Who are we?

We exist to help entrepreneurs build great companies. We do that by investing capital, solving platform-level problems and working in the trenches with companies we advise. We have $37M under management and invest $400k-$1M in pre-seed and seed stage companies.

What do we do?

We invest capital and sweat into innovative vertical commerce and physical retail technology companies and companies that enable greater access and efficiency to those areas.

We are operationally-focused investors. More important than the capital we invest, we bring our experience and network and work tirelessly to help you achieve your company’s goals. We only invest in companies we would want to work for.

We want to be the most recommended early stage capital source by founders redefining commerce and the future of retail.

Why are we excited about commerce?

The barriers to creating real things is lower than ever. We want to help build those great companies. At the same time the window of opportunity to redefine the role of physical places in commerce is prime. We want to help define how people interact with their worlds for the next 100 years.

Commerce is not as simple as selling things online. Great commerce is a collection of smart systems and brilliant financial planning. Long-lasting commerce companies are parts operations, technology, design, people and finance.

The bulk of our partners’ company experience centers around commerce. We’ve built products from scratch and at extreme scale. We love it. We’re excited by the opportunity to help innovative ideas become 100-year companies.

What is commerce?

The definition of commerce is broad. We believe it to be all aspects of how people buy the things they need and want. People’s needs include many types of products, tangible and intangible. Companies that deconstruct inefficient or expensive categories of products are equally as exciting to us as companies figuring out how to make the dying brick and mortar retail world vibrant again.

What do you do for your portfolio companies? What kind of investor are you?

In a word: hustle. We are operationally-focused investors. More important than the capital we invest, we bring our experience and network and work tirelessly to help you achieve your company’s goals.

Types of companies does UCG Capital invest in?

Our companies see their products as solving a deep-rooted problem rather than just making a sale.

We invest in companies in a variety of industries but get particularly excited about commerce. Most of our companies create, build and sell products, experiences and tools that challenge commerce in the physical and digital worlds.

We invest in early and mid-stage companies serving consumers and SMBs with revenue-positive unit economics, often vertically integrated commerce, retail technology and SaaS companies surrounding the commerce space.

A company we invest in typically generates revenue in one of three ways. Our experience is that young companies that focus on earning revenue from more than one of these categories experience growth challenges.

The companies we invest in generally have a unique technical advantage adaptable well beyond the product they sell to the world and/or a complete and unique ownership of their supply chain. In this way they are more about what you don’t see than what you see.

COMMERCE – COMPANIES THAT MAKE AND SELL PHYSICAL AND EXPERIENTIAL PRODUCTS TO PEOPLE.

These companies:

• Are often digital-first, vertically-integrated, first-party merchants of products that leverage technology to more nimbly manufacture and market their goods.

• Define categories of products and, for third-party retailers, categories of shopping.

• Produce products that define new product categories distributed at efficient scale.

• Have a deep sense of purpose beyond making a sale, this is especially important for third-party commerce companies.

• Have a long-term stair step vision for how to build a large, lasting company.

• Use complex systems and data analysis to maximize every opportunity to build a long-term business.

PHYSICAL COMMERCE – COMPANIES THAT BUILD INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGY FOR PHYSICAL COMMERCE.

These companies:

• Build innovative technologies that enhance physical shopping experiences.

• Enable more efficient and innovative use of physical spaces to enable in-person and digital commerce.

• Simplify the logistics linking manufacturer, retailer and consumer.

COMMERCE INFRASTRUCTURE – COMPANIES BUILDING TECHNOLOGY PRODUCTS AND SERVICES THAT ENABLE GREATER ACCESS AND EFFICIENCY IN COMMERCE.

These companies:

• Build tools to help retail companies build their businesses more efficiently.

• Focus on leveraging technology innovation to make commerce simpler, more intelligent and more secure.

What do we not invest in?

• Companies directly or indirectly focused on gambling, gaming or nightlife entertainment.

• Companies, especially physical product companies, that have not produced and sold a usable MVP to customers whether it be a physical product or an intangible technology product. To help companies like this we invested in Innovation.

• Companies lacking business-minded team members or co-founders. 

Do we invest in other types of companies?

Our definition of commerce evolves daily. Most of our recent investments fit into one of our three focus areas within commerce. Sometimes an opportunity forces us to rethink our scope. We call those investments Atypical.

When do we invest?

We have always been an early stage investor. We invest $300,000 to $2 million in companies over their lifetimes. We sometimes lead investments but don’t require that we do so. If you’ve raised more than $2 million, you are probably too late for us.

Do we have to be based in NY OR CA OR FL?

We love these places. Some of us live in these places. As of May 2020, 10% of the investments we’ve made are based there. We’ve invested more early stage capital into local companies than any firm in state history. We see maximizing our impact as a long-term focus. If we can do for locals what Brad Feld did for Boulder, everyone wins. And we can’t do that by only investing in companies with only these state ties. That’s why 75% of our investments are located elsewhere. We’re excited to meet and support companies tackling commerce all over the US (and abroad).