Uncork Capital

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Uncork Capital
TypePrivate
IndustryVenture Capital
Founded2004
HeadquartersPalo Alto
Key people
Jeff Clavier, Founder
ProductsInvestments
Websitewww.uncorkcapital.com

Uncork Capital (formerly known as SoftTech VC) is a venture capital firm based in San Francisco, California founded by Jeff Clavier. Considered one of the most active established seed funds in Silicon Valley,[1] it has invested in companies such as Postmates, Eventbrite, Fitbit, SendGrid, Vungle, ClassDojo, Front, Shippo, LaunchDarkly and Human Interest.

History[]

The firm was founded in 2004 by angel investor Jeff Clavier when he transitioned his portfolio into a formal venture firm.[2] Partners include Andy McLoughlin (formerly of Huddle), Susan Liu (formerly of Scale Venture Partners) and Tripp Jones (formerly of August Capital).[3] As of 2022, the firm had invested in over 240 early stage start-ups.[4]

In 2017, the firm changed its name from SoftTech VC to Uncork Capital.[5]

Investments[]

The firm primarily invests in SaaS (software as a service), marketplaces, consumer services and "frontier technology" ventures.[6] With a focus on seed-stage funding, the firm generally aims to secure between 8-12% ownership of the companies it invests in.[7][8]

The firm's first fund raised less than $1 million,[9] while the second fund raised $15 million in 2007, including exits in Milo, Tapulous and Goodrec. In 2012, Fund III oversubscribed at $55 million,[10] and in 2014 they closed their fourth fund at $85 million, bringing their capital under management to $155 million.[11][12] In 2016, the firm raised $100 million for SoftTechVC V and $50 million for a breakout fund.[8] In 2019, the firm raised $100M for Uncork VI and $100 for their second breakout find, Plus II.[13]

Notable investments have included Eventbrite, Fitbit, Postmates, SendGrid, Survata, Gnip, BrightRoll, Vidyard and LiveRamp.[14][8]

References[]

  1. ^ Rampton, John (22 February 2017). "Meet the Angels: Silicon Valley's Most Well-Known Investors of 2016". Business Insider. Retrieved 6 May 2018.
  2. ^ Schonfeld, Erick (26 January 2012). "Jeff Clavier's SoftTech VC Raises $55 Million For Fund III". TechCrunch.
  3. ^ Konrad, Alex. "Seed-Stage VC Firm Uncork Capital Taps Under 30 Alum Susan Liu And Veteran Investor Tripp Jones As Partners". Forbes. Retrieved 2022-01-13.
  4. ^ Volpicelli, Anna (1 August 2014). "The 20 Hottest Bay Area Fintech Investors and 20 Bay Area Fintech Startups To Keep Your Eye On". Huffington Post. Retrieved 6 May 2018.
  5. ^ "SoftTech VC rebrands as Uncork Capital". Pitchbook. 8 November 2017. Retrieved 6 May 2018.
  6. ^ "Uncork Capital - About". Uncork Capital. Retrieved 2022-01-13.
  7. ^ Garland, Russ (27 June 2014). "SoftTech VC Boosts Its Reserves With $85 Million Fourth Fund". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 11 June 2018.
  8. ^ a b c Loizos, Connie (8 June 2016). "SoftTech VC goes big, raising $150 million across two new funds". TechCrunch. Retrieved 11 June 2018.
  9. ^ Taylor, Colleen (26 January 2012). "How Jeff Clavier will spend SoftTech's biggest VC fund yet". GigaOM.
  10. ^ Geron, Tomio (26 January 2012). "SoftTech VC Closes Oversubscribed $55 Million Third Fund". Forbes.
  11. ^ Volpicelli, Anna (1 August 2014). "Meet The Bay Area's Top Female Venture Capitalists". 7x7. Retrieved 6 May 2018.
  12. ^ "The Daily Startup: SoftTech VC Aims at $75M for Fund IV". Wall Street Journal. 12 July 2013.
  13. ^ Clavier, Jeff (2019-08-19). "Uncork raises $200M to support the next generation of seed-stage startups". Uncork Capital. Retrieved 2022-01-13.
  14. ^ "Survata Announces $6 Million in Series A Funding | Survata Blog". www.survata.com. Retrieved 2015-07-20.
  15. ^ Perez, Sarah (February 21, 2019). "About.me acquired by mobile first small business startup Broadly". TechCrunch. Retrieved February 5, 2021.
  16. ^ Heather, Lunden, Brian, Ingrid (October 19, 2017). "Swedish lock giant Assa Abloy acquires lock maker August Home". TechCrunch. Retrieved February 5, 2021.
  17. ^ Ha, Anthony (July 12, 2017). "Bitly sells a majority stake to Spectrum Equity for $63M". TechCrunch. Retrieved February 5, 2021.
  18. ^ Kriel, Collen (March 30, 2015). "IBM acquires technology from curated search engine Blekko to Bolster Watson". Silicon Angle. Retrieved February 5, 2021.
  19. ^ Rodgers, Evan (July 17, 2012). "Paypal acquires Card.io mobile payment service". The Verge. Retrieved February 5, 2021.
  20. ^ Goodwin, Antuan (September 10, 2016). "Ford Mobility to acquire Chariot shuttle service, launch GoBike sharing in San Francisco". CNET. Retrieved February 5, 2021.
  21. ^ Dillet, Romain (August 16, 2016). "Twitch is acquiring popular video game community and software maker Curse". TechCrunch. Retrieved February 5, 2021.
  22. ^ Matney, Lucas (February 1, 2018). "Pokémon GO creator Niantic buys Escher Reality AR startup". TechCrunch. Retrieved February 5, 2021.
  23. ^ Siegler, MG (October 10, 2011). "Facebook acquires Social Q&A Service Friend.ly-Team to work on new things, But service will stay open". TechCrunch. Retrieved February 5, 2021.
  24. ^ Etherington, Darrell (April 15, 2014). "Twitter acquires longtime partner and Social Media Provider Gnip". TechCruch. Retrieved February 5, 2021.
  25. ^ Lunden, Ingrid (May 23, 2019). "Shopify quietly acquired Handshake, an e-commerce platform for B2B whole purchasing". TechCrunch. Retrieved February 5, 2021.
  26. ^ Jackson, Jacob (April 17, 2013). "Intel acquires Mashery for planned services suite". PC World. Retrieved February 5, 2021.
  27. ^ Ha, Anthony (February 11, 2015). "Twitter acquires Niche, a startup that helps advertisers work with Social Media Celebrities". TechCrunch. Retrieved February 5, 2021.

External links[]


Stub icon 1 Stub icon 2

This article about a private equity or venture capital firm based in the United States is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by .

  • v
  • t
Retrieved from ""