Uncork is a seed firm 'fully, deliberately, and by conviction' — founded by Jeff Clavier in 2004 (as SoftTech VC) to give seed-stage founders both capital and a true partner in their first 18 months. They write the first major check on the cap table (typically $1.5M-$3M+ for a 12-15% stake), usually take the first board seat, and stay engaged 'long before it's obvious, through the messy middle, and after it began to inflect.' They look for 'team, TAM, and tailwinds,' but conviction in founder-market fit comes above all else, backing AI-native companies across B2B SaaS, dev tools/infra, consumer, and frontier tech.
A real, often expensive and overlooked problem in a large or 'unsexy' market — ideally one a technical founder understands sharply from first principles. They love quantified pain in inefficient legacy industries.
“Healthcare denials and collections is exactly the kind of large, inefficient market where AI can unlock massive value.” — Automating Healthcare's $26B Problem: Why We Invested in Amperos Health
“Denials and collections within healthcare represent a sneakily large market — providers spend $26 billion annually pursuing unpaid claims.” — Susan Liu
“the bottleneck isn't only a shortage of supply, it's a failure of orchestration” — Tripp Jones
“Rate limiting? Manual configuration. Key management? Hope you like YAML.” — Andy McLoughlin
Products from technical founders who design from first principles — lightweight, productized solutions that make teams faster and turn complex problems into leverage. They favor 'unsexy' but durable utility over flashy demos.
“She gravitates toward technical founders who design from first principles and turn complex, technical challenges into products that make teams faster, more creative, and more efficient.” — Amy Saper - Uncork Capital
“He backs founders who productize the kinds of solutions – once reserved for tech giants – that create lasting value through productivity gains and cost savings across the business.” — Andy McLoughlin
“Rather than bolting on an external gateway between your code and the real world, Unkey's lightweight SDK lives directly in your codebase.” — Andy McLoughlin
“The strongest pitches hit four core elements: Team, Market, Product wedge, Traction: Evidence that the business is working.” — Susan Liu
Big-ass markets (the 'TAM' in their team/TAM/tailwinds frame) — large, often overlooked or underdeveloped markets where the upside is enormous if the team is right.
“we back exceptional teams, building cutting edge products, for big ass markets. Soma checks all three” — Investing in Soma Energy: Making Every Megawatt Count
“We look for team, TAM, and tailwinds, but conviction in founder–market fit comes above all else.” — Uncork Capital - Approach
“create network effects or recurring revenue – but above all, that make life richer and the world more connected” — Tripp Jones
“the ginormous++ nature of the endeavor” — Jeff Clavier
At seed, evidence the business is starting to work; for a Series A, a genuinely compelling growth trajectory (now often 0 to $3-5M ARR in a year). Traction must be repeatable, backed by hard usage and revenue numbers, not one-off press.
“Pre-LLM, companies hitting ~$1M ARR could reasonably begin a Series A process. Now, we're regularly seeing companies go from 0 to $3-5M ARR in a single year and that's roughly what it takes to get a Series A done.” — Raising a Series A in an AI-First World
“The strongest pitches hit four core elements: Team, Market, Product wedge, Traction: Evidence that the business is working.” — Susan Liu
“Amanda has already completed over 75,000 automated calls and helped customers collect $120 million in outstanding revenue.” — Susan Liu
“To get meetings, and to stand out in a crowded AI landscape, you need to be on a genuinely compelling growth trajectory.” — Susan Liu
Founder-market fit above all: founders with a clear vision, a sharp understanding of their market, and the grit to push through near-failures. Deeply technical, first-principles builders are a recurring pattern.
“We look for team, TAM, and tailwinds, but conviction in founder–market fit comes above all else.” — Uncork Capital - Approach
“The founders he's backed who've gone on to the biggest outcomes share a few things in common: a clear vision for their product or industry, a sharp understanding of their market, and the grit to push through near-failures to make it happen.” — Jeff Clavier
“A world-class team with direct, hard-earned experience, leveraging modern AI to tackle a market constraint” — Tripp Jones
“James is a developer's developer - self-taught, with deep experience in developer relations and API product development from his time at Plaid and Clerk.” — Andy McLoughlin
Durable economics — recurring revenue, network effects, and sticky infrastructure. They like 'unsexy' models that create lasting value through productivity gains and cost savings, and infrastructure where the payoffs compound over time.
“create network effects or recurring revenue – but above all, that make life richer and the world more connected” — Tripp Jones - Uncork Capital
“infrastructure is sticky and durable, and although sales cycles can be long, the payoffs are huge” — Andy McLoughlin
“He backs founders who productize the kinds of solutions – once reserved for tech giants – that create lasting value through productivity gains and cost savings across the business.” — Andy McLoughlin
A clear wedge against legacy incumbents built for an older era of software — and defensibility from network effects, technical depth, or sticky infrastructure rather than from being first to a crowded space.
“For the modern full-stack engineer who just wants to ship a product with a well-managed API, these tools feel like driving a forklift to the grocery store.” — Ship APIs, Not Infrastructure: Welcome Unkey
“The legacy players...were built for a different era of software development” — Andy McLoughlin
“infrastructure is sticky and durable, and although sales cycles can be long, the payoffs are huge” — Andy McLoughlin
Tailwinds — typically an AI/technology shift hitting a legacy industry whose own timelines can't keep up. They've backed AI-native companies for nearly a decade and want a credible reason the moment is right.
“We've been investing in AI-native startups for nearly a decade — before it became the headline. From deep learning to vision systems to applied LLMs, our portfolio includes companies building on, powered by, or enabling the AI economy” — Uncork Capital Closes $300M to Support Early-Stage Founders
“This industry is in need of automation, which is where Amperos Health comes in.” — Susan Liu
“Inertia will build its pilot plant based on the physics proven at the National Ignition Facility (NIF)...the only controlled fusion experiments to achieve net target energy gain” — Jeff Clavier
A seed round where Uncork can be the first meaningful check and true partner in the first 18 months — typically $1.5M-$3M+ for 12-15%, with them leading and taking the first board seat. The pitch should be a compelling, well-told story.
“We back founders who bring sharp insight into their markets and the drive to build what others can't yet see.” — Uncork Capital - Approach
“invest $1.5M-$3M+ in seed capital for a 12–15% stake in promising startups, then deploy meaningful reserves when breakout companies raise later rounds” — Andy McLoughlin
“Great storytelling is a huge competitive advantage...the ability to tell a compelling story can be the difference between a market leader and an also-ran.” — Andy McLoughlin
“The founders he's backed who've gone on to the biggest outcomes share a few things in common: a clear vision for their product or industry, a sharp understanding of their market, and the grit to push through near-failures to make it happen.”
“Andy is drawn to the "unsexy" ideas and deeply technical teams of enterprise software and developer tooling. He backs founders who productize the kinds of solutions – once reserved for tech giants – that create lasting value through productivity gains and cost savings across the business.”
“Pre-LLM, companies hitting ~$1M ARR could reasonably begin a Series A process. Now, we're regularly seeing companies go from 0 to $3-5M ARR in a single year and that's roughly what it takes to get a Series A done.”
“we back exceptional teams, building cutting edge products, for big ass markets. Soma checks all three”
“She gravitates toward technical founders who design from first principles and turn complex, technical challenges into products that make teams faster, more creative, and more efficient.”