Uncork Capital on 21 years of venture cycles—and what's different about this one

This week on StrictlyVC Download, Techcrunch EIC Connie Loizos talks with Uncork Capital honchos Jeff Clavier and Andy McLoughlin. They discuss how their seed-stage firm is positioning itself in this environment, from a recent investment in AI chip maker Groq to bets on AI-native companies attacking unsexy industries like material sciences and robotics. Plus, the three dig into Uncork's philosophy of finding companies with unique datasets before they become obvious to the market, how Uncork is advising its established portfolio companies to reinvent themselves in an AI-first world, and whether San Francisco's comeback -- driven by AI moolah -- is sustainable. Chapters: 00:00 - Introduction 01:48 - Market dynamics and late-stage firms entering seed stage 04:36 - Groq investment and AI chip industry insights 08:37 - Dave Agents investment and round economics 09:20 - Current AI investment themes and portfolio evolution 10:49 - Helping established portfolio companies adopt AI 13:58 - AI's impact on workforce and productivity 17:26 - Investing in unsexy industries with unique datasets 20:52 - Robotics investments and AI-driven automation 21:42 - Competitive positioning and value proposition 25:54 - Secondary market strategy and exit timing 27:37 - Private market democratization policy discussion 31:37 - San Francisco's resurgence as AI innovation center 35:02 - Closing remarks Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices