Lowercase Capital
{{Short description|American venture capital firm}}
{{Infobox company
| name = Lowercase Capital
| industry = Venture capital
| founded = {{start date and age |2010}}
| founder = Chris Sacca
| hq_location_city = San Francisco, California
| hq_location_country = United States{{Cite web|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/profile/company/8139912Z:US|title=Company Overview|website=Bloomberg|access-date=2019-06-06}}
| key_people = Crystal English Sacca,
Clay Dumas,
Rebecca Revel{{Cite web|url=https://lowercasecapital.com/team/|title=Team|website=Lowercase Capital|access-date=2019-06-06}}
| homepage = {{URL|https://lowercasecapital.com}}
}}
Lowercase Capital was an American venture capital firm that provided seed and early-stage funding for several successful startups, including Twitter, Twilio, Kickstarter, Uber, Instagram, and Stripe. It raised over $1 billion in capital, and sources claim a return of at least $5 billion to its investors.{{Cite web|url=https://beta.techcrunch.com/2011/02/27/jp-morgan-twitter-chris-sacca-10-percent-secondary/|title=How Chris Sacca And J.P. Morgan Acquired 10% Of Twitter Via Huge Secret Secondary Fund – TechCrunch |website=beta.techcrunch.com |date=28 February 2011 |language=en-US |access-date=2018-04-08}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexkonrad/2015/03/25/how-venture-cowboy-chris-sacca-made-billions/|title=How Super Angel Chris Sacca Made Billions, Burned Bridges And Crafted The Best Seed Portfolio Ever|last=Konrad|first=Alex|work=Forbes|access-date=2018-04-08|language=en}} In 2017 Chris Sacca closed the fund for new start-up investments to focus on climate action and politics. He said, however, that Lowercase Capital would continue to support the existing portfolio of investments.{{cite web |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/chris-sacca-to-retire-from-startup-investing-1493222508 |title=Chris Sacca to Retire From Startup Investing |publisher=Wall Street Journal |date=April 26, 2017}}
History
Lowercase was founded by Chris Sacca in May 2010 with commitments of $8.5 million from limited partners including Richard Branson and Eric Schmidt.{{Cite news|url=https://venturebeat.com/2010/06/18/lowercase-capital-chris-sacca/|title=Chris Sacca's Lowercase Capital launches, declaring VC broken|date=2010-06-18|work=VentureBeat|access-date=2018-04-08|language=en-US}} One of the firm's marquee investments was an investment in pre-IPO Twitter, which contributed to more than 1,500% growth in Lowercase's funds, returning approximately “$5 billion to investors.” Fortune has speculated that Lowercase Ventures Fund I, with holdings in Uber, Docker, and Optimizely is the best-performing fund of all time from a return multiple perspectives.{{Cite news|url=http://fortune.com/2015/01/08/exclusive-is-this-the-best-performing-vc-fund-ever/|title=Exclusive: Is this the best-performing VC fund ever?|work=Fortune|access-date=2018-04-08|language=en}}
Founder Chris Sacca refers to himself as the “proprietor” of Lowercase. In the context of his work at Lowercase, Forbes has credited him with allegedly crafting “the best seed portfolio ever. In 2017, the performance of the various funds earned Sacca second place on the Forbes’ Midas List, a yearly ranking of tech investors.{{Cite web|url=https://www.forbes.com/pictures/fhgl45lhmj/2-chris-sacca/|title=Chris Sacca - pg.2|last=Konrad|first=Alex|website=Forbes|access-date=2018-04-08}} He served as a sometimes “shark” on the TV show “Shark Tank”{{Cite news|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexkonrad/2015/07/20/kutcher-sacca-and-carter-join-shark-tank|title=Ashton Kutcher, Troy Carter And Chris Sacca Test Investing Chops On New Season Of 'Shark Tank'|last=Konrad|first=Alex|work=Forbes|access-date=2018-04-08|language=en}} and played himself in ABC's “Alex Inc.”{{Cite news|url=https://deadline.com/2017/03/chris-sacca-play-himself-abc-startup-comedy-pilot-shark-tank-zach-braff-1202048429/|title=Chris Sacca To Play Himself In ABC Start Up Comedy Pilot|last=Petski|first=Denise|date=2017-03-22|work=Deadline|access-date=2018-04-08|language=en-US}}
Crystal English Sacca, Chris's spouse and a former advertising creative, is a partner at the firm. She co-led many investments, including in Uber, Blue Bottle, and Veggie Grill.{{Cite news|url=https://lowercasecapital.com/proprietor/crystal-english-sacca/|title=Crystal English Sacca|date=2016-02-26|work=LOWERCASE capital|access-date=2018-04-08|language=en-US}} Before the firm she won a Cannes Lion, Two Gold Cannes Cyberlions and other awards in the advertising industry.
In 2013, Matt Mazzeo joined Lowercase Capital as a partner.{{Cite web|url=https://techcrunch.com/2012/11/20/lowercase-capital-matt-mazzeo/|title=Eyeing LA, Chris Sacca Brings On His First Partner At Lowercase Capital: CAA's Matt Mazzeo – TechCrunch|website=techcrunch.com|date=20 November 2012 |language=en-US|access-date=2018-04-08}} Mazzeo had worked at Creative Artists Agency, an entertainment and sports agency.{{Cite news|url=https://bothsidesofthetable.com/want-to-know-how-to-join-one-of-the-country-s-most-successful-vc-fund-409f2b8341cc|title=Want to Know How to Join One of the Country's Most Successful VC Fund?|date=2015-06-24|work=Both Sides of the Table|access-date=2018-04-08}} In 2015, Mazzeo led a $25mm fund raised by Lowercase.{{Cite web|url=https://techcrunch.com/2014/06/10/lowercase-capital-is-raising-a-new-25m-fund/|title=Lowercase Capital Is Raising A New $25M Fund, Led By Matt Mazzeo – TechCrunch|website=techcrunch.com|date=10 June 2014 |language=en-US|access-date=2018-04-08}}
In April 2017, Chris Sacca announced that the firm would cease to raise further capital from new investors or invest in new companies, but would continue to support its existing portfolio.{{Cite web|title=Investor Chris Sacca is retiring from venture capital|url=https://techcrunch.com/2017/04/26/investor-chris-sacca-is-retiring-from-venture-capital/|access-date=2020-06-07|website=TechCrunch|date=26 April 2017 |language=en-US}}
Investments
Lowercase provides capital and advisory services to seed-stage startups and growth-stage companies. Among the companies Lowercase has invested in that have gone public or been acquired are Twitter, Instagram, Twilio, Facebook, and Uber. Well-known private companies in the Lowercase portfolio include Stripe, Docker, Optimizely, Kickstarter, WordPress, Medium, and Lookout. After 2017, Lowercase investments include Tala, Toymail, Lumi, Joymode, Nurx, Mark43, Makespace, Gimlet Media, Hatch Baby, and Wizeline.
Lowercase was active in 2017 in demanding the resignation of former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick following accusations of misconduct within Uber.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/21/technology/uber-travis-kalanick-final-hours.html|title = Inside Travis Kalanick's Resignation as Uber's C.E.O.|newspaper = The New York Times|date = 22 June 2017|last1 = Isaac|first1 = Mike}}
Its investments also included 9GAG,{{Cite web|url=https://angel.co/sacca|title=Lowercase Chris Sacca|website=AngelList|access-date=2019-06-06}} Automattic,{{cn|date=October 2021}} Chartbeat,{{cn|date=October 2021}} Dubsmash,{{cn|date=October 2021}} Flirtey,{{cn|date=October 2021}} Lumi,{{cn|date=October 2021}} Noun Project,{{cn|date=October 2021}} Optimizely,{{Cite web|url=https://techcrunch.com/2014/06/10/lowercase-capital-is-raising-a-new-25m-fund/|title=Lowercase Capital Is Raising A New $25M Fund, Led By Matt Mazzeo|website=TechCrunch|date=10 June 2014 |language=en-US|access-date=2019-12-06}} Poll Everywhere,{{Cite web|url=https://www.cbinsights.com/company/poll-everywhere|title=Poll Everywhere - CB Insights|website=www.cbinsights.com|language=en-US|access-date=2019-12-06}} Ranker,{{Cite web|url=https://techcrunch.com/2013/06/27/ranker-2-million/|title=Ranker, "The World's Ranking Platform," Raises $2M From Lowercase And Others|website=TechCrunch|date=27 June 2013 |language=en-US|access-date=2019-12-06}} Slack,{{cn|date=October 2021}} Streak,{{cn|date=October 2021}} Stripe,{{Cite web|url=https://www.cbinsights.com/research/lowercase-capital-teardown/|title=Lowercase Capital Teardown|date=2015-05-03|website=CB Insights Research|language=en-US|access-date=2019-12-10}} Uber,{{Cite web|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/rachelsandler/2019/05/10/uber-ipo-winners-kalanick-graves/|title=Uber IPO: Here's Who Stood To Get Big Payouts|last=Sandler|first=Rachel|website=Forbes|language=en|access-date=2019-12-17}} Urban Airship,{{Cite web|url=https://fortune.com/2011/10/31/ma-21/|title=M&A|website=Fortune|language=en|access-date=2019-12-17}} Veggie Grill,{{Cite web|url=https://www.vcnewsdaily.com/fundedcompanylist/vwxyzYour|title=Funded Companies List - Venture Capital and Private Equity Financings - VC News Daily|website=www.vcnewsdaily.com|access-date=2019-12-20}} and Webshots.{{Cite web|url=https://pitchbook.com/profiles/company/99337-15|title=Webshots(Acquired) Company Profile: Acquisition & Investors {{!}} PitchBook|website=pitchbook.com|language=en|access-date=2019-12-20}}
References
{{reflist}}