With $1.3B under management 3 years after debut, Base10 Partners Becomes First Black-led VC to Cross $1B Assets Under Management

Firm announces third fund at $460M dedicated to Seed and Series A investments

SAN FRANCISCO, April 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ --  Base10 Partners, the world's largest Black-led venture capital fund, announces today that it has closed a new $460M fund for early stage investments—its largest fund to date. Base10 raised $760M in 2021, including the firm's now $300M growth stage fund, The Advancement Initiative, that donates 50% of carried interest to Historically Black Colleges & Universities (HBCUs) to create student scholarships and support university endowments.

The firm has kept its focus on its original thesis around automation of the largest sectors of the Real Economy, keeping concentrated portfolios of about only 25 companies per fund in three to four core sectors that the firm considers "global megatrends." Since inception Base10 has invested more than 60% of its capital in just four trends: Food, Retail, Logistics and Global Fintech. Notable existing investments include Figma (Series E), Notion (that most recently raised at a $10B valuation), Handshake (Series F), Aurora Solar (that most recently raised $200M led by Coatue), Popmenu (that most recently raised a $65M Series C), Shelf (that raised a $52M Series B co-led by Insight Partners and Tiger Global), Nowports (most recently raised a $60M Series B), and Chili Piper (that raised a recent $33M Series B).

"Base10's strong reputation investing in the worldwide logistics industry, as well as in Latin America regionally, made them an obvious partner for us when we brought them on for our Series Seed back in 2019," said Alfonso de los Rios, co-founder and CEO of Nowports. "Ade and TJ's experience as founders themselves has made their support invaluable while we have navigated several new rounds of funding and accelerated growth. We're so excited to see Ade, TJ, and the Base10 team continue their firm's expansion."

"Despite it being heavily oversubscribed, we partnered with Base10 in our Series C round because we loved the Advancement Initiative's mission. Since then, we have been really impressed with the team and the resources that Base10 has put at our disposal: through various Base10 programs we are hiring several interns across our organization, and we have turned to Base10 for advice on important personnel matters," said Samuel Adeyemo, co-founder of Aurora Solar. "We are fortunate to count several of Silicon Valley's top tier VCs as investors, and Base10 is up there amongst them in terms of value provided."

While Base10 is minority-led, the firm does not operate minority-focused funds but rather just focuses on finding and investing in the best entrepreneurs all over the world solving problems for the 99%. The firm follows a data-driven approach to identifying the most interesting trends and companies through its Base11 proprietary software and publishes its work on its research portal. The portfolio reflects this global mindset: Although the firm is based in San Francisco, more than half of the portfolio is headquartered outside Silicon Valley and more than 60% of founders in the Base10 portfolio are minorities.

"Doing this job every day is a privilege and we are truly grateful for the continued trust our investors have placed in our growing team that allows us to keep working in what we love. It truly is a lot of fun!" said Ade Ajao, co-founder and Managing Partner of Base10. "We have the honor of working with the best founders in the world, solving problems that impact all of us at a time when we all really need it, and we wouldn't want to be doing anything else."

About Base10 Partners
Founded by Adeyemi Ajao and TJ Nahigian, Base10 is a San Francisco-based venture capital fund investing in founders that believe purpose is key profits and are automating sectors of the Real Economy, including transportation, healthcare, retail, logistics, and construction. The Advancement Initiative, Base10's growth-stage fund, donates 50% of profits as scholarships to Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Portfolio companies include Notion, Figma, FTX, Nubank, Nowports, KeepTruckin, Chili Piper, and Popmenu. Connect via base10.vc.

SOURCE KCPR