Seed-stage VC, US
Basis Set Ventures
Venture capital firm · San Francisco · Founded June 2017
Quick read
Basis Set Ventures is an AI-focused seed and Series A venture firm founded in June 2017 and headquartered in San Francisco, CA. It backs early-stage companies using AI to automate workflows, scale infrastructure, and improve enterprise productivity, writing seed checks of $2M–$3M with 50% reserves for follow-on. The firm closed its $250M Fund IV in January 2026 and manages over $850M in cumulative AUM.
Key facts
- Founded
- June 2017
- Founders
- Lan Xuezhao
- Employees
- 10-50
- Sectors
- ai, enterprise, saas, devtools
- Website
- www.basisset.com
Investment thesis
Basis Set backs early-stage (pre-seed through Series A) companies using AI to automate enterprise workflows, scale infrastructure, and power intelligent collaboration — investing at the earliest moment with $2M–$3M seed checks and reserving 50% of each fund for follow-on.
Recent activity
- Jan 2026fundraiseBasis Set closed Fund IV at $250M, bringing total AUM to $850M. Foundry and Melinda French Gates' Pivotal Ventures are publicly named LPs. The firm described the vehicle as capital for pre-narrative, pre-category bets alongside independent-thinking founders. basisset.com
- Jun 2026pressPartner Chang Xu appeared at TechCrunch's StrictlyVC evening in Los Angeles, speaking about AI investment strategy as the firm invests out of Fund IV with nearly $1B in AUM. cbinsights.com
- Jun 2026investmentPortfolio exit: Entendre exited on June 22, 2026 — Basis Set's ninth portfolio exit to date. cbinsights.com
- Jun 2026investmentTomo raised $5M in a seed round led by Bain Capital Ventures, with Basis Set participating alongside Conviction and angel investors. tracxn.com
- May 2026investmentBasata raised a $21M Series A led by Basis Set founder Lan Xuezhao, with co-investors including Aileen Lee of Cowboy Ventures and Victoria Treyger. tipranks.com
- Apr 2026investmentDaydream raised $15M in a Series A round with Basis Set participating. tipranks.com
- Feb 2026investmentQuill raised $6.5M, with Basis Set participating alongside 500 Global and others. tracxn.com
- Jul 2026investmentNeion Bio announced a $23M Series A led by Caffeinated Capital, with Basis Set deepening its relationship as a follow-on investor. Neion engineers chickens to produce biologic proteins for domestic medicine supply chains. linkedin.com
- 2026investmentBasis Set led the seed round for Alien platform, a $5M raise co-backed by Jibe Ventures and angels from OpenAI, Google, and Databricks. x.com
- 2026investmentBasis Set participated in PgDog's $5.5M seed round alongside Y Combinator and Pioneer Fund. PgDog is a Postgres connection pooler, load balancer, and database sharder. x.com
- 2026investmentLan Xuezhao led Basata's $21M Series A, joined by Aileen Lee of Cowboy Ventures and other investors. linkedin.com
- 2026investmentPortfolio company Entendre AI was acquired by MoonPay. Basis Set had led Entendre's first round. linkedin.com
Notable investments
- Neion BioSeries AJul 2026linkedin.com
- TomoSeedJun 2026tracxn.com
- BasataSeries AMay 2026tipranks.com
- DaydreamSeries AApr 2026tipranks.com
- FlintSeries AApr 2026tipranks.com
- QuillSeedFeb 2026tracxn.com
- Synthetic OverallSeed2026tracxn.com
- AlienSeed ($5M)2026x.com
- PgDogSeed ($5.5M)2026x.com
- BasataSeries A ($21M)2026linkedin.com
- RasaSeries C ($30M)2026linkedin.com
- Entendre AISeed (led by Basis Set; acquired by MoonPay)2026linkedin.com
Key people
Named individuals at the firm. We don't expose direct email or phone — use their LinkedIn for outreach.
- Lan Xuezhao · Founder & Managing Partner
- John Mannes · Partner
- Chang Xu · Partner
- Rachel Wong · CTO & Partner
- Ingrid Chen · Controller
Sources
- Basis Set Ventures — Official Website
- Basis Set Ventures — Wikipedia
- Basis Set Ventures — PitchBook
- Basis Set Ventures — Crunchbase
- Basis Set Ventures — Investment Thesis & Preferences
- Basis Set Ventures — Tracxn
- Venture Unlocked — Lan Xuezhao Interview
- https://x.com/BasisSet
- https://www.tipranks.com/private-companies/investor/basis-set-ventures
- https://startupintros.com/orgs/basis-set-ventures
- https://www.linkedin.com/company/basis-set
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/ingrid-chen-a48b1b10/
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/wilsonkyi
- https://www.basisset.com/insights/announcing-our-250m-fund-iv
- https://www.cbinsights.com/investor/basis-set-ventures
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Frequently asked
What is Basis Set Ventures?+
Basis Set Ventures is an AI-focused seed and Series A venture firm founded in June 2017 and headquartered in San Francisco, CA. It backs early-stage companies using AI to automate workflows, scale infrastructure, and improve enterprise productivity, writing seed checks of $2M–$3M with 50% reserves for follow-on.
Where is Basis Set Ventures headquartered?+
Basis Set Ventures is headquartered in San Francisco, United States.
When was Basis Set Ventures founded?+
Basis Set Ventures was founded in June 2017 by Lan Xuezhao.
What sectors does Basis Set Ventures invest in?+
Basis Set Ventures focuses on ai, enterprise, saas, devtools. They primarily invest in these sectors.
How do I prepare for a meeting with Basis Set Ventures?+
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