Uncork Capital (formerly known as SoftTech VC) is an American
venture capital
Venture capital (VC) is a form of private equity financing provided by firms or funds to start-up company, startup, early-stage, and emerging companies, that have been deemed to have high growth potential or that have demonstrated high growth in ...
firm based in
San Francisco
San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
, California, that was founded by Jeff Clavier. It is considered one of the most active established
seed funds in
Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that is a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical area of the Santa Clara Valley ...
, with investments in companies such as
Postmates
Postmates Inc. is an American food delivery service, founded in 2011, and acquired by Uber in 2020. It offers local delivery of restaurant-prepared meals and other goods. It is headquartered in San Francisco, California.
, Postmates operate ...
,
Eventbrite
Eventbrite is an American live events marketplace and website. The service allows users to browse, create, and promote local events. The service charges a fee to event organizers in exchange for online ticketing services, unless the event is free ...
,
Fitbit
Fitbit is a product lining, line of wireless-enabled wearable technology, physical fitness monitors and activity trackers such as smartwatches, pedometers and monitors for heart rate, quality of sleep, and stairs climbed as well as related soft ...
, and
SendGrid
Twilio SendGrid, commonly known as SendGrid, is an American communication platform for transactional and marketing email based in Denver, Colorado.
History
SendGrid was founded in 2009 by Isaac Saldana, Jose Lopez, and Tim Jenkins. Later, it w ...
.
History
The firm was founded in 2004 by
angel investor
An angel investor (also known as a business angel, informal investor, angel funder, private investor, or seed investor) is an individual who provides capital to a business or businesses, including startups, usually in exchange for convertible de ...
Jeff Clavier when he transitioned his portfolio into a formal venture firm. Partners include Andy McLoughlin (formerly of
Huddle
In sport, a huddle is the action of a team gathering together, usually in a tight circle, to strategize, motivate or celebrate. It is a popular strategy for keeping opponents insulated from sensitive information, and acts as a form of insulatio ...
), Susan Liu (formerly of
Scale Venture Partners), Tripp Jones (formerly of
August Capital
August Capital, legally August Capital Master Management Company, LLC, is a venture capital firm founded by David Marquardt and John Johnston in 1995. It is focused on information technology and is based in Menlo Park, California.
Company
Au ...
), and Amy Saper (formerly of
Accel). As of 2024, the firm had invested in over 260 early stage start-ups.
In 2017, the firm changed its name from SoftTech VC to Uncork Capital.
Investments
The firm primarily invests in
SaaS (software as a service), developer tooling, marketplaces, consumer services and "frontier technology" ventures. With a focus on
seed-stage funding, the firm generally aims to secure between 10-15% ownership of the companies it invests in.
Current active investments include LaunchDarkly, Human Interest, Loft Orbital, ClassDojo, Carrot Fertility, Front, Shippo, Hallow, Numeral, and GPTZero.
The firm's first fund raised less than $1 million, while the second fund raised $15 million in 2007. In 2012, Fund III oversubscribed at $55 million, and, in 2014, they closed their fourth fund at $85 million, bringing their capital under management to $155 million.
In 2016, the firm raised $100 million for SoftTechVC V and $50 million for a breakout fund.
In 2019, the firm raised $100M for Uncork VI and $100M for their second breakout fund, Plus II. In 2023, the firm raised $200M for Uncork VII and $200M for their third breakout fund, Plus III. In 2025, the firm raised $225M for Uncork VIII and $75M for their fourth breakout fund, Plus IV.
References
External links
*
Venture capital firms of the United States
Private equity firms of the United States
Companies based in Palo Alto, California
Financial services companies established in 2004
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