is Cynthia B. Padnos based?
Cynthia B. Padnos is based in Oakland, CA.

StartupFundraising tracks this investor record from SEC filings and announced rounds, updating focus, location and portfolio history as new data lands. Use it to gauge fit before an outreach, then widen the search to investors in Oakland.

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