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The Venture Codex

Santa Barbara Venture Partners

914 California Street, Santa Barbara, California, 93103, United States

Overview

Venture capital firm that invests in tech and tech-enabled companies. The firm has unique expertise in building leading software companies, generating substantial revenue through on and offline customer acquisition, and in marketing in general. AUM ~$20M in 2022

Total investments
8
Lead investments
0
Investments · 12mo
2
Active investors
3

Sector focus

  • Venture Capital
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Investment portfolio

  • Hydrosat

    Participated · Series B · Jan 2026

    Hydrosat operates a thermal-infrared satellite constellation combined with AI and machine-learning analytics to provide daily, field-scale “thermal intelligence.” With two satellites already in orbit, the company collects more than 10 million km² of imagery per day—an order-of-magnitude increase over existing commercial alternatives. Its data are used to monitor water consumption, optimize irrigation, detect vegetation stress, and generate temperature-based signals for defense and intelligence customers, even at night. Hydrosat’s platform currently oversees millions of hectares for clients such as NOAA, the National Reconnaissance Office, Bayer, SupPlant and Nutradrip. The firm plans to expand its presence in Central Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, India and Latin America while building a larger next-generation satellite fleet and broadening its crop and water-management solutions. The newly raised capital strengthens its balance sheet and supports this global expansion strategy.

  • Automotus

    Participated · Equity · Dec 2025

    Founded in 2017, Automotus has built a computer-vision platform that lets municipalities and airports track curb activity, generate data analytics, and automate payments for commercial vehicles, ride-hail drivers, and delivery fleets. The system, already deployed in dozens of U.S. markets, supplies real-time insights that cities have used to redesign parking policies, as demonstrated by a deployment in Lincoln, Nebraska. By addressing the surge in ride-hailing and e-commerce deliveries, the company aims to make streets safer, more efficient, and more sustainable. Automotus’ business model centers on selling its software and camera hardware to public-sector agencies managing increasingly congested curb space. The company plans to use its newest capital to deepen product capabilities, expand into additional markets, and bolster customer support. Including the latest equity infusion, Automotus has raised $26 million in equity funding to date, alongside the newly secured credit line.

  • Rwazi

    Participated · Series A · Jul 2025

    Rwazi built an AI-powered intelligence software system that captures zero-party consumption data using validation and verification systems to collect insights in real time across markets. The platform gives businesses real-time visibility into consumer markets, helps predict behavior, and highlights areas to act on to reduce customer acquisition costs and improve loyalty. Rwazi pulls data from 190 countries and counts customers primarily in the U.S. and Europe, including Coca-Cola, Pampers, Visa, and Nestle. The company positions itself against legacy firms GFK and Ipsos by avoiding modeled or inferred data and offering insight-plus-execution. Rwazi plans to use new capital to scale its AI co-pilot, hire additional engineers, and continue building infrastructure that captures the evolving world of consumer data. The company was founded in 2021 by Joseph Rutakanga and Eric Sewankambo to address gaps in international consumer data availability. Rwazi collects unit-level consumer purchase data through a web and mobile app, verifying submissions and compensating users before adding the data to its SaaS market-intelligence platform. Launched in 2021 and co-founded by CEO Joseph Rutakangwa and Eric Sewankambo, the company provides granular insights on product purchases, frequency, locations, household budgets and income tailored to client needs. It says it already has a presence in 40 countries across Africa and is available in South Asia and Latin America, supported by a network of 50,000 consumers. Customers include 18 multinational corporations that track more than 200 products across fast-moving consumer goods, healthcare, telecommunications and financial services. Rwazi is scaling in emerging markets and plans product launches this year that add multi-language support to broaden the demographics of its contributors and accelerate growth. The company’s expansion and product development are backed by a $4 million seed funding round led by Bonfire Ventures, with participation from Newfund Capital and Alumni Ventures.

  • Spin Technology

    Participated · Series A · Aug 2022

    Spin Technology builds a SaaS data-protection platform that scans third-party and productivity apps using an algorithm and a database of malicious apps and browser extensions. The platform uses AI to detect “shadow IT” activity, can identify ransomware across Google Workspace, Microsoft Office 365 and Salesforce, performs automatic risk assessments and backups, and lets customers create access-management policies. Spin targets enterprise customers and claims to have more than 1,600 customers. The company plans to use new capital to support growth, expand its SaaS offerings, and grow its marketing, sales and engineering teams. Financially, Spin announced a $16M Series A that values the company at $55M post-money and brings total venture capital raised to $18M.

  • Nice Healthcare

    Participated · Series A · Mar 2022

    Nice Healthcare provides a fully integrated clinic model that delivers in-home and virtual primary care, mental health therapy, and physical therapy using technology, logistics, and expert clinicians. Its clinicians can offer x-rays, 35 labs and blood draws, and a formulary with over 550 medications with no out-of-pocket costs. The company is led by CEO Thompson Aderinkomi and is available in parts of Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, Iowa, Wisconsin, Oregon and Washington. More than 400 small businesses currently use Nice Healthcare for employee healthcare benefits. The company plans to use recent funding to expand into more markets. Recent executive hires include a Chief Experience Officer, Chief Financial Officer, and Chief People Officer. Nice Healthcare delivers in-home and virtual primary care services, contracting directly with small and medium businesses to provide unlimited access under a capitated rate. The company offers in-home visits, virtual visits, in-home labs and x-rays, virtual physical therapy, chronic condition management, and a formulary of 550+ medications. It charges a transparent $30–$36 per employee per month with dependents included and no visit fees. Since launching in October 2017, Nice clinicians serve over 200 small businesses encompassing 30,000+ members and currently operate in five states. The company targets small employers (many with fewer than 50 employees and some as small as five) and focuses on expanding into underserved cities and rural areas. Nice plans to use the new financing to launch its model into several new markets, with a plan to open 10 new markets in early 2021.

Team