Uncork Capital Closes $300M to Support Early-Stage Founders

Uncork’s partnership: Tripp Jones, Amy Saper, Susan Liu, Andy McLoughlin, and Jeff Clavier

TL;DR: Uncork Capital has raised $300 million in new funds: Uncork VIII, a $225 million seed fund, and Uncork Plus IV, a $75 million growth fund dedicated to scale-out support for Uncork portfolio companies.

A Heritage of Early Conviction

Today, May 1st, marks Uncork Capital’s 21st anniversary. We’re proud of the legacy we’ve built as one of Silicon Valley’s most trusted seed investors and guides. Through more than two decades — and multiple boom-and-bust cycles — we’ve consistently backed new ideas that became category-defining companies while backing bold founders at the earliest stages, when others hesitate.

While many firms are retreating amid economic uncertainty, we’re reaffirming our commitment to seed-stage investing with $300 million in fresh capital.

Our track record speaks for itself: across seven VC funds since 2004, we’ve backed 278 tech startups, helped our portfolio companies raise $8 billion in follow-on capital, and built $59B in exit enterprise value.

We’ve long had a knack for identifying promising technologies before they hit the mainstream. We look for founders solving real problems with authentic insights — not chasing hype or following the crowd. In recent years, we’ve led or co-led seed rounds in breakout companies like LaunchDarkly, Tailscale, Loft Orbital, Carrot Fertility, Hallow, and Wrapbook.

While global volatility — from tariffs to capital market disruption — has reshaped the exit landscape, our early-stage focus and long-term horizon make us well-positioned to navigate through it.

Navigating Today’s Market: We’ve Been Here Before

The venture landscape in 2025 looks very different from the heady days of 2021. Valuations have normalized, capital efficiency is back in vogue, and fundraising timelines have stretched. But historically, tough markets have produced some of the most enduring companies. We believe today’s conditions offer exceptional opportunities for disciplined seed investors who know how to separate signal from noise.

That conviction — and our long-standing track record — helped us raise these new funds in a short process that lasted just ten weeks, despite a challenging macro environment. We’re immensely grateful to our world-class LP base, including top university endowments, pension funds, charitable foundations, and a mix of returning and new investors who share our belief in the power of seed-stage investing.

Announcing $300 Million for the Next Generation of Founders

Today, we are announcing that we’ve raised $300 million across two funds:

• Uncork VIII: A $225 million seed fund to continue our selective early-stage investing. We evaluate over 3,000 deals per year and consistently win over 90% of the opportunities we pursue.

• Uncork Plus IV: A $75 million growth fund to double down on our breakout portfolio companies as they scale. This strategy has served us well, allowing us to maintain meaningful ownership throughout the growth journey.

We intentionally sized Plus IV smaller than its predecessor to match current market conditions. We will continue to deploy from Plus III, our prior growth fund, through late 2025. Launching a more measured Plus IV lets us support emerging breakout companies without rushing into an uncertain growth environment. As the growth market rebounds, we anticipate increasing the size of future opportunity funds.

Our investment focus remains consistent with prior funds: 45% B2B SaaS, 30% Developer Tools, Infrastructure and Security, 15% Consumer Software and Services, and 10% Frontier Tech. This balanced approach allows us to invest in foundational technologies while maintaining exposure to emerging categories. In terms of geography, we’re focused on companies headquartered in North America, although some may have engineering or product teams elsewhere in the world.

How We Invest

The concept is straightforward but powerful: 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 to maintain and deepen our exposure.

With Fund VIII, we expect to write slightly larger checks and target marginally higher initial ownership, reflecting our conviction-led approach. The goal is to build a portfolio of about 35 companies over the next three years.

This strategy has created significant value for both our founders and our limited partners. A few compelling examples demonstrate its effectiveness:

• LaunchDarkly: Since leading their seed round in 2015 with an initial investment of $1 million, we’ve invested in every subsequent round. Our total investment has grown more than 17X our initial commitment, reflecting our continued conviction in the company’s vision to revolutionize feature management for software development.

• Tailscale: We first backed the company early in 2020 with seed funding and are proud to have participated in all follow-on rounds, including its recent $160 million Series C round in April 2025. Now, with 10K+ customers (like Instacart, Duolingo, and the largest AI platforms), they’re well on their way to becoming the next important infrastructure company.

We’re equally energized by the broader portfolio operating at scale — like Carrot, Hallow, Loft Orbital, ClassDojo, Wrapbook, Crossbeam, Fountain, and Coder — as well as early-stage standouts like Numeral, GPTZero, FinalRound, and Ivo, which are shaping the next generation of AI-native services.

These examples illustrate a core principle of our investment philosophy: when we find exceptional teams building transformative companies, we don’t just invest early — we stay the course. As we deploy our new funds, we’ll continue seeking opportunities to form these long-term partnerships with founders who are solving real problems for real businesses and people.

Leadership Evolution

As we enter this next chapter, the firm continues to evolve. Susan Liu and Tripp Jones joined us in 2021 as new investing partners, bringing fresh perspectives and expanded networks to our team, followed by Amy Saper, who joined us in 2023 after successful runs as an operator and early-stage investor.

Now, with Fund VIII, our leadership structure is also maturing. Our founder, Jeff Clavier, will step back from the Managing Partner role but remains deeply involved in all aspects of the firm. I’ll step into the role of sole Managing Partner, a title that I have held alongside Jeff for a few years now, building on our shared foundation as I lead Uncork into its next phase of growth.

Jeff, as our Founding Partner, will continue investing in the boundary-pushing, frontier tech ideas he’s known for. This evolution also gives him more freedom to focus on what he loves — partnering with early-stage founders and working with his existing portfolio — while lightening his day-to-day management duties.

Looking Ahead

Just as a 21-year-old carries forward the lessons of their upbringing while forging their own path, Uncork enters this era with the benefit of experience and the freedom to evolve. We remain committed to our founding principles: partner early, help with the hard stuff, and stick around for the long haul.

The Uncork Capital team (sans Tripp Jones who was playing pickleball at the time or something)

We believe the best investors balance youthful optimism with mature judgment — seeing possibility where others see risk, while drawing from the lessons of past cycles. That balance has shaped our journey so far, and it’s what we’ll bring to deploying these new funds.

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.

To the founders building the next generation of world-changing companies: we’re here, we’re ready, and we’re eager to find opportunities to work together.