San Francisco-based venture capital firm Base10 Partners has raised $850 million in new capital, bringing assets under management to $2.6 billion.
Co-founded by Adeyemi Ajao and TJ Nahigian, the firm is known for investing in companies that apply AI and automation to industries such as logistics, financial services, transportation, and operations.
The milestone follows Base10’s earlier distinction as the first Black-led venture capital firm to surpass $1 billion in assets under management.
Base10 launched its first fund in 2018 around a thesis many investors considered too narrow. When Ajao described the firm as focused on Applied AI for the Real Economy, limited partners pushed back on the framing.
Base10 ultimately marketed the strategy as Automation for the Real Economy, but the underlying thesis remained unchanged.
Institutional Capital Backs the Strategy
The $850 million is structured across two vehicles: a seed and Series A fund and a separate Series B fund. Commitments came from endowments, pensions, sovereign wealth funds, and other institutional investors.
New limited partners include the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund. Previous investors have included the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, Howard University, and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
The mix of pension, endowment, and institutional capital reflects growing confidence in the firm’s investment strategy and long-term performance.
Investing in the Real Economy
Portfolio companies across Base10’s funds include Nubank, Brex, Instacart, Notion, Motive, WeTravel, Blank Street, Lexroom, and HappyRobot. The common thread is the application of software and automation to large existing industries, including financial services, logistics, hospitality, workforce management, and transportation.
Ajao recently reflected on the firm’s approach, arguing that many of Base10’s strongest investments emerged from sectors Silicon Valley had largely ignored. Rather than focusing solely on the infrastructure behind AI, Base10 built its strategy around founders applying technology to industries that already represented significant portions of the global economy.
The approach is reflected in companies such as WeTravel, which digitized operations for travel advisors, Nubank’s challenge to traditional banking in Brazil, HappyRobot’s automation tools for freight dispatchers, and Blank Street’s technology-enabled expansion from a single coffee cart to an international retail footprint.
Purpose as Part of the Strategy
Through the Advancement Initiative, Base10 and its managing partners have committed to donate 50% of carried interest from select funds to organizations expanding access to technology and entrepreneurship.
At $2.6 billion in assets under management, Base10 now ranks among the largest Black-led venture capital firms globally.
The milestone expands the track record available to institutional investors evaluating Black-led fund managers and demonstrates how a differentiated investment thesis can compound over multiple fund cycles.
