# Maria Davidson

> Maria Davidson is the founder and executive chair of Kojo, the San Francisco construction procurement company she led for eight years from outsider experiment to a platform handling $5 billion in annual materials orders. Born in Moscow, raised in Israel and educated at Oxford, she moved to California at 23, worked at 8VC, and then spent six months bringing food to job sites and asking contractors what made their work difficult. In 2026 she handed Kojo's CEO role to co-founder Micah Rodman and widened her attention to investing, city building and California Renewal, a pro-growth political organization.

- **Role:** Founder and Executive Chair at Kojo
- **Organizations:** Kojo, California Renewal, Orascom Development Holding, Real Capital Innovation, 8VC, Goldman Sachs
- **From:** Moscow, Russia
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** BA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics, University of Oxford
- **Known for:** Built Kojo from an industry research project into a platform that she said handled $5 billion in annual materials orders by 2026., Raised a reported $94 million in venture funding for Kojo across seed through Series C extension rounds., Named to Forbes' 2020 30 Under 30 list in Enterprise Technology with co-founder Ryan Gibson.

## Career timeline

- **Childhood** — Born in Moscow shortly before the collapse of the Soviet Union, then moved with her family to Israel.
- **Age 13** — Moved to England without speaking English.
- **2012-2013** — Served as president of the Oxford Union while studying Philosophy, Politics and Economics.
- **2014-2016** — Worked in investment banking at Goldman Sachs, including M&A work in real estate, healthcare and consumer sectors.
- **2016-2018** — Moved to San Francisco at 23 and served as Joe Lonsdale's chief of staff while helping build 8VC.
- **2017** — Co-founded Real Capital Innovation, later acquired by Addepar in 2020.
- **2018** — Founded the company first known as Agora Systems after six months researching construction bottlenecks.
- **2020** — Launched the procurement product commercially and raised a $7 million Series A.
- **2021** — Raised a $33 million Series B led by Tiger Global.
- **2022** — Rebranded Agora as Kojo, raised a $39 million Series C led by Battery Ventures, joined the board of Orascom Development Holding and was named to Inc.'s Female Founders 100.
- **2023** — Received an EY Bay Area Entrepreneur of the Year award.
- **2025** — Kojo raised a $10 million Series C extension from Wesco, taking reported venture funding to $94 million.
- **2026** — Moved from CEO to executive chair of Kojo, with co-founder Micah Rodman becoming CEO; began leading California Renewal.

## Achievements

- Built Kojo from an industry research project into a platform that she said handled $5 billion in annual materials orders by 2026.
- Raised a reported $94 million in venture funding for Kojo across seed through Series C extension rounds.
- Named to Forbes' 2020 30 Under 30 list in Enterprise Technology with co-founder Ryan Gibson.
- Named to Inc.'s 2022 Female Founders 100 list.
- Received an EY Bay Area Entrepreneur of the Year award in 2023.
- Co-founded Real Capital Innovation, which Addepar acquired in 2020.
- Elected to the board of Orascom Development Holding in 2022.

## Latest updates

- **2026-04** — Publicly described her work leading California Renewal, a permanent organization promoting centrist, pro-growth and pro-building policies in California.
- **2026-01** — Stepped from Kojo's CEO role into the role of executive chair after eight years; co-founder Micah Rodman became CEO.
- **2025-09** — Kojo announced a $10 million Series C extension from Wesco focused in part on data-center materials procurement.
- **2025-03** — Fast Company recognized Kojo among its most innovative logistics companies, an honor listed on Davidson's LinkedIn profile.
- **2024-09** — Discussed construction labor shortages and Kojo's $3 billion annual materials volume on Yahoo Finance.

## Links

- Website: https://www.maria-davidson.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maria-davidson-801a1058/
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/mariardavidson

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/maria-davidson
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-09-27