Uncork Capital

About

Uncork Capital (formerly SoftTech VC) is a San Francisco-based seed-stage venture capital firm founded in 2004 by Jeff Clavier ¹. Clavier, a French-born computer scientist, previously served as General Partner at RVC, Reuters’ $450M corporate venture fund, after immigrating to the United States in 2000 ². He founded SoftTech VC to fill what he saw as an unmet need: active support and capital for companies in their first 18 months ².

The firm’s first fund raised less than $1 million, making Clavier one of the earliest “super angel” investors in Silicon Valley ³. In 2007, he raised one of the first institutional micro-VC funds — a $15 million Fund II ³. The firm grew steadily: Fund III oversubscribed at $55 million in 2012, Fund IV closed at $85 million in 2014, and in 2016 they raised $100 million for SoftTech VC V plus a $50 million breakout fund ³. In 2017, the firm rebranded from SoftTech VC to Uncork Capital ⁴. Fund VI raised $100 million in 2019 alongside a $100 million second breakout fund (Plus II) ³. In 2023, the firm raised $200 million for Uncork VII and $200 million for Plus III ³. Most recently, in May 2025, Uncork closed $300 million across Uncork VIII ($225 million seed fund) and Plus IV ($75 million opportunity fund), bringing total assets under management to over $900 million ⁵.

Over 20 years, the firm’s partners have invested in over 290 companies, with more than 100 meaningful outcomes and $60 billion-plus in enterprise value created ⁵. Notable exits include Fitbit (acquired by Google), SendGrid (IPO, acquired by Twilio), Eventbrite (IPO), Poshmark (IPO), Postmates (acquired by Uber), Mint (acquired by Intuit), Wildfire (acquired by Google), and DocSend (acquired by Dropbox) ²⁵.

As of May 2025, Andy McLoughlin serves as sole Managing Partner, with Jeff Clavier stepping back from day-to-day operations to focus on frontier tech investments as Founding Partner ⁵. The investment team includes partners Amy Saper (previously at Accel, Stripe, and Uber), Susan Liu (previously at Scale Venture Partners), and Tripp Jones (previously General Partner at August Capital) ⁶⁷⁸⁹.

The firm has stayed small by design, reviewing approximately 3,000 startups annually and deploying Fund VIII into approximately 35 companies over three years ⁵¹⁰.

Stated Thesis

Uncork publicly describes its investment focus as backing “exceptional founders from zero,” investing before market validation is obvious ¹. The firm states it looks for “team, TAM, and tailwinds, but conviction in founder-market fit comes above all else” ¹¹⁰.

The firm positions itself as investing early in “AI-native companies creating leverage, unlocking scale, and pushing industries forward” ¹. For Fund VIII, Uncork has publicly stated a target allocation of 45% B2B SaaS, 30% developer tools/infrastructure/security, 15% consumer software and services, and 10% frontier tech (robotics, semiconductors, space, quantum) ¹⁰.

Partner Amy Saper has described the approach as: “We seek founders solving real problems with authentic insights, invest early in exceptional teams building transformative companies, and stay the course” ⁵.

Jeff Clavier has stated the firm values “unsexy verticals” and opportunities “under the radar,” noting: “The coolness of things is not really a real thing. We actually like very unsexy verticals, and things which are under the radar, because that’s what gives us an opportunity to build something and give it some velocity before it becomes clear that it is successful” ¹¹.

Inferred Thesis

Based on 20 verified portfolio companies from the Uncork Capital website ¹ and cross-referenced with additional sources ³¹²¹³:

Stage distribution: Uncork is overwhelmingly a seed-stage investor. Of 386 total investments tracked by aggregators, 118 were at the seed stage (31%), with the firm typically serving as the first institutional check ¹². The firm also participates in follow-on rounds through its breakout/opportunity funds (Plus I-IV). The portfolio page shows companies ranging from seed to growth stage, with the firm investing as early as company founding year in many cases (e.g., Postmates in 2011, ClassDojo in 2011, Fitbit in 2008) ¹.

Sector breakdown: Of the 20 featured portfolio companies on their website: 9 are B2B SaaS/enterprise software (45%) — Human Interest, LaunchDarkly, Numeral, Ivo, Coder, Wrapbook, Gamma, Anything, GPTZero; 4 are infrastructure/developer tools (20%) — SendGrid, Tailscale, Groq, Inertia; 4 are consumer/marketplace (20%) — Postmates, Poshmark, Hallow, ClassDojo; 3 are frontier tech/hardware (15%) — Fitbit, Loft Orbital, Carrot Fertility ¹. This aligns closely with their stated 45/30/15/10 split, though the consumer allocation may be slightly higher than stated.

Check size: The firm typically invests $1.5 million to $4 million per seed deal, targeting 10-15% initial ownership ³¹⁰¹². Jeff Clavier has stated: “We are trying to get 7 to 10 percent” in some contexts, suggesting the range varies by deal ¹⁴.

Geographic focus: North America-based companies, headquartered in San Francisco ¹⁰¹². The firm has historically concentrated on Silicon Valley but is open to distributed teams ¹⁰.

Founder profile patterns: The firm strongly prefers technical founders with deep domain expertise. Clavier has described his evaluation framework as looking for “a smart-ass team, a kick-ass product, and a big-ass market” ¹¹. He has also stated: “It’s a mix of vision, it’s tenacity, it’s empathy. Do we feel that they have the passion, the domain knowledge, this unfair advantage that will make them execute and realize the potential of the company in a different way than the rest of the market?” ¹¹.

Co-investor patterns: SV Angel is the most frequent co-investor with 20 shared portfolio companies. Follow-on investors most commonly include Foundry (8 companies), Bessemer Venture Partners (8 companies), and Sequoia Capital (6 companies) ¹³. Clavier has stated: “We always syndicate. That is a key principal for us. We try and surround our founders with smart investors” ¹⁴.

Notable gaps vs. stated thesis: Despite claiming to invest in fintech, the portfolio skews more heavily toward SaaS infrastructure and developer tools than pure financial services companies. Consumer hardware investments have declined — Clavier acknowledged: “We have slowed down our investments in hardware. Consumer hardware is hard to get financed” ¹⁴. The firm explicitly avoids “pureplay consumer apps that may never build a business, gaming, e-commerce, travel, crypto” ¹⁵.

Portfolio construction: Clavier has described a typical fund’s outcome distribution: “About 30 to 40 go bust, 30 to 40 return cash, and the final third return 4, 5 or 10x” ¹⁴. The opportunity/Plus funds allow larger follow-on checks into breakout companies.

Portfolio

Based on verified sources, the following represents Uncork Capital’s portfolio. The firm has invested in 290+ companies total; this table covers verified investments with sources.

This table represents approximately 31 of 290+ known investments (~11%). The “~” prefix on years indicates founding year used as a proxy when exact investment year could not be independently confirmed.

In Their Own Words

Jeff Clavier on evaluating founders: “It’s a mix of vision, it’s tenacity, it’s empathy. Do we feel that they have the passion, the domain knowledge, this unfair advantage that will make them execute and realize the potential of the company in a different way than the rest of the market?” — Beta Boom interview ¹¹.

Jeff Clavier on his investment framework: “A smart-ass team, a kick-ass product, and a big-ass market.” — Beta Boom interview ¹¹.

Jeff Clavier on unsexy markets: “The coolness of things is not really a real thing. We actually like very unsexy verticals, and things which are under the radar, because that’s what gives us an opportunity to build something and give it some velocity before it becomes clear that it is successful.” — Beta Boom interview ¹¹.

Jeff Clavier on conviction: “If I believe that the team can actually pull it off, even in the face of low probability, I will go for it.” — Beta Boom interview ¹¹.

Jeff Clavier on fund discipline: “I like the discipline that a $100M fund gives us. You cannot go crazy.” — Crunchbase News interview ¹⁴.

Jeff Clavier on syndication: “We always syndicate. That is a key principal for us. We try and surround our founders with smart investors.” — Crunchbase News interview ¹⁴.

Jeff Clavier on exits: “Big exits are the power law of venture. Fitbit and SendGrid returned the fund once or twice. Those are the homeruns you need.” — Crunchbase News interview ¹⁴.

Andy McLoughlin on Uncork’s track record: “Through more than two decades…we’ve consistently backed new ideas that became category-defining companies while backing bold founders at the earliest stages.” — Uncork Capital press release, May 2025 ⁵.

Amy Saper on the firm’s approach: “We seek founders solving real problems with authentic insights, invest early in exceptional teams building transformative companies, and stay the course.” — Uncork Capital press release, May 2025 ⁵.

What Founders Say

Jeff Schneble, CEO of Human Interest: “Uncork has proven to be the most supportive and helpful investor on our cap table. Their ability to effectively communicate our vision and progress to potential investors has been instrumental in raising hundreds of millions of dollars in capital. In fact, many of our current investors were initially introduced to us through Uncork, significantly accelerating our company’s growth.” — Uncork Capital press release, May 2025 ⁵.

No additional independently sourced founder testimonials found beyond company press materials. The firm’s LinkedIn page includes endorsements describing Jeff Clavier as someone who “brings real value to the enterprise” and “provides valuable assistance to the entrepreneurs, helps bring together the right group of investors and makes useful introductions to potential business partners or acquirers” ¹⁶. However, these are LinkedIn recommendations and the specific attributing founders could not be independently verified.

Sources