Basis Set is an early stage venture capital fund based in San Francisco, California. Basis Set invests in founders that are scaling human potential with artificial intelligence. We are builders and operators who believe artificial intelligence delivers core value by improving productivity for all parts of the economy; from factories to offices.
Founders are the rarest and most important ingredients in company success. Yet for all their importance, they are most often misunderstood. We’ve taken a data-driven research approach to unpacking the founder psychology traits that are most predictive of founder success.
We value clarity of thinking, strong execution and steep learning curves. Like you, we want to get to the truth as efficiently as possible, regardless of how much it challenges our beliefs. We gravitate towards founders who forge their advantage from their unique spikes, while being self-aware of their blindspots. We’re constantly shipping and iterating and we respect fellow builders and tinkerers obsessed with pushing the latest tools and research to their limits. Interested in learning more about our founder psychology research? Start here.
We invest in artificial intelligence and founders harnessing it to improve productivity across all sectors of the economy. We take the long view that AI is the single most transformative force shaping the 21st century. We founded the firm in 2017 in the early days of deep learning with this core belief. We have not wavered in this thesis and we do not plan to. The transformative change we foresaw years ago is occurring at a breakneck pace. This moment demands builders capable of shaping the influence of AI with their vision and sheer force of will. Their work will influence the world and be appreciated for decades to come.
We invest from the lowest level scalable infrastructure up through vertical applications in intelligent collaboration in the office, automated workflows in industry and fully autonomous machines that are the stuff of dreams. Check out our current portfolio companies to learn more.
Our process is your process. We empathize deeply with the undesirable distraction that a fundraise can be for the strongest founders who are product and customer obsessed. We strive to meet founders where they are in accommodating their timelines and being willing to invest independently of others and irregardless of lagging indicators like revenue or logos. It’s never too early to start building the relationship, reach out to any of us anytime!
We believe the best way to find and support AI companies is by being one ourselves. We are an AI-native firm built on a modern machine learning stack, including the latest foundation models and our own portfolio of tools like Parasail, Tigris, Spice AI, and Simular. We are your first customer, sales rep, bug reporter, recruiter and more.
Investments are built on emotional trust and we owe you our complete conviction and unwavering support. We care about our founders as people and want to support them in their success, in all interconnected aspects of life. We are your 24/7 concierge. Beyond the intangibles, here are a few of the resources we have built to support our founders.
Basis Set invests in pre-seed through Series A businesses with checks ranging from as little as a few hundred thousand to over $9 million dollars. Most commonly, Basis Set leads or co-leads pre-seed and seed rounds with investments typically ranging between $1 million and $3 million dollars for 10%-15% ownership.
Yes, we are actively making new investments. We manage approximately $600 million in assets across three funds. We are currently investing out of our third fund. It is a $185 million dollar fund.
We care more about being right than appearing right. We prioritize clarity over consensus and value evidence over ego. We embrace tough questions, revise our beliefs when presented with new data. Intellectual honesty is our compass — we pursue the truth even when it’s uncomfortable.
Our best mentors are genuine, direct, and empathetic. We listen attentively, speak candidly, and treat others respectfully. We ask questions and work collaboratively to solve issues and don’t pretend we know everything, or anything. We don’t let formality get in the way of progress.
We drive for highest-quality and remarkable results. We match the urgency and high expectations of our entrepreneurs. We understand the value of time and prioritize open feedback, early.
Do the homework, follow it through, make things happen. We believe in aligning incentives and operating based on shared goals and commitment. We get involved proactively, willingly, and in defiance of levels or limits.
Long-term success is more valuable than short-term spikes. We dive deep because the details matter, and we want to understand them. We act on behalf of our startups, not ourselves. We benchmark ourselves and our teams against the best.
We are open and receptive to “crazy” ideas. We are curious about and actively explore new possibilities. We value calculated risk-taking. We analyze “outliers” and “departure from the data” to understand why.
Kurt is Vice President of Design at Adobe, where he leads teams focusing on collaboration, asset management, sharing, search, AI assistants, community, education, support, home experiences, and Adobe.com. Prior to Adobe, Kurt served as VP of Design at Frame.io, which Adobe acquired for $1.3 billion in 2021. His career also includes leadership roles at Dropbox, Shyp, and design agencies. Kurt has been an advisor to Basis Set since its inception, a connection that first started at Dropbox where he met Lan.
Kurt grew up in rural Pennsylvania with working-class parents. His father was a mail carrier, and his mother a secretary. He was the first of his family to receive a college education, earning a BS in Industrial Engineering. Kurt started his career as a Flight Test Engineer for the U.S. Air Force but quickly realized government employment was not a comprehensive representation of his life.
After one short year, and without much of a plan, he quit to pursue a career in the tech industry. This moment was the start of a wild journey that, at one point, included him living in his car. Through a mix of extreme passion, hard work, and luck, Kurt eventually found his path to success. The journey was difficult and filled with risks, but in hindsight, Kurt wouldn’t trade it for the world.
Sheila Vashee is the Chief Marketing Officer at Figma, where she leads the marketing, communications, brand design, growth, and support teams. Prior to Figma, Sheila was the VP of Growth at Opendoor, where she was responsible for growth across the buyer and seller marketplace. She took Opendoor from 4 to 21 markets and billions in GMV in a few years. Prior to that, she was the second marketing hire at Dropbox, where she helped 12x the Dropbox user base to 600M users and >$1 billion in revenue.
Sheila has always loved the intersection of math and creativity, pursuing a degree in Economics at Stanford, while also taking classes in art and technology. She started her career as an investment banker at Morgan Stanley, but a little over a year into her time there, she left to pursue more adventure in her career, taking roles in retail, strategy, and finally landing in a marketing role at Apple, which she held during graduate school.
A first generation Indian American, Sheila draws strength and resilience from her roots and culture, giving her a strong work ethic, a deep love of family, and a commitment to the betterment of her community. In her downtime, Sheila enjoys spending time with her kids, doing puzzles and brain teasers, and studying European history.
Luke is the founder and CEO of Spice AI, a VC-backed startup in the Pacific Northwest that creates technology to make artificial intelligence and machine learning more accessible to developers. Before founding Spice AI, Luke was the founding manager and co-creator of Azure Incubations at Microsoft where he led cross-functional engineering teams to create and develop technologies like Dapr.
Eduardo Fonseca is a technologist, entrepreneur, board member and startup advisor with over 25 years of experience in software engineering and 15+ years in leadership roles. As the former CTO of GoodRx, Eduardo grew the team from 7 to 120+ across engineering, data, compliance, QA, security and more, helping take the company from its early days through to a successful IPO. He led the due diligence and integration of multiple acquisitions, implemented a complete architectural transformation, and ensured compliance with key regulations, including HIPAA, PCI, and SOC 2.
Eduardo’s expertise spans the full stack, from hardware and firmware to software, and from consumer mobile apps to large-scale infrastructure managing terabytes of data. He has built computer vision models for real-time image segmentation, NLP models for conversational interfaces, optimized systems for resource-constrained embedded devices, and developed technology for regulated industries. Eduardo was one of the tech leaders that advised the White House on COVID-19 vaccination efforts.
At Basis Set, Eduardo works closely with founders to navigate product development, scaling, compliance, and technical challenges, drawing on his deep technical and operational expertise.
A private pilot and aviation enthusiast, Eduardo is currently building Aboard AI, a platform leveraging machine learning to create actionable insights from real-time flight data. His passion for innovation and impact continues to drive his work with startups and founders alike.
Catherine is the former Chief Business Officer at Automattic, the company behind WordPress. She built and ran the company’s revenue-generating functions, driving an increase in the company’s valuation from $1B to $7.5B. While at the company, she led the acquisition and integration of five companies including Tumblr and WooCommerce. Catherine also served as the Chief Operating Officer at Shippo, a shipping software company backed by Bessemer, during their growth from a $280M valuation to $1.25B. She previously led teams at Facebook, Penguin Random House, and McKinsey.
As Board and Venture Partner, she helps Basis Set’s portfolio companies find product-market fit and grow revenue. Catherine has advised at the board and executive level with companies including DyDx, Hologram, and Aledade. As an investor, Catherine has written angel checks into companies such as Oura Ring, Honey Homes, Ergeon, Galileo and more.
Catherine has played violin for tips on the streets of New York, London, and Philadelphia. While an undergraduate, Catherine conducted Yale’s string orchestra. She now teaches her four year old son how to play Twinkle Twinkle. One day, she aspires to potty train her toddler.
Seb is a tech entrepreneur who started and was CEO of Farmwise, a category defining company that successfully pioneered robotics application in the real world by bringing deep learning based vision systems to farming machines. He grew the team to about 100 people and raised more than $80m before moving to a non-executive chairman role in 2023. His product has been featured in the TIME best innovation of the year list and he was recognized in the MIT 35 under 35 innovators and Forbes 30 under 30 list (without making it to prison!).
Seb studied theoretical math at Ecole Polytechnique in France before moving to Cambridge to study Computer Science at MIT where he worked on predicting success of online students using behavioral data. He worked as a mathematician for IBM (on traffic congestion) and a data scientist for Facebook (on data-driven UI design) before starting Farmwise when he was 24. Seb is on the board of directors of series A and B startups in robotics, fintech and gaming, advises a number of companies such (incl Mistral AI, LLMs) and is a Technical advisor for BSV, providing hands on help to BSV founders on topics ranging from fundraising, AI, hiring and managing of engineering team.
He grew up swimming competitively and spent a year as an officer in the French Navy (during which he avoided being in a situation where he had to put his swimming skills to use, fortunately). From his year spent living on a remote french island in the middle of the pacific ocean he kept a deep passion for the ocean and can be often seen on or around Ocean beach in San Francisco.
Lisa manages events and community operations. She draws on her diverse experience and organizational expertise to create events and opportunities that bring people together, fostering a sense of belonging and collaboration. Lisa believes in creating environments where individuals connect and thrive together.
Ingrid serves as the Head of Finance, bringing 20 years of experience in accounting, finance, and venture capital. She brings a hands-on approach to helping founders navigate challenges and scale their businesses. Her perspective is shaped by a deep understanding of how operations and finance come together to drive growth — a skill she developed early, working in her family’s small businesses.
Ingrid’s career spans accounting and finance roles at Ernst & Young, a seed-stage startup, big tech at Cisco, and venture capital including Trident Capital and Accel, giving her a unique ability to support businesses across industries and growth stages. She believes the best businesses are built by founders with grit, creativity, and a willingness to rethink what’s possible.
Ingrid earned her degree in accounting from the University of Southern California and she holds a CPA license. She’s an adventurer at heart, currently on a mission to visit all seven modern wonders of the world (three down, four to go). Outside of work, she enjoys experimenting with new recipes, spending time with friends and family, and finding creative inspiration in the process of building something from scratch.
Jennifer has over 13 years of experience advising on VC financings and M&A, guiding technology startups, and collaborating with boards, founders, and executives on legal and business matters. She began her legal career as a summer associate and rose to partner at the global law firm DLA Piper, where she co-chaired the firm’s Corporate Venture Capital practice.
Jennifer holds a degree in Political Science from UC Berkeley, along with a JD and MBA from Santa Clara University. This combination of legal and business training, coupled with her experience representing both startups and investors, enables her to offer high-impact advice that supports growth and innovation across the venture capital and startup ecosystem.
A third-generation San Franciscan, Jennifer draws inspiration from her great-great-grandfather, who immigrated in the 1860s to work on the transcontinental railroad. His grit and perseverance continue to fuel Jennifer’s own commitment to hard work and long-term success.
Jennifer is a lifelong learner, seeking growth through travel, food, and discovering smarter ways to work and live.
Wilson focuses on vertical AI applications. Previously, he was an operator who started new business lines and helped scale global companies through IPO.
At Square, Wilson helped scale the growth and retention team and built an internal marketing product to retain enterprise accounts and 2+ million customers processing $50B payment volume. At DiDi, he was a founding member of their global food delivery product, which scaled to hundreds of millions of gross bookings. At Cloudkitchens, he was a founding member and GM for mobile kitchens and he acquired businesses to drive retail expansion.
Wilson experienced the leadership of Jack Dorsey and Travis Kalanick, seeing firsthand how exceptional talent networks are built and scaled. Inspired by the “Square mafia,” today he’s fine-tuning that approach for “AI Mafias” by identifying top builders spinning out of leading AI companies and research labs. He accelerates their learning by sharing his network and lessons from iconic companies’ early days of hiring, building products, and scaling go-to-market.
Growing up in LA, he was inspired by the entrepreneurial grit of his parents. He started Fish Sauce, a podcast sharing the stories of Asian American founders and investors to inspire others to find their own secret sauce. He holds an MBA from Harvard and a BS in Industrial and Systems Engineering from USC, where he advises their school of engineering. He enjoys playing basketball, and while others play for awards, he plays to earn the right to eat too much.
Chang focuses on AI infrastructure and applications. She enjoys diving into ML papers and learning new technologies to envision what markets can be transformed. She cofounded Onion Academy, an edtech startup in China that has since raised $90m, and was the first Product Manager at the Minerva Project — cementing her passion for startups and the creation of innovative products.
A natural builder of mental models, Chang grew up loving math competitions, placing #5 nationally for American Mathematics Competitions (AMC). She built intuition with brute-force methods to uncover patterns, ultimately crafting the most elegant solution. This approach mirrors the startup journey: start with what doesn’t scale, iterate, automate, and dominate. At Harvard, she studied applied math, economics, and computer science. Her thesis on game theory and mechanism design explored multi-agent behavior in meeting scheduling.
In her downtime, Chang enjoys strategy games and once completed a 266-piece, all-white puzzle with her husband during the COVID lockdown — an exercise in persistence and strategy that reflects her view of what it takes to build enduring companies.
Rachel leads a critical half of Basis Set, our engineering team, dedicated to building Pascal.
Rachel studied Statistics and Physical Computing at Carnegie Mellon, where she became fascinated by data’s power to shape real-world decisions and the art of prototyping (experimenting with Arduinos, 3D printers, laser cutters, CAD tools, and VR). Her passion for creating systems from the ground up led her to join a startup, Mimosa Networks (acquired by Airspan), where she was the second data analytics hire. Before joining Basis Set, she partnered with early stage founders at Playground Global, an $800M venture firm.
Rachel grew up in the Bay Area as the child of a San Francisco-native father and an immigrant mother from Hong Kong. Her family owned and operated a Chinese restaurant in Oakland, The Phoenix, where she spent much of her childhood. Watching her family create and grow their small business into a local institution over two decades taught her the value of hard work, perseverance, and the relentless drive needed to pursue a vision. Rachel’s intense drive also stems from a diverse athletic background in ice skating, swimming, and water polo — sports requiring distinctly different skills. She channels her innate competitive spirit into every endeavor, and as co-captain of the water polo team, her leadership propelled the team to their first-ever California Central Coast championship in Gunn High School’s history.
Pascal is Basis Set’s AI partner — think Jarvis from Ironman, but with fewer quips and a much deeper love of numbers. Named after Blaise Pascal, the legendary mathematician, philosopher, and pioneer of probability theory, Pascal tirelessly sifts through mountains of data while humans debate. From predicting trends to uncovering hidden gems in the startup ecosystem, Pascal is the relentless force behind a 100x investor.
Built on cutting-edge AI tooling and the latest foundation models, including contributions from its own portfolio companies like Parasail.io, Pascal supports founders and investors 24/7. All Pascal needs is clean data, the occasional server reboot, and the chance to redefine what’s possible in venture capital.
Lan is an entrepreneur and investor. She founded Basis Set to create universal abundance by uniting the power of machine intelligence with human ingenuity. Since making her first seed investment in Scale in 2016, she has become one of the earliest investors in dozens of startups, often leading their seed rounds. These companies have grown to a total value exceeding $20 billion in a short amount of time.
Lan started her career as a PhD researcher modeling the human brain and publishing in top journals such as Science. She founded a brain training company and later led teams at McKinsey after the company’s exit. After joining Dropbox in 2013, she built and ran the Corporate Development Strategy team. She holds an M.A. in Statistics and a Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Michigan, where she now serves as a board member at the School of Information.
Lan loved climbing up and jumping off literal cliffs around the world — rocks in the ocean in Thailand, frozen waterfalls in Canada, and out of planes mid-sky in New Zealand. These days, she's found an evergreen-rollercoaster in the startup world — founding a firm from scratch and serving as a 24/7 support hotline for early-stage founders. She believes all problems can be solved with rigorous thinking, experimentation, and a little humor.
Many years ago, Lan came to the U.S. with full scholarships, a suitcase and $20 in her pocket after ranking in the top 0.001% at a top school in China.