Base10 Partners, a US-based venture capital firm co-founded by Adeyemi Ajao, formerly head of corporate venturing unit Workday Ventures, has raised $137m for its first fund, TechCrunch has reported.
Founded in January 2017, Base10 focuses on seed and series A rounds in which it invests between $500,000 and $5m per deal. It targets startups working on technology with potential mass market adoption that makes effective use of artificial intelligence.
Ajao is one of two managing partners at Base10, the other being TJ Nahigian, an investor at investment manager Coatue Management who went on to co-found mobile recruitment platform Jobr before it was acquired by human resources firm Monster in 2016.
Ajao led the formation of Workday Ventures, the corporate VC arm of enterprise software producer Workday, in 2015, the year after Workday had acquired social media analytics technology developer Identified, which he had co-founded as CEO.
During his two-year-stint at Workday, which lasted until September 2016, Ajao was vice-president of product and strategy for the firm.
Base10 has partnerships in place with VC firms and funds Fifth Wall Ventures, Bain Capital, Bessemer Venture Partners, Owl Ventures and Ribbit Capital. It has made 10 investments according to TechCrunch, and backed a $63m round for scooter and bike rental service Yellow last week.