Jeff Clavier
VCFounding Partner, Uncork Capital
OG seed VC; 290-plus startup bets since 2004
Background
Jeff Clavier is Founding Partner of Uncork Capital (originally SoftTech VC), one of Silicon Valley's earliest dedicated seed funds, which he established in 2004. A French-born computer scientist with an MS from Université Paris V René Descartes, he worked as CTO at fintech startup Effix and at Reuters' corporate venture arm before striking out on his own. Over two decades he has backed more than 290 startups including Fitbit, SendGrid, Postmates, Mint, Eventbrite, Poshmark, ClassDojo, and Front. In 2025, Uncork closed $300M across its eighth seed fund ($225M) and fourth breakout fund ($75M). Clavier is a Forbes Midas List veteran and a former NVCA board member.
Investment Thesis
Backs seed-stage, category-defining technology companies across B2B SaaS, developer tools, infrastructure, consumer software, and frontier tech (AI, space, digital manufacturing).
Investment Focus
Stages
Typical check: $750K–$2M
Sectors
Based in: San Francisco Bay Area, CA, USA (North America)
Notable Investments
Fitbit
NYSE: FIT; acquired by Google
SendGrid
NYSE: SEND; acquired by Twilio
Eventbrite
NYSE: EB
Poshmark
NASDAQ: POSH; acquired by Naver
Postmates
Acquired by Uber
ClassDojo
Education communication platform
Front
Collaborative inbox and customer communication platform
Carrot Fertility
Global fertility and family-building benefits platform