Base10 Partners launches $137 million early-stage AI startup fund

Base10 Partners today announced the launch of a $137 million fund to invest in early-stage startups that will use AI to change industries by empowering workers instead of automating them out of jobs. The prime directive of the debut fund will be to back companies in industries like real estate, construction, waste management, and logistics -- what managing partner Adeyemi Ajao calls "automation for the real economy" and "solving problems for 99 percent of people." Base10 Partners was created in 2017 by Ajao and cofounder TJ Nahigian, a company spokesperson told VentureBeat in an email. With Ajao as managing director, Base10 is one of the first venture-backed funds with a black managing director to raise more than $100 million in its first fund. Prominent investment funds recently created by people of African descent include the $100 million New Voices Fund from Richelieu Dennis and Arlan Hamilton's Backstage Capital, which raised $36 million earlier this year to back underrepresented founders, particularly black women.