Common Ocean Ventures

What Common Ocean Ventures does

Common Ocean Ventures is a hybrid venture capital firm founded in 2020 and headquartered at 180 Maiden Lane in New York City. The firm invests in fintech founders building technology that empowers consumers, small businesses, and their communities to build financial prosperity. It manages Fintech Fund 1, a $20 million vehicle, and typically deploys seed investments of $1-4 million per company, with individual checks ranging from $500K to $2M. The firm reports 10-20 investments completed in 2021 and discloses a portfolio that includes Upswot (its flagship $4M seed investment), Observe.ai, Equi, First Women's Bank, and Docsumo.

Common Ocean differentiates itself through an operator-investor model led by three principal partners: Igor Ulis (Managing Partner, technology entrepreneur with data science background), Alexandra Mihaescu (Principal/Partner, financial services digital transformation), and Bill Yialamas (Principal/Partner, 20 years in banking and consumer finance). Rather than acting solely as capital providers, the partners position themselves as former founders who help portfolio companies raise follow-on funding, drive growth, and scale through operational support and a shared ecosystem spanning strategy, legal, compliance, cloud, technology, marketing, data, and capital resources.

The firm operates across North America (USA) and Europe (EU), and its go-to-market is relationship-driven rather than marketing-led, relying on direct outreach, warm introductions, and referral networks to source deals. As a VC, Common Ocean generates revenue through management fees and, prospectively, carried interest on Fund 1 returns, with no disclosed revenue, no follow-on fund publicly announced, and no public ownership or institutional investor structure in the available data.

Name

Common Ocean Ventures

Legal name

Common Ocean

Website

https://commonocean.co

Company type

Private

Founded year

2020

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Common Ocean Ventures is a New York-based hybrid venture capital firm managing a $20M Fintech Fund 1 that deploys $500K-$2M seed checks into fintech founders building tools for consumers and small businesses to achieve financial prosperity.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Venture Capital

NAICS

Portfolio Management and Investment Advice (523940), Miscellaneous Financial Investment Activities (523999)

SIC

Investment Advice (6282)

akta.pro primary industry

Early-Stage Venture Capital (Series A/B) (FSANAAAB)

Keywords

• Venture capital investing
• Fintech seed funding
• Early stage equity
• Growth capital
• Private equity funds

Headquarters

HQ city

New York

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Investment Returns: As a venture capital firm, Common Ocean generates returns through equity investments in portfolio companies. Their primary revenue comes from capital gains when portfolio companies succeed, grow, or are acquired. They manage a $20m Fintech Fund 1 and make seed investments typically ranging from $1-4m, with typical individual investments between $500K to $2M.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Common Ocean Ventures is a hybrid venture capital firm that invests in fintech founders building products that empower consumers, small businesses, and communities to build financial prosperity. The firm manages a $20 million Fintech Fund 1, making seed-stage equity investments typically ranging from $500K to $2M per company ($1-4M range) in startups with products already in market. Beyond capital, the firm provides hands-on operational support, fundraising assistance, and access to a shared ecosystem of strategy, legal, compliance, technology, and marketing resources.

Product overview

Common Ocean Ventures operates as a hybrid venture capital firm focused on fintech investments. Rather than offering a unified product platform, the firm manages a portfolio of fintech companies through its $20M Fintech Fund 1, making seed investments of $1-4M in companies that empower consumers, small businesses, and their communities. The portfolio includes Upswot (flagship investment - SMB business intelligence), Observe.ai (AI-powered contact center solutions), Equi (alternative investment platform), First Women's Bank (women's banking institution), and Docsumo (document data automation).

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Fintech Fund 1: A carefully aligned and focused investment fund investing in companies and founders who are empowering consumers, small businesses and their communities to build prosperity through the technologies they pioneer.

Products and services

• Fintech Fund 1

Named customers5 records

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Ribbit Capital: Venture capital firm exclusively focused on early-stage fintech investments. Directly comparable to Common Ocean in vertical specialization, founder support orientation, and seed/early-stage entry, though at significantly larger fund scale.
• QED Investors: Fintech-only VC firm focused on early-stage financial services companies. Comparable to Common Ocean in vertical focus, hands-on operating partner model, and emphasis on founders building consumer/small-business financial products.
• Nyca Partners: Early-stage fintech venture firm investing in founders reinventing financial services. Comparable to Common Ocean in fintech-exclusive thesis, seed/Series A check sizes, and operator-led partnership model.
• Anthemis: Venture investment firm focused exclusively on financial services and fintech founders. Comparable to Common Ocean in fintech specialization, founder support emphasis, and early-stage orientation.
• Flourish Ventures: Early-stage fintech VC firm focused on financial health and inclusion. Comparable to Common Ocean in fintech-only thesis, seed-stage focus, and mission-driven orientation toward consumer/SMB empowerment.
• Lerer Hippeau: NYC-based early-stage venture firm with notable fintech exposure and operator partners. Comparable to Common Ocean in geography (NYC), early-stage check sizes, and operator-investor partnership model.

Broad incumbents

• Bessemer Venture Partners: Large, multi-stage venture firm with a strong fintech practice and portfolio including many fintech leaders. Comparable to Common Ocean as it invests across fintech stages but with significantly larger fund sizes and broader sector coverage.
• Andreessen Horowitz (a16z): Major venture firm with dedicated fintech verticals and large fund sizes. Comparable to Common Ocean in fintech investment focus but competes as a broad incumbent with much larger check capacity and brand pull.

Emerging players

• Correlation Ventures: Data-driven venture firm with significant fintech portfolio exposure. Comparable to Common Ocean in early-stage entry and fintech orientation, but differentiated by its broader sector coverage and proprietary co-investment model.

Others

• EMVC (Emerging Markets Venture Capital): Specialized fintech investor focused on emerging markets; adjacent to Common Ocean given fintech specialization but operates in a different geographic mandate. Useful as an industry peer signaling the broader fintech-VC ecosystem.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat2 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/commonoceanvc
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/commonoceanvc
• Instagraminstagram.com/commonoceanvc

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments2 records

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Common Ocean Ventures