Uncork Capital is a seed-stage venture capital firm founded in 2004 and based in San Francisco, California. With over two decades of experience, the firm has established itself as one of Silicon Valley’s most trusted early-stage investors, known for backing bold founders from the very beginning. Uncork focuses on high-conviction, founder-led partnerships and has built a legacy of spotting category-defining companies before they hit the mainstream. The firm operates with a long-term horizon, emphasizing deep support, low volume, and lasting relationships over fast exits or spray-and-pray investing.
Uncork Capital invests in early-stage startups, primarily from pre-seed through Series A. The firm targets companies in B2B SaaS, developer tools, infrastructure and security, consumer software and services, and frontier technology. Its geographic focus is North America, although portfolio companies may have distributed or global product and engineering teams.
Uncork typically invests $1.5M–$3M for a 12–15% ownership stake and follows on in breakout companies through its growth funds.
In May 2025, Uncork Capital announced the close of $300 million in fresh capital across two new vehicles: Uncork VIII, a $225 million seed fund, and Uncork Plus IV, a $75 million growth fund. Fund VIII will be deployed over the next three years to back around 35 early-stage startups, maintaining the firm’s selective, conviction-led approach.
With this latest fund, Uncork plans to slightly increase check sizes and target marginally higher initial ownership to align with its strategy of deep involvement. Uncork Plus IV is designed to support emerging breakout companies already in the portfolio, allowing the firm to maintain meaningful ownership as they scale.
While Plus IV is smaller than its predecessor, it was sized intentionally to match current market conditions and will complement the remaining capital from Plus III, which will continue deploying through late 2025. The capital raise was completed in just ten weeks, backed by top-tier LPs including university endowments, pension funds, and charitable foundations.
Leadership
Uncork was founded by Jeff Clavier, who has transitioned to the role of Founding Partner while continuing to invest in frontier tech. The firm is now led by Managing Partner Andy McLoughlin, who has worked alongside Clavier for years. Other key investing partners include Susan Liu, Tripp Jones, and Amy Saper.
The team evaluates over 3,000 deals per year and wins more than 90% of the deals they pursue. Uncork’s philosophy centers on working with founders who solve real problems with authenticity, staying committed through good times and tough markets.
Notable Investments
Uncork has backed a wide range of high-growth companies, including LaunchDarkly, a pioneer in feature flag management; Tailscale, an infrastructure company simplifying secure connectivity; Loft Orbital, offering space infrastructure as a service; Carrot Fertility, supporting inclusive fertility care; Wrapbook, a payroll and insurance platform for production teams; Hallow, a Catholic meditation app; and ClassDojo, an edtech platform used by millions of teachers and families globally.
Notable Exits
The firm has helped build companies that have generated $59 billion in exit enterprise value across seven venture funds, though specific exit names were not detailed in the latest announcement.
