Investor Profile: Basis Set Ventures — Thesis, Cheque Size & How to Apply

Basis Set Ventures is a San Francisco venture firm that has invested in artificial intelligence since 2017, well before AI became the default pitch in almost every boardroom. For founders asking how to get funding from Basis Set Ventures, the key test is whether machine intelligence genuinely transforms how work gets done, in software or in the physical world.

Investment thesis

The thesis is that AI delivers its core value by improving productivity across the whole economy, from factories to offices. Basis Set organises its work around four themes: scalable infrastructure, intelligent collaboration, automated workflows and autonomous machines. It looks for founders using machine intelligence to change how work is performed, not for companies adding a thin AI feature to an unchanged product.

Sectors and stages

Sectors include AI infrastructure, AI applications, robotics, enterprise software, fintech and the future of work. Stage focus runs from pre-seed through Series A, with a primary emphasis on seed. Geography is principally the United States, and the firm is headquartered in San Francisco, although some databases also list a Menlo Park address.

Fund size and cheque size

Basis Set announced a $165M second fund in April 2021, a $185M third fund in February 2024, and a $250M Fund IV in January 2026. Reported assets under management were about $850 million in 2026. For Fund IV, Dealroom reporting describes typical initial cheques of $2M to $3M, with capacity up to $10M.

Notable portfolio

Names on the firm's portfolio page include Assembled, a workforce management platform for customer support, Path Robotics, an AI driven welding and manufacturing company, Quince, a home goods company, Nuro, a pioneer in AI first autonomy for mobility, DataGrail, a privacy management platform, Elicit, an AI research assistant, and Parasail, a faster GPU cloud service.

Partners and team

The firm was founded in 2017 by Lan Xuezhao, formerly head of corporate development at Dropbox, who holds a master's degree in statistics and a doctorate in psychology from the University of Michigan.

Programs and perks

Named programmes include Basis Set AI Fellows, through which fellows work on hard AI problems inside the firm and at high growth portfolio companies. The firm also promotes a 24/7 founder concierge team and says it acts as a first customer, sales representative, bug reporter and recruiter for founders.

How to apply for funding

Basis Set does not publish a single public pitch portal that could be verified for this profile, so founders should not assume an online form is the route in. The realistic route is the firm's website, basisset.com, plus a warm introduction from a founder, operator or investor the team trusts.