Base10 Partners raises advancement initiative to grow HBCU endowments and catalyze wealth creation

Despite only debuting in March of this year, the Fund has already completed 8 investments into Attentive, Nubank, Brex, Plaid, Aurora Solar, Wealthsimple, CircleCI, and KeepTruckin. Each of the CEOs personally prioritized taking an investment from the Advancement Initiative in heavily oversubscribed rounds in order to prioritize the mission of wealth creation for underrepresented minority communities. Base10 will create scholarships in the name of each of these portfolio companies to fund the education of HBCU STEM students (i.e. The Plaid Scholarship, The Brex Scholarship, etc.).

Zach Perret, Co-founder and CEO, Plaid: "The Advancement Initiative creates a clear path for us to contribute to the success of underrepresented minority students who will go on to be the leaders and innovators of tomorrow, and we couldn't be more excited to be participating." 

HBCUs are enormously important sources of underrepresented minority talent in the U.S. They confer nearly half of all STEM degrees for African-American students, yet all 107 endowments combined are equal to just 7% of Stanford University's endowment. Importantly, about one-third of the student population come from households under the poverty line. According to the U.S. Government Accountability Office, HBCUs have $15,000 on average in endowment per student. Comparable non-HBCUs have $410,000 on average in endowment per student, demonstrating the comparative disadvantage of HBCU endowments.

Ade Ajao, Co-founder and Managing Partner, Base10: "We have been thinking about where to focus Base10's efforts to do more good through strategic investments, and we believe supporting HBCUs is the most effective way for us to augment underrepresented minority talent in Silicon Valley." 

The Fund's LP base consists of HBCUs with participation from other minority organizations and mission-driven foundations who all serve as part of the engine contributing to augmenting underrepresented talent in the workforce. Notable HBCU limited partners include Howard University, Florida A&M, Hampton University, and Tuskegee University, among others. This is one of the largest commitments ever from HBCUs to a venture capital fund. 

Frank Bello, Chief Investment Officer, Howard University: "With the Advancement Initiative, Base10 has built an outstanding mechanism for HBCUs to grow our endowments and give students previously inaccessible opportunities post-graduation. Howard is thrilled to be partnering with Base10 to continue to increase HBCUs' impact on the black community through wealth creation and improving diversity in the tech industry."

Marcelia Freeman, Member of the Board of Directors, Florida A&M University Foundation: "HBCU endowments have historically had very limited access to venture capital and other direct technology investments. The Advancement Initiative not only creates a hard-to-replicate, direct access point, but helps prioritize HBCUs in such an incredibly competitive asset class. We are so very excited about our partnership with Base10 and about the impact the team can deliver across our precious ecosystem (our students, our alumni, our endowment, etc)."

Notable partners for the Advancement Initiative include MacArthur Foundation, Public Welfare Foundation, Sorenson Impact Foundation, KFF, Silicon Valley Community Foundation, The McGregor Fund, Plexo Capital, The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, Southern New Hampshire University, Bentley University, and the Kapor Foundation.

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