Lan Xuezhao

Lan Xuezhao is an American entrepreneur and venture capitalist. She is best known for founding Basis Set Ventures, a San Francisco–based venture capital firm that was one of the earliest to focus on early-stage artificial intelligence and automation startups. She has a research background with academic contributions on cognitive sciences. Her most cited work was published in the journal Science.

Early life and education Xuezhao earned a M.A. in Statistics (2008) and a Ph.D. in Psychology (2009) from the University of Michigan. Her doctoral research focused on quantitative cognitive science, and she has published findings in leading academic journals, including Science.

Career After completing her Ph.D., Xuezhao founded a startup developing brain-training games for children, which was later acquired. She subsequently worked at McKinsey & Company as an engagement manager. In 2013, she joined Dropbox, leading the Corporate Development Strategy team and overseeing mergers and acquisitions strategy.

In 2017, Xuezhao founded Basis Set Ventures (BSV), a venture capital firm that invests in AI and automation-focused startups. She launched the firm with over a hundred million in funding, emphasizing a data-driven approach to venture investing. BSV developed internal tools such as the AI system “Pascal” for sourcing potential startups and the HyperGrowth platform to connect portfolio companies with mentors.

Under Xuezhao’s leadership, BSV expanded with subsequent funds of $165 million (2021), $185 million (2023) and $250 million (2026), bringing total assets under management to over $850 million. The firm invests primarily in AI-driven enterprise software and infra-first consumer companies. Notable portfolio companies include Scale AI, Path Robotics, Workstream, Ergeon, Quince, Cusp and Drata.

Recognition In 2024, Lan Xuezhao was named among the top “Seed 40” women early-stage investors.

In academia, she serves on the advisory board of the University of Michigan School of Information, mentoring students and advising on AI and data science research. In 2026, Lan was named to Business Insider's "Seed 40," a ranking of the best female early-stage VC investors selected via a proprietary "Moneyball for VC" AI model.