Chris Sacca

Chris Sacca is an American venture investor and founder of Lowercase Capital, known for early investments in Twitter, Uber, and Instagram, and for his roles at Google and as a guest shark on Shark Tank.

Chris Sacca (born May 12, 1975) is an American venture investor, company advisor, entrepreneur, and lawyer. He is best known as the proprietor of Lowercase Capital, a venture capital fund that made early-stage investments in companies such as Twitter, Uber, Instagram, Twilio, and Kickstarter. These investments placed him at No. 2 on Forbes' Midas List of top tech investors in 2017. Sacca also held several positions at Google, where he led the alternative access and wireless divisions and worked on mergers and acquisitions. Between 2015 and 2020, he appeared as a guest shark on ABC's Shark Tank. After announcing his retirement from venture investing in early 2017, Sacca returned to the field in 2021 with a focus on climate issues.

Early life and education

Sacca was born on May 12, 1975, and raised in Lockport, a suburb of Buffalo, New York. His father was an attorney, and his mother was a professor at SUNY Buffalo State. He is of Irish and Italian descent, with family origins in Calabria, Italy. His brother is actor Brian Sacca. Sacca attended the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, spending semesters abroad in Ecuador, Ireland, and Spain. He graduated cum laude in 1997 with a B.S. in foreign service. He then earned a Juris Doctor cum laude in law and technology from Georgetown in 2000. During law school, he was known for throwing an annual keg party where entry required classmates to contribute their class notes.

Early career and Google

Sacca began his career in 2000 as an associate at Fenwick & West in Silicon Valley, handling venture capital, mergers, acquisitions, and licensing for technology clients including Macromedia, VeriSign, and Kleiner Perkins. He was laid off in September 2001 and spent months freelancing as a contract drafter and voice-over artist before landing at Speedera Networks in May 2002.

In November 2003, Sacca joined Google as corporate counsel, reporting to General Counsel David Drummond. His first mandate was to secure large amounts of data space by negotiating agreements worldwide. He later served as Head of Special Initiatives, leading the alternative access and wireless divisions, and worked on projects such as the 700 MHz and TV white spaces spectrum initiatives, Google's data center in Oregon, and the free citywide WiFi network in Mountain View, California. He also led many business development and M&A transactions and was on the founding team of Google's New Business Development organization. He was among the first employees to receive the Founders' Award, the company's highest honor.

Angel investing and Lowercase Capital

While at Google, Sacca began angel investing. His first investment was in Photobucket, later sold to News Corp in 2007. His second was in Twitter; he invested $25,000 in 2006 and registered as the 102nd user. He participated in a $5 million financing round in late 2007 and created four separate funds to buy Twitter shares. Sacca left Google in December 2007 after fully vesting.

In 2007, Sacca moved to Truckee, California, near Lake Tahoe, where he hosted entrepreneurs including Travis Kalanick. He raised a new fund with investors such as Brad Feld, Marissa Mayer, Eric Schmidt, and JPMorgan Chase's Digital Growth Fund. In 2010, he founded Lowercase Capital and closed an $8.4 million seed fund with investments in Uber, Docker, Optimizely, StyleSeat, Instagram, and Twitter. By February 2011, his funds had purchased about $400 million worth of Twitter shares, a stake of roughly 9 percent. When Twitter went public in late 2013, his affiliated funds owned almost 18 percent of the company, valuing his investment at around $1 billion.

Later career and public appearances

Sacca appeared as a guest shark on ABC's Shark Tank from 2015 to 2020. In early 2017, he announced his retirement from venture investing, but in 2021 he returned with a focus on climate issues. His portfolio also included non-tech companies such as Blue Bottle Coffee Company and a high-end restaurant in Truckee. Sacca was known for his hands-on involvement with portfolio companies, attending meetings at Twitter and Uber and negotiating the rights for Uber.com from Universal Music Group.

Legacy and influence

Sacca's early bets on social media and on-demand platforms helped define the modern venture landscape. His approach combined deep personal engagement with a willingness to take large, concentrated positions in early-stage companies. His success at Twitter, in particular, demonstrated the potential of secondary-market purchases as an investment strategy. After returning to investing, he shifted his attention to climate-focused startups, reflecting a broader trend among tech investors toward sustainability.