BLACKROCK FUNDS (Form: N-CSR, Received: 04/05/2021 12:57:31)

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM N-CSR

CERTIFIED SHAREHOLDER REPORT OF REGISTERED MANAGEMENT

INVESTMENT COMPANIES

Investment Company Act file number: 811-05742

Name of Fund:

BlackRock Funds

BlackRock Real Estate Securities Fund

Fund Address:

100 Bellevue Parkway, Wilmington, DE 19809

Name and address of agent for service: John M. Perlowski, Chief Executive Officer, BlackRock Funds,
55 East 52^nd Street, New York, NY 10055

Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: (800) 441-7762

Date of fiscal year end: 1/31/2021

Date of reporting period: 1/31/2021

Item 1 – Report to Stockholders

(a) The Report to Shareholders is attached herewith.


		JANUARY 31, 2021

2021 Annual Report

BlackRock Funds^SM

BlackRock Real Estate Securities Fund

Not FDIC Insured • May Lose Value • No Bank Guarantee

The Markets in Review

Dear Shareholder,

The 12-month reporting period as of January 31, 2021 has been a time of sudden change, as the emergence and spread of the coronavirus (or “COVID-19”) led to a vast disruption in the global economy and financial markets. The threat from the virus became increasingly apparent throughout February and March 2020, and countries around the world took economically disruptive countermeasures. Stay-at-home orders and closures of non-essential businesses became widespread, many workers were laid off, and unemployment claims spiked, causing a global recession and a sharp fall in equity prices.

After markets hit their lowest point of the reporting period in late March 2020, a steady recovery ensued, as businesses began to re-open and governments learned to adapt to life with the virus. Equity prices continued to rise throughout the summer, fed by strong fiscal and monetary support and improving economic indicators. Many equity indices neared or surpassed all-time highs late in the reporting period following a series of successful vaccine trials and passage of additional stimuli. In the United States, both large- and small-capitalization stocks posted a significant advance. International equities from developed economies grew at a more modest pace, lagging emerging market stocks, which rebounded sharply.

During the market downturn, the performance of different types of fixed-income securities initially diverged due to a reduced investor appetite for risk. U.S. Treasuries benefited from the risk-off environment and posted positive returns, as the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield (which is inversely related to bond prices) dropped to historic lows. In the corporate bond market, support from the U.S. Federal Reserve (the “Fed”) assuaged credit concerns and both investment-grade and high-yield bonds recovered to post positive returns.

Following the coronavirus outbreak, the Fed instituted two emergency interest rate cuts, pushing short-term interest rates, already low as the year began, close to zero. To stabilize credit markets, the Fed also implemented a new bond-buying program, as did several other central banks around the world, including the European Central Bank and the Bank of Japan.

Looking ahead, while coronavirus-related disruptions have clearly hindered worldwide economic growth, we believe that the global expansion is likely to accelerate as vaccination efforts continue to ramp up. Significant additional U.S. stimulus spending in early 2021 is being negotiated in Congress, which would provide a solid tailwind for economic growth. Inflation should increase somewhat as the expansion continues, but a shift in central bank policy means that moderate inflation is less likely to be followed by interest rate hikes that could threaten the equity expansion.

Overall, we favor a positive stance toward risk, with an overweight in both equities and credit. We see U.S. and Asian equities benefiting from structural growth trends in tech, while emerging markets should be particularly helped by a vaccine-led economic expansion. In credit, rising inflation should provide tailwinds for inflation-protected bonds, and Euro area peripherals and Asian bonds also present attractive opportunities. We believe that international diversification and a focus on sustainability can help provide portfolio resilience, and the disruption created by the coronavirus appears to be accelerating the shift toward sustainable investments.

In this environment, our view is that investors need to think globally, extend their scope across a broad array of asset classes, and be nimble as market conditions change. We encourage you to talk with your financial advisor and visit blackrock.com for further insight about investing in today’s markets.

Sincerely,

LOGO

Rob Kapito

President, BlackRock Advisors, LLC

LOGO

Rob Kapito

President, BlackRock Advisors, LLC


Total Returns as of January 31, 2021
	6-Month	12-Month
U.S. large cap equities (S&P 500^® Index)	14.47%	17.25%
U.S. small cap equities (Russell 2000^® Index)	40.89	30.17
International equities (MSCI Europe, Australasia, Far East Index)	17.58	8.94
Emerging market equities (MSCI Emerging Markets Index)	24.07	27.89
3-month Treasury bills (ICE BofA 3-Month U.S. Treasury Bill Index)	0.06	0.54
U.S. Treasury securities (ICE BofA 10-Year U.S. Treasury Index)	(4.56)	4.91
U.S. investment grade bonds (Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index)	(0.91)	4.72
Tax-exempt municipal bonds (S&P Municipal Bond Index)	2.06	3.85
U.S. high yield bonds (Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Corporate High Yield 2% Issuer Capped Index)	6.72	7.38
Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Index performance is shown for illustrative purposes only. You cannot invest directly in an index.


2		T H I S P A G E I S N O T P A R T O F Y O U R F U N D R E P O R T

Table of Contents


	Page
The Markets in Review		2
Annual Report:
Fund Summary		4
About Fund Performance		7
Disclosure of Expenses		7
Derivative Financial Instruments		7
Financial Statements:
Schedule of Investments		8
Statement of Assets and Liabilities		13
Statement of Operations		15
Statements of Changes in Net Assets		16
Financial Highlights		17
Notes to Financial Statements		20
Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm		29
Important Tax Information		30
Statement Regarding Liquidity Risk Management Program		31
Trustee and Officer Information		32
Additional Information		36
Glossary of Terms Used in this Report		38

LOGO


		3


Fund Summary as of January 31, 2021		BlackRock Real Estate Securities Fund

Investment Objective

BlackRock Real Estate Securities Fund’s (the “Fund”) investment objective is to seek total return comprised of long-term growth of capital and dividend income.

Portfolio Management Commentary

How did the Fund perform?

For the 12-month period ended January 31, 2021, the Fund outperformed its new benchmark, the MSCI U.S. REIT Index, and its former benchmark, the FTSE EPRA Nareit United States Index.

What factors influenced performance?

During the period, the Fund’s holdings in Equinix, Inc. (data centers), CyrusOne, Inc. (data centers), Rexford Industrial Realty, Inc. (industrial) and Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. (office) contributed to performance relative to the benchmark.

Conversely, positions in Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (data centers), EPR Properties (triple net lease) and Boston Properties, Inc. (office) detracted from relative performance.

Describe recent portfolio activity.

Over the period, the Fund’s allocations within health care and laboratory, industrial, non-benchmark and self-storage real estate investment trusts (“REITs”) were increased. Holdings within specialty REITs were reduced.

Describe portfolio positioning at period end.

As of period end, the Fund had overweight positions in the industrial, non-benchmark, communications, specialty and triple net lease REIT segments. The Fund was underweight in retail, diversified, health care and laboratory, self storage, residential, office and lodging REIT segments.

The views expressed reflect the opinions of BlackRock as of the date of this report and are subject to change based on changes in market, economic or other conditions. These views are not intended to be a forecast of future events and are no guarantee of future results.


4		2 0 2 1 B L A C K R O C K A N N U A L R E P O R T T O S H A R E H O L D E R S


Fund Summary as of January 31, 2021 (continued)		BlackRock Real Estate Securities Fund

TOTAL RETURN BASED ON A $10,000 INVESTMENT

LOGO

The Fund commenced operations on September 28, 2012.

^(a)

Assuming maximum sales charges, if any, transaction costs and other operating expenses, including investment advisory fees and administration fees, if any. Institutional Shares do not have a sales charge.

^(b)

Under normal conditions, the Fund invests at least 80% of its net assets plus any borrowings for investment purposes (measured at the time of purchase) in a portfolio of equity investments in issuers that are primarily engaged in or related to the real estate industry inside the United States.

^(c)

A subset of the EPRA Nareit Global Index and the EPRA Nareit North America Index containing publicly quoted real estate companies that meet the EPRA Ground Rules.

^(d)

A free float-adjusted market capitalization weighted index that is comprised of equity Real Estate Investment Trusts (“REITs”). REITs are companies that in most cases own and operate income producing real estate assets. Effective June 1, 2020, the Fund changed its benchmark against which it measures its performance from the FTSE EPRA Nareit United States Index to the MSCI U.S. REIT Index.

Performance Summary for the Period Ended January 31, 2021


				Average Annual Total Returns^(a⁾
				1 Year						5 Years						Since Inception^(b)
	6-Month Total Returns			Without Sales Charge			With Sales Charge			Without Sales Charge			With Sales Charge			Without Sales Charge			With Sales Charge
Institutional		9.05	%		(4.85	)%		N/A			7.70	%		N/A			8.40	%		N/A
Investor A		8.86			(5.17	)		(10.14	)%		7.41			6.26	%		8.11			7.42	%
Investor C		8.49			(5.85	)		(6.78	)		6.62			6.62			7.34			7.34
FTSE EPRA Nareit United States Index		9.83			(10.93	)		N/A			4.53			N/A			6.57			N/A
MSCI U.S. REIT Index		8.40			(9.60	)		N/A			4.25			N/A			5.84			N/A

^(a)

Assuming maximum sales charges, if any. Average annual total returns with and without sales charges reflect reductions for distribution and service fees. See “About Fund Performance” for a detailed description of share classes, including any related sales charges and fees.

^(b)

The Fund commenced operations on September 28, 2012.

N/A - Not applicable as share class and index do not have a sales charge.

Past performance is not an indication of future results.

Performance results may include adjustments made for financial reporting purposes in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles.

Expense Example


	Actual					Hypothetical^(a)
		Beginning Account Value (08/01/20)	Ending Account Value (01/31/21)	Expenses Paid During the Period	^(b)		Beginning Account Value (08/01/20)	Ending Account Value (01/31/21)	Expenses Paid During the Period	^(b)	Annualized Expense Ratio
Institutional		$ 1,000.00	$ 1,090.50	$ 3.94			$ 1,000.00	$ 1,021.37	$ 3.81		0.75	%
Investor A		1,000.00	1,088.60	5.25			1,000.00	1,020.11	5.08		1.00
Investor C		1,000.00	1,084.90	9.17			1,000.00	1,016.34	8.87		1.75

^(a)

Hypothetical 5% annual return before expenses is calculated by prorating the number of days in the most recent fiscal half year divided by 366.

^(b)

For each class of the Fund, expenses are equal to the annualized expense ratio for the class, multiplied by the average account value over the period, multiplied by 184/366 (to reflect the one-half year period shown).

See “Disclosure of Expenses” for further information on how expenses were calculated.


F U N D S U M M A R Y		5


Fund Summary as of January 31, 2021 (continued)		BlackRock Real Estate Securities Fund

Portfolio Information

TEN LARGEST HOLDINGS


Security^(a)	Percent of Net Assets
Prologis, Inc.		10	%
Equinix, Inc.		9
Digital Realty Trust, Inc.		5
Welltower, Inc.		4
Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc.		4
Simon Property Group, Inc.		4
Rexford Industrial Realty, Inc.		4
Extra Space Storage, Inc.		4
VICI Properties, Inc.		4
Boston Properties, Inc.		4

INDUSTRY ALLOCATION


Industry^(b)	Percent of Net Assets
Residential		17	%
Specialty		15
Industrial		15
Triple Net Lease		13
Health Care		11
Office		10
Retail		7
Self Storage		6
Lodging		3
IT Services		1
Diversified Telecommunication Services		1
Short-Term Securities		2
Liabilities in Excess of Other Assets		(1	)

^(a)	Excludes short-term investments.

^(b)

For Fund compliance purposes, the Fund’s industry classifications refer to one or more of the industry sub-classifications used by one or more widely recognized market indexes or ratings group indexes, and/or as defined by the investment adviser. These definitions may not apply for purposes of this report, which may combine such industry sub-classifications for reporting ease.


6		2 0 2 1 B L A C K R O C K A N N U A L R E P O R T T O S H A R E H O L D E R S

About Fund Performance

Institutional Shares are not subject to any sales charge. These shares bear no ongoing distribution or service fees and are available only to certain eligible investors.

Investor A Shares are subject to a maximum initial sales charge (front-end load) of 5.25% and a service fee of 0.25% per year (but no distribution fee). Certain redemptions of these shares may be subject to a contingent deferred sales charge (“CDSC”) where no initial sales charge was paid at the time of purchase. These shares are generally available through financial intermediaries.

Investor C Shares are subject to a 1.00% CDSC if redeemed within one year of purchase. In addition, these shares are subject to a distribution fee of 0.75% per year and a service fee of 0.25% per year. These shares are generally available through financial intermediaries. These shares automatically convert to Investor A Shares after approximately eight years.

Past performance is not an indication of future results. Financial markets have experienced extreme volatility and trading in many instruments has been disrupted. These circumstances may continue for an extended period of time, and may continue to affect adversely the value and liquidity of the fund’s investments. As a result, current performance may be lower or higher than the performance data quoted. Refer to blackrock.com to obtain performance data current to the most recent month-end. Performance results do not reflect the deduction of taxes that a shareholder would pay on Fund distributions or the redemption of Fund shares. Figures shown in the performance table on the previous page assume reinvestment of all distributions, if any, at net asset value (“NAV”) on the ex-dividend date or payable date, as applicable. Investment return and principal value of shares will fluctuate so that shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost. Distributions paid to each class of shares will vary because of the different levels of service, distribution and transfer agency fees applicable to each class, which are deducted from the income available to be paid to shareholders.

BlackRock Advisors, LLC (the “Manager”), the Fund’s investment adviser, has contractually and/or voluntarily agreed to waive and/or reimburse a portion of the Fund’s expenses. Without such waiver(s) and/or reimbursement(s), the Fund’s performance would have been lower. With respect to the Fund’s voluntary waiver(s), if any, the Manager is under no obligation to waive and/or reimburse or to continue waiving and/or reimbursing its fees and such voluntary waiver(s) may be reduced or discontinued at any time. With respect to the Fund’s contractual waiver(s), if any, the Manager is under no obligation to continue waiving and/or reimbursing its fees after the applicable termination date of such agreement. See the Notes to Financial Statements for additional information on waivers and/or reimbursements.

Disclosure of Expenses

Shareholders of the Fund may incur the following charges: (a) transactional expenses, such as sales charges; and (b) operating expenses, including investment advisory fees, service and distribution fees, including 12b-1 fees, acquired fund fees and expenses, and other fund expenses. The expense example shown on the previous page (which is based on a hypothetical investment of $1,000 invested on August 1, 2020 and held through January 31, 2021) is intended to assist shareholders both in calculating expenses based on an investment in the Fund and in comparing these expenses with similar costs of investing in other mutual funds.

The expense example provides information about actual account values and actual expenses. In order to estimate the expenses a shareholder paid during the period covered by this report, shareholders can divide their account value by $1,000 and then multiply the result by the number corresponding to their share class under the heading entitled “Expenses Paid During the Period.”

The expense example also provides information about hypothetical account values and hypothetical expenses based on the Fund’s actual expense ratio and an assumed rate of return of 5% per year before expenses. In order to assist shareholders in comparing the ongoing expenses of investing in the Fund and other funds, compare the 5% hypothetical example with the 5% hypothetical examples that appear in shareholder reports of other funds.

The expenses shown in the expense example are intended to highlight shareholders’ ongoing costs only and do not reflect transactional expenses, such as sales charges, if any. Therefore, the hypothetical example is useful in comparing ongoing expenses only, and will not help shareholders determine the relative total expenses of owning different funds. If these transactional expenses were included, shareholder expenses would have been higher.

Derivative Financial Instruments

The Fund may invest in various derivative financial instruments. These instruments are used to obtain exposure to a security, commodity, index, market, and/or other assets without owning or taking physical custody of securities, commodities and/or other referenced assets or to manage market, equity, credit, interest rate, foreign currency exchange rate, commodity and/or other risks. Derivative financial instruments may give rise to a form of economic leverage and involve risks, including the imperfect correlation between the value of a derivative financial instrument and the underlying asset, possible default of the counterparty to the transaction or illiquidity of the instrument. The Fund’s successful use of a derivative financial instrument depends on the investment adviser’s ability to predict pertinent market movements accurately, which cannot be assured. The use of these instruments may result in losses greater than if they had not been used, may limit the amount of appreciation the Fund can realize on an investment and/or may result in lower distributions paid to shareholders. The Fund’s investments in these instruments, if any, are discussed in detail in the Notes to Financial Statements.


A B O U T F U N D P E R F O R M A N C E		7

Schedule of Investments

January 31, 2021

BlackRock Real Estate Securities Fund

(Percentages shown are based on Net Assets)


Security	Shares		Value

Common Stocks

Diversified Telecommunication Services — 0.8%
Cellnex Telecom SA^(a)		35,602	$	2,085,702


Health Care — 10.8%
CareTrust REIT, Inc.		196,188		4,138,232
Community Healthcare Trust, Inc.		35,256		1,576,648
Medical Properties Trust, Inc.		363,561		7,674,773
Omega Healthcare Investors, Inc.		103,548		3,750,509
Welltower, Inc.		200,204		12,132,362

				29,272,524

Industrial — 14.5%
Prologis, Inc.		270,991		27,966,271
Rexford Industrial Realty, Inc.		230,843		11,297,457

				39,263,728

IT Services — 1.1%
Switch, Inc., Class A		166,815		2,872,554


Lodging — 3.4%
Apple Hospitality REIT, Inc.		228,631		2,853,315
Pebblebrook Hotel Trust^(b)		123,612		2,271,989
RLJ Lodging Trust		318,164		4,107,497

				9,232,801

Office — 9.7%
Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc.		33,365		5,575,625
Boston Properties, Inc.		105,428		9,622,414
Cousins Properties, Inc.		249,421		7,866,738
Hudson Pacific Properties, Inc.		140,390		3,290,742

				26,355,519

Residential — 17.3%
American Homes 4 Rent, Class A		245,547		7,422,886
Equity Residential		116,339		7,171,136
Essex Property Trust, Inc.		11,857		2,841,056
Mid-America Apartment Communities, Inc.		89,399		11,867,717
Sun Communities, Inc.		60,243		8,622,581
UDR, Inc.		234,830		9,029,213

				46,954,589

Retail — 7.0%
Federal Realty Investment Trust		37,361		3,271,329
Regency Centers Corp.		88,154		4,159,106
Simon Property Group, Inc.		124,782		11,595,991

				19,026,426


Security	Shares		Value

Self Storage — 6.4%
CubeSmart		179,842	$	6,265,695
Extra Space Storage, Inc.		98,442		11,201,715

				17,467,410

Specialty — 15.1%
Digital Realty Trust, Inc.		99,591		14,336,125
Equinix, Inc.		31,251		23,124,490
Outfront Media, Inc.		197,753		3,605,037

				41,065,652

Triple Net Lease — 12.9%
Agree Realty Corp.		69,251		4,376,663
EPR Properties		219,316		8,509,241
Plymouth Industrial REIT, Inc.		92,609		1,355,796
Spirit Realty Capital, Inc.		180,033		6,942,073
STAG Industrial, Inc.		129,449		3,857,580
VICI Properties, Inc.		396,197		10,015,860

				35,057,213


Total Long-Term Investments — 99.0% (Cost: $257,467,521)				268,654,118


Short-Term Securities^(c)(d)

Money Market Funds — 2.0%
BlackRock Liquidity Funds, T-Fund, Institutional Class, 0.01%		3,813,999		3,813,999
SL Liquidity Series, LLC, Money Market Series, 0.14%^(e)		1,643,351		1,644,008


Total Short-Term Securities — 2.0% (Cost: $5,457,991)				5,458,007

Total Investments — 101.0% (Cost: $262,925,512)				274,112,125

Liabilities in Excess of Other Assets — (1.0)%				(2,631,184	)


Net Assets — 100.0%			$	271,480,941

^(a)	Security exempt from registration pursuant to Rule 144A under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended. These securities may be resold in transactions exempt from registration to qualified institutional investors.

^(b)	All or a portion of this security is on loan.

^(c)	Affiliate of the Fund.

^(d)	Annualized 7-day yield as of period end.

^(e)	All or a portion of this security was purchased with the cash collateral from loaned securities.


8		2 0 2 1 B L A C K R O C K A N N U A L R E P O R T T O S H A R E H O L D E R S

Schedule of Investments (continued)

January 31, 2021

BlackRock Real Estate Securities Fund

Affiliates

Investments in issuers considered to be affiliate(s) of the Fund during the year ended January 31, 2021 for purposes of Section 2(a)(3) of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, were as follows:


Affiliated Issuer	Value at 01/31/20		Purchases at Cost		Proceeds from Sale			Net Realized Gain (Loss)		Change in Unrealized Appreciation (Depreciation)		Value at 01/31/21		Shares Held at 01/31/21		Income			Capital Gain Distributions from Underlying Funds

BlackRock Liquidity Funds, T-Fund, Institutional Class	$	5,653,201	$	—	$	(1,839,202	)^(a)	$	—	$	—	$	3,813,999		3,813,999	$	12,913		$	—
SL Liquidity Series, LLC, Money Market Series		3,667,680		—		(2,030,595	)^(a)		6,907		16		1,644,008		1,643,351		5,629	^(b)		—

								$	6,907	$	16	$	5,458,007			$	18,542		$	—

^(a)

Represents net amount purchased (sold).

^(b)

All or a portion represents securities lending income earned from the reinvestment of cash collateral from loaned securities, net of fees and collateral investment expenses, and other payments to and from borrowers of securities.

For Fund compliance purposes, the Fund’s industry classifications refer to one or more of the industry sub-classifications used by one or more widely recognized market indexes or rating group indexes, and/or as defined by the investment adviser. These definitions may not apply for purposes of this report, which may combine such industry sub-classifications for reporting ease.

Derivative Financial Instruments Outstanding as of Period End

Forward Foreign Currency Exchange Contracts


Currency Purchased		Currency Sold		Counterparty	Settlement Date		Unrealized Appreciation (Depreciation)

USD	1,962,525	EUR	1,610,000	Morgan Stanley & Co. International PLC		04/15/21	$	5,322

USD	203,701	EUR	168,000	Morgan Stanley & Co. International PLC		04/15/21		(529	)

							$	4,793

OTC Total Return Swaps


Reference Entity	Payment Frequency	Counterparty^(a⁾	Termination Date		Net Notional		Accrued Unrealized Appreciation (Depreciation)		Net Value of Reference Entity		Gross Notional Amount Net Asset Percentage

Equity Securities Long/Short	Monthly	Morgan Stanley & Co. International PLC^(b)		06/07/23	$	448,227	$	4,368	$	452,595		0.2	%

^(a)

The Fund receives the total return on a portfolio of long positions underlying the total return swap. The Fund pays the total return on a portfolio of short positions underlying the total return swap. In addition, the Fund pays or receives a variable rate of interest, based on a specified benchmark. The benchmark and spread are determined based upon the country and/or currency of the individual underlying positions.

The following are the specified benchmarks (plus or minus a range) used in determining the variable rate of interest:


		^(b)
Range:		20 basis points
Benchmarks:		U.S. Federal Funds Effective Rate


S C H E D U L E O F I N V E S T M E N T S		9

Schedule of Investments (continued)

January 31, 2021

BlackRock Real Estate Securities Fund

The following table represents the individual long positions and related values of equity securities underlying the total return swap with Morgan Stanley & Co. International PLC, as of period end, termination date June 7, 2023:


	Shares		Value		% of Basket Value

Reference Entity — Long

Common Stocks

Health Care
CareTrust REIT, Inc.		11,939		$ 268,150		59.2	%


Triple Net Lease
EPR Properties		4,653		184,445		40.8


Net Value of Reference Entity — Morgan Stanley & Co. International PLC				$ 452,595

Balances Reported in the Statement of Assets and Liabilities for OTC Swaps


	Swaps Premiums Paid		Swap Premiums Received		Unrealized Appreciation		Unrealized Depreciation
OTC Swaps	$	—	$	—	$	4,368	$	—

Derivative Financial Instruments Categorized by Risk Exposure

As of period end, the fair values of derivative financial instruments located in the Statement of Assets and Liabilities were as follows:


	Commodity Contracts		Credit Contracts		Equity Contracts		Foreign Currency Exchange Contracts		Interest Rate Contracts		Other Contracts		Total
Assets — Derivative Financial Instruments
Forward foreign currency exchange contracts
Unrealized appreciation on forward foreign currency exchange contracts	$	—	$	—	$	—	$	5,322	$	—	$	—	$	5,322
Swaps — OTC
Unrealized appreciation on OTC swaps; Swap premiums paid		—		—		4,368		—		—		—		4,368

	$	—	$	—	$	4,368	$	5,322	$	—	$	—	$	9,690

Liabilities — Derivative Financial Instruments
Forward foreign currency exchange contracts
Unrealized depreciation on forward foreign currency exchange contracts	$	—	$	—	$	—	$	529	$	—	$	—	$	529


10		2 0 2 1 B L A C K R O C K A N N U A L R E P O R T T O S H A R E H O L D E R S

Schedule of Investments (continued)

January 31, 2021

BlackRock Real Estate Securities Fund

For the year ended January 31, 2021, the effect of derivative financial instruments in the Statement of Operations was as follows:


	Commodity Contracts		Credit Contracts		Equity Contracts			Foreign Currency Exchange Contracts			Interest Rate Contracts		Other Contracts		Total
Net Realized Gain (Loss) from
Forward foreign currency exchange contracts	$	—	$	—	$	—		$	(40,670	)	$	—	$	—	$	(40,670	)
Swaps		—		—		582,960			—			—		—		582,960

	$	—	$	—	$	582,960		$	(40,670	)	$	—	$	—	$	542,290


Net Change in Unrealized Appreciation (Depreciation) on
Forward foreign currency exchange contracts	$	—	$	—	$	—		$	(9,887	)	$	—	$	—	$	(9,887	)
Swaps		—		—		(61,171	)		—			—		—		(61,171	)

	$	—	$	—	$	(61,171	)	$	(9,887	)	$	—	$	—	$	(71,058	)

Average Quarterly Balances of Outstanding Derivative Financial Instruments


Forward foreign currency exchange contracts
Average amounts purchased — in USD	$	1,662,098
Average amounts sold — in USD	$	107,101
Total return swaps
Average notional amount	$	1,274,976

For more information about the Fund’s investment risks regarding derivative financial instruments, refer to the Notes to Financial Statements.

Derivative Financial Instruments – Offsetting as of Period End

The Fund’s derivative assets and liabilities (by type) were as follows:


	Assets		Liabilities
Derivative Financial Instruments
Forward foreign currency exchange contracts	$	5,322	$	529
Swaps — OTC^(a)		4,368		—

Total derivative assets and liabilities in the Statement of Assets and Liabilities	$	9,690	$	529

Derivatives not subject to a Master Netting Agreement or similar agreement (“MNA”)		—		—

Total derivative assets and liabilities subject to an MNA	$	9,690	$	529

^(a)

Includes unrealized appreciation (depreciation) on OTC swaps in the Statement of Assets and Liabilities.

The following table presents the Fund’s derivative assets and liabilities by counterparty net of amounts available for offset under an MNA and net of the related collateral received and pledged by the Fund:


Counterparty	Derivative Assets Subject to an MNA by Counterparty		Derivatives Available for Offset^(a)			Non- Cash Collateral Received		Cash Collateral Received		Net Amount of Derivative Assets^(b)
Morgan Stanley & Co. International PLC	$	9,690	$	(529	)	$	—	$	—	$	9,161


Counterparty	Derivative Liabilities Subject to an MNA by Counterparty		Derivatives Available for Offset^(a)			Non- Cash Collateral Pledged		Cash Collateral Pledged		Net Amount of Derivative Liabilities
Morgan Stanley & Co. International PLC	$	529	$	(529	)	$	—	$	—	$	—

^(a)

The amount of derivatives available for offset is limited to the amount of derivative assets and/or liabilities that are subject to an MNA.

^(b)

Net amount represents the net amount receivable from the counterparty in the event of default.


S C H E D U L E O F I N V E S T M E N T S		11

Schedule of Investments (continued)

January 31, 2021

BlackRock Real Estate Securities Fund

Fair Value Hierarchy as of Period End

Various inputs are used in determining the fair value of financial instruments. For a description of the input levels and information about the Fund’s policy regarding valuation of financial instruments, refer to the Notes to Financial Statements.

The following tables summarize the Fund’s investments and derivative financial instruments categorized in the disclosure hierarchy. The breakdown of the Fund’s investments into major categories is disclosed in the Schedule of Investments above.


	Level 1		Level 2			Level 3		Total
Assets
Investments
Long-Term Investments
Common Stocks
Diversified Telecommunication Services	$	—	$	2,085,702		$	—	$	2,085,702
Health Care		29,272,524		—			—		29,272,524
Industrial		39,263,728		—			—		39,263,728
IT Services		2,872,554		—			—		2,872,554
Lodging		9,232,801		—			—		9,232,801
Office		26,355,519		—			—		26,355,519
Residential		46,954,589		—			—		46,954,589
Retail		19,026,426		—			—		19,026,426
Self Storage		17,467,410		—			—		17,467,410
Specialty		41,065,652		—			—		41,065,652
Triple Net Lease		35,057,213		—			—		35,057,213
Short-Term Securities
Money Market Funds		3,813,999		—			—		3,813,999

	$	270,382,415	$	2,085,702		$	—		272,468,117

Investments Valued at NAV^(a)									1,644,008

								$	274,112,125

Derivative Financial Instruments^(b)
Assets
Equity Contracts	$	—	$	4,368		$	—	$	4,368
Foreign Currency Exchange Contracts		—		5,322			—		5,322
Liabilities
Foreign Currency Exchange Contracts		—		(529	)		—		(529	)

	$	—	$	9,161		$	—	$	9,161

^(a)

Certain investments of the Fund were fair valued using NAV per share as no quoted market value is available and therefore have been excluded from the fair value hierarchy.

^(b)

Derivative financial instruments are swaps and forward foreign currency exchange contracts. Swaps and forward foreign currency exchange contracts are valued at the unrealized appreciation (depreciation) on the instrument.

See notes to financial statements.


12		2 0 2 1 B L A C K R O C K A N N U A L R E P O R T T O S H A R E H O L D E R S

Statement of Assets and Liabilities

January 31, 2021


	BlackRock Real Estate Securities Fund

ASSETS
Investments at value — unaffiliated^(a)(b)	$	268,654,118
Investments at value — affiliated^(c)		5,458,007
Receivables:
Investments sold		5,575,497
Securities lending income — affiliated		137
Swaps		287,571
Capital shares sold		452,817
Dividends — affiliated		278
Dividends — unaffiliated		115,519
From the Manager		41,264
Unrealized appreciation on:
Forward foreign currency exchange contracts		5,322
OTC swaps		4,368
Prepaid expenses		28,394

Total assets		280,623,292


LIABILITIES
Collateral on securities loaned at value		1,644,000
Payables:
Investments purchased		6,491,757
Administration fees		9,621
Capital shares redeemed		676,707
Investment advisory fees		127,945
Trustees’ and Officer’s fees		2,021
Other accrued expenses		150,037
Service and distribution fees		39,734
Unrealized depreciation on forward foreign currency exchange contracts		529

Total liabilities		9,142,351

NET ASSETS	$	271,480,941


NET ASSETS CONSIST OF
Paid-in capital	$	278,490,225
Accumulated loss		(7,009,284	)

NET ASSETS	$	271,480,941


^(a) Investments at cost — unaffiliated	$	257,467,521
^(b) Securities loaned at value	$	1,510,836
^(c) Investments at cost — affiliated	$	5,457,991


F I N A N C I A L S T A T E M E N T S		13

Statement of Assets and Liabilities (continued)

January 31, 2021


	BlackRock Real Estate Securities Fund

NET ASSET VALUE

Institutional
Net assets	$	87,698,967

Shares outstanding		6,498,220

Net asset value	$	13.50

Shares authorized		Unlimited

Par value	$	0.001


Investor A
Net assets	$	181,893,433

Shares outstanding		13,512,960

Net asset value	$	13.46

Shares authorized		Unlimited

Par value	$	0.001


Investor C
Net assets	$	1,888,541

Shares outstanding		141,197

Net asset value	$	13.38

Shares authorized		Unlimited

Par value	$	0.001

See notes to financial statements.


14		2 0 2 1 B L A C K R O C K A N N U A L R E P O R T T O S H A R E H O L D E R S

Statement of Operations

Year Ended January 31, 2021


	BlackRock Real Estate Securities Fund

INVESTMENT INCOME
Dividends — unaffiliated	$	5,728,366
Dividends — affiliated		12,913
Interest — unaffiliated		16
Securities lending income — affiliated — net		5,629

Total investment income		5,746,924


EXPENSES
Investment advisory		1,764,827
Transfer agent — class specific		507,097
Service and distribution — class specific		431,142
Professional		106,117
Administration		100,007
Registration		56,576
Accounting services		49,659
Administration — class specific		47,066
Printing and postage		46,012
Trustees and Officer		11,035
Custodian		5,290
Miscellaneous		11,763

Total expenses		3,136,591
Less:
Fees waived and/or reimbursed by the Manager		(276,935	)
Administration fees waived — class specific		(47,066	)
Transfer agent fees waived and/or reimbursed — class specific		(397,416	)

Total expenses after fees waived and/or reimbursed		2,415,174

Net investment income		3,331,750


REALIZED AND UNREALIZED GAIN (LOSS)
Net realized gain (loss) from:
Investments — unaffiliated		(15,248,087	)
Investments — affiliated		6,907
Forward foreign currency exchange contracts		(40,670	)
Foreign currency transactions		(8,935	)
Swaps		582,960

		(14,707,825	)

Net change in unrealized appreciation (depreciation) on:
Investments — unaffiliated		1,329,416
Investments — affiliated		16
Forward foreign currency exchange contracts		(9,887	)
Foreign currency translations		2
Swaps		(61,171	)

		1,258,376

Net realized and unrealized loss		(13,449,449	)

NET DECREASE IN NET ASSETS RESULTING FROM OPERATIONS	$	(10,117,699	)

See notes to financial statements.


F I N A N C I A L S T A T E M E N T S		15

Statements of Changes in Net Assets


	BlackRock Real Estate Securities Fund
	Year Ended January 31,
	2021			2020

INCREASE (DECREASE) IN NET ASSETS

OPERATIONS
Net investment income	$	3,331,750		$	1,368,556
Net realized loss		(14,707,825	)		(2,043,516	)
Net change in unrealized appreciation (depreciation)		1,258,376			6,226,410

Net increase (decrease) in net assets resulting from operations		(10,117,699	)		5,551,450


DISTRIBUTIONS TO SHAREHOLDERS^(a)
From net investment income:
Institutional		(1,215,853	)		(901,529	)
Investor A		(2,542,681	)		(1,264,274	)
Investor C		(22,646	)		(33,972	)
Return of capital:
Institutional		(396,458	)		—
Investor A		(829,102	)		—
Investor C		(7,384	)		—

Decrease in net assets resulting from distributions to shareholders		(5,014,124	)		(2,199,775	)


CAPITAL SHARE TRANSACTIONS

Net increase in net assets derived from capital share transactions		20,558,707			232,395,330


NET ASSETS
Total increase in net assets		5,426,884			235,747,005
Beginning of year		266,054,057			30,307,052

End of year	$	271,480,941		$	266,054,057

^(a)	Distributions for annual periods determined in accordance with U.S. federal income tax regulations.

See notes to financial statements.


16		2 0 2 1 B L A C K R O C K A N N U A L R E P O R T T O S H A R E H O L D E R S

Financial Highlights

(For a share outstanding throughout each period)


	BlackRock Real Estate Securities Fund

	Institutional

	Year Ended January 31,
	2021			2020			2019			2018			2017

Net asset value, beginning of year	$	14.52		$	12.73		$	11.61		$	12.43		$	11.81

Net investment income^(a)		0.19			0.25			0.22			0.25			0.19
Net realized and unrealized gain (loss)		(0.92	)		1.81			1.25			0.12			1.33

Net increase (decrease) from investment operations		(0.73	)		2.06			1.47			0.37			1.52


Distributions^(b)
From net investment income		(0.22	)		(0.23	)		(0.35	)		(0.22	)		(0.20	)
From net realized gain		—			(0.04	)		—			(0.97	)		(0.70	)
Return of capital		(0.07	)		—			—			—			—

Total distributions		(0.29	)		(0.27	)		(0.35	)		(1.19	)		(0.90	)


Net asset value, end of year	$	13.50		$	14.52		$	12.73		$	11.61		$	12.43


Total Return^(c)
Based on net asset value		(4.85	)%		16.32	%		12.95	%		2.71	%		12.84	%


Ratios to Average Net Assets^(d)
Total expenses		1.16	%		1.25	%^(e)		1.95	%		1.49	%		1.36	%

Total expenses after fees waived and/or reimbursed		0.84	%		1.05	%		1.07	%		1.05	%		1.05	%

Net investment income		1.48	%		1.74	%		1.87	%		1.94	%		1.44	%


Supplemental Data
Net assets, end of year (000)	$	87,699		$	84,937		$	13,470		$	9,069		$	15,041

Portfolio turnover rate		58	%^(f)		63	%^(f)		82	%^(f)		103	%		118	%

^(a)	Based on average shares outstanding.

^(b)	Distributions for annual periods determined in accordance with U.S. federal income tax regulations.

^(c)	Where applicable, assumes the reinvestment of distributions.

^(d)	Excludes expenses incurred indirectly as a result of investments in underlying funds as follows:


	Year Ended January 31,
	2021			2020			2019			2018			2017
Investments in underlying funds		—	%		0.01	%		—	%		—	%		—	%

^(e)	Includes recoupment of past waived and/or reimbursed fees with no financial impact to the expense ratios.

^(f)	Excludes underlying investments in total return swaps.

See notes to financial statements.


F I N A N C I A L H I G H L I G H T S		17

Financial Highlights (continued)

(For a share outstanding throughout each period)


	BlackRock Real Estate Securities Fund (continued)

	Investor A

	Year Ended January 31,
	2021			2020			2019			2018			2017

Net asset value, beginning of year	$	14.49		$	12.70		$	11.58		$	12.41		$	11.79

Net investment income^(a)		0.17			0.16			0.22			0.19			0.19
Net realized and unrealized gain (loss)		(0.94	)		1.87			1.22			0.14			1.30

Net increase (decrease) from investment operations		(0.77	)		2.03			1.44			0.33			1.49


Distributions^(b)
From net investment income		(0.20	)		(0.20	)		(0.32	)		(0.19	)		(0.17	)
From net realized gain		—			(0.04	)		—			(0.97	)		(0.70	)
Return of capital		(0.06	)		—			—			—			—

Total distributions		(0.26	)		(0.24	)		(0.32	)		(1.16	)		(0.87	)


Net asset value, end of year	$	13.46		$	14.49		$	12.70		$	11.58		$	12.41


Total Return^(c)
Based on net asset value		(5.17	)%		16.09	%		12.70	%		2.34	%		12.57	%


Ratios to Average Net Assets^(d)
Total expenses		1.40	%		1.44	%^(e)		2.23	%		1.89	%		1.76	%

Total expenses after fees waived and/or reimbursed		1.09	%		1.30	%		1.32	%		1.30	%		1.30	%

Net investment income		1.40	%		1.11	%		1.85	%		1.54	%		1.45	%


Supplemental Data
Net assets, end of year (000)	$	181,893		$	177,535		$	14,391		$	10,885		$	20,949

Portfolio turnover rate		58	%^(f)		63	%^(f)		82	%^(f)		103	%		118	%

^(a)	Based on average shares outstanding.

^(b)	Distributions for annual periods determined in accordance with U.S. federal income tax regulations.

^(c)	Where applicable, excludes the effects of any sales charges and assumes the reinvestment of distributions.

^(d)	Excludes expenses incurred indirectly as a result of investments in underlying funds as follows:


	Year Ended January 31,
	2021			2020			2019			2018			2017
Investments in underlying funds		—	%		0.01	%		—	%		—	%		—	%

^(e)	Includes recoupment of past waived and/or reimbursed fees with no financial impact to the expense ratios.

^(f)	Excludes underlying investments in total return swaps.

See notes to financial statements.


18		2 0 2 1 B L A C K R O C K A N N U A L R E P O R T T O S H A R E H O L D E R S

Financial Highlights (continued)

(For a share outstanding throughout each period)


	BlackRock Real Estate Securities Fund (continued)

	Investor C

	Year Ended January 31,
	2021			2020			2019			2018			2017

Net asset value, beginning of year	$	14.39		$	12.62		$	11.50		$	12.33		$	11.72

Net investment income^(a)		0.11			0.16			0.15			0.10			0.09
Net realized and unrealized gain (loss)		(0.96	)		1.75			1.20			0.13			1.30

Net increase (decrease) from investment operations		(0.85	)		1.91			1.35			0.23			1.39


Distributions^(b)
From net investment income		(0.12	)		(0.10	)		(0.23	)		(0.09	)		(0.08	)
From net realized gain		—			(0.04	)		—			(0.97	)		(0.70	)
Return of capital		(0.04	)		—			—			—			—

Total distributions		(0.16	)		(0.14	)		(0.23	)		(1.06	)		(0.78	)


Net asset value, end of year	$	13.38		$	14.39		$	12.62		$	11.50		$	12.33


Total Return^(c)
Based on net asset value		(5.85	)%		15.21	%		11.92	%		1.57	%		11.75	%


Ratios to Average Net Assets^(d)
Total expenses		2.22	%		2.49	%		3.14	%		2.74	%		2.57	%

Total expenses after fees waived and/or reimbursed		1.86	%		2.05	%		2.07	%		2.05	%		2.05	%

Net investment income		0.92	%		1.16	%		1.31	%		0.78	%		0.71	%


Supplemental Data
Net assets, end of year (000)	$	1,889		$	3,583		$	2,446		$	2,500		$	3,539

Portfolio turnover rate		58	%^(e)		63	%^(e)		82	%^(e)		103	%		118	%

^(a)	Based on average shares outstanding.

^(b)	Distributions for annual periods determined in accordance with U.S. federal income tax regulations.

^(c)	Where applicable, excludes the effects of any sales charges and assumes the reinvestment of distributions.

^(d)	Excludes expenses incurred indirectly as a result of investments in underlying funds as follows:


	Year Ended January 31,
	2021			2020			2019			2018			2017
Investments in underlying funds		—	%		0.01	%		—	%		—	%		—	%

^(e)	Excludes underlying investments in total return swaps.

See notes to financial statements.


F I N A N C I A L H I G H L I G H T S		19

Notes to Financial Statements

1.	*ORGANIZATION*

BlackRock Funds^SM (the “Trust”) is registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”), as an open-end management investment company. The Trust is organized as a Massachusetts business trust. BlackRock Real Estate Securities Fund (the “Fund”) is a series of the Trust. The Fund is classified as non-diversified.

The Fund offers multiple classes of shares. All classes of shares have identical voting, dividend, liquidation and other rights and are subject to the same terms and conditions, except that certain classes bear expenses related to the shareholder servicing and distribution of such shares. Institutional Shares are sold only to certain eligible investors. Investor A and Investor C Shares bear certain expenses related to shareholder servicing of such shares, and Investor C Shares also bear certain expenses related to the distribution of such shares. Investor A and Investor C Shares are generally available through financial intermediaries. Each class has exclusive voting rights with respect to matters relating to its shareholder servicing and distribution expenditures (except that Investor C shareholders may vote on material changes to the Investor A Shares distribution and service plan).



Share Class	Initial Sales Charge	CDSC			Conversion Privilege
Institutional Shares	No		No		None
Investor A Shares	Yes		No	^(a)	None
Investor C Shares	No		Yes	^(b)	To Investor A Shares after approximately 8 years

^(a) Investor A Shares may be subject to a contingent deferred sales charge (“CDSC”) for certain redemptions where no initial sales charge was paid at the time of purchase. ^(b) A CDSC of 1.00% is assessed on certain redemptions of Investor C Shares made within one year after purchase.

The Fund, together with certain other registered investment companies advised by BlackRock Advisors, LLC (the “Manager”) or its affiliates, is included in a complex of equity, multi-asset, index and money market funds referred to as the BlackRock Multi-Asset Complex.

2.	*SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES*

The financial statements are prepared in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“U.S. GAAP”), which may require management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities in the financial statements, disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of increases and decreases in net assets from operations during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates. The Fund is considered an investment company under U.S. GAAP and follows the accounting and reporting guidance applicable to investment companies. Below is a summary of significant accounting policies:

Investment Transactions and Income Recognition: For financial reporting purposes, investment transactions are recorded on the dates the transactions are executed. Realized gains and losses on investment transactions are determined using the specific identification method. Dividend income and capital gain distributions, if any, are recorded on the ex-dividend date. Non-cash dividends, if any, are recorded on the ex-dividend date at fair value. Upon notification from issuers, a portion of the dividend income received from a real estate investment trust may be redesignated as a reduction of cost of the related investment and/or realized gain. Interest income, including amortization and accretion of premiums and discounts on debt securities, is recognized daily on an accrual basis. Income, expenses and realized and unrealized gains and losses are allocated daily to each class based on its relative net assets.

Foreign Currency Translation: The Fund’s books and records are maintained in U.S. dollars. Securities and other assets and liabilities denominated in foreign currencies are translated into U.S. dollars using exchange rates determined as of the close of trading on the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”). Purchases and sales of investments are recorded at the rates of exchange prevailing on the respective dates of such transactions. Generally, when the U.S. dollar rises in value against a foreign currency, the investments denominated in that currency will lose value; the opposite effect occurs if the U.S. dollar falls in relative value.

The Fund does not isolate the effect of fluctuations in foreign exchange rates from the effect of fluctuations in the market prices of investments for financial reporting purposes. Accordingly, the effects of changes in exchange rates on investments are not segregated in the Statement of Operations from the effects of changes in market prices of those investments, but are included as a component of net realized and unrealized gain (loss) from investments. The Fund reports realized currency gains (losses) on foreign currency related transactions as components of net realized gain (loss) for financial reporting purposes, whereas such components are generally treated as ordinary income for U.S. federal income tax purposes.

Segregation and Collateralization: In cases where the Fund enters into certain investments (e.g., forward foreign currency exchange contracts and swaps) that would be treated as “senior securities” for 1940 Act purposes, the Fund may segregate or designate on its books and records cash or liquid assets having a market value at least equal to the amount of its future obligations under such investments. Doing so allows the investment to be excluded from treatment as a “senior security.” Furthermore, if required by an exchange or counterparty agreement, the Fund may be required to deliver/deposit cash and/or securities to/with an exchange, or broker-dealer or custodian as collateral for certain investments or obligations.

Distributions: Distributions paid by the Fund are recorded on the ex-dividend dates. The portion of distributions, if any, that exceeds a fund’s current and accumulated earnings and profits, as measured on a tax basis, constitute a non-taxable return of capital. The character and timing of distributions are determined in accordance with U.S. federal income tax regulations, which may differ from U.S. GAAP.

Indemnifications: In the normal course of business, the Fund enters into contracts that contain a variety of representations that provide general indemnification. The Fund’s maximum exposure under these arrangements is unknown because it involves future potential claims against the Fund, which cannot be predicted with any certainty.

Other: Expenses directly related to the Fund or its classes are charged to the Fund or the applicable class. Expenses directly related to the Fund and other shared expenses prorated to the Fund are allocated daily to each class based on its relative net assets or other appropriate methods. Other operating expenses shared by several funds, including other funds managed by the Manager, are prorated among those funds on the basis of relative net assets or other appropriate methods.


20		2 0 2 1 B L A C K R O C K A N N U A L R E P O R T T O S H A R E H O L D E R S

Notes to Financial Statements (continued)

The Fund has an arrangement with its custodian whereby credits are earned on uninvested cash balances, which could be used to reduce custody fees and/or overdraft charges. The Fund may incur charges on overdrafts, subject to certain conditions.

3.	*INVESTMENT VALUATION AND FAIR VALUE MEASUREMENTS*

Investment Valuation Policies: The Fund’s investments are valued at fair value (also referred to as “market value” within the financial statements) each day that the Fund is open for business and, for financial reporting purposes, as of the report date. U.S. GAAP defines fair value as the price a Fund would receive to sell an asset or pay to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date. The Fund determines the fair values of its financial instruments using various independent dealers or pricing services under policies approved by the Board of Trustees of the Trust (the “Board”). If a security’s market price is not readily available or does not otherwise accurately represent the fair value of the security, the security will be valued in accordance with a policy approved by the Board as reflecting fair value. The BlackRock Global Valuation Methodologies Committee (the “Global Valuation Committee”) is the committee formed by management to develop global pricing policies and procedures and to oversee the pricing function for all financial instruments.

Fair Value Inputs and Methodologies: The following methods and inputs are used to establish the fair value of the Fund’s assets and liabilities:

•

Equity investments traded on a recognized securities exchange are valued at that day’s official closing price, as applicable, on the exchange where the stock is primarily traded. Equity investments traded on a recognized exchange for which there were no sales on that day may be valued at the last available bid (long positions) or ask (short positions) price.

Generally, trading in foreign instruments is substantially completed each day at various times prior to the close of trading on the NYSE. Occasionally, events affecting the values of such instruments may occur between the foreign market close and the close of trading on the NYSE that may not be reflected in the computation of the Fund’s net assets. Each business day, the Fund uses a pricing service to assist with the valuation of certain foreign exchange-traded equity securities and foreign exchange-traded and over-the-counter (“OTC”) options (the “Systematic Fair Value Price”). Using current market factors, the Systematic Fair Value Price is designed to value such foreign securities and foreign options at fair value as of the close of trading on the NYSE, which follows the close of the local markets.

•

Investments in open-end U.S. mutual funds (including money market funds) are valued at that day’s published net asset value (“NAV”).

•

The Fund values its investment in SL Liquidity Series, LLC, Money Market Series (the “Money Market Series”) at fair value, which is ordinarily based upon its pro rata ownership in the underlying fund’s net assets.

•

Forward foreign currency exchange contracts are valued at the mean between the bid and ask prices and are determined as of the close of trading on the NYSE based on that day’s prevailing forward exchange rate for the underlying currencies.

•

Swap agreements are valued utilizing quotes received daily by independent pricing services or through brokers, which are derived using daily swap curves and models that incorporate a number of market data factors, such as discounted cash flows, trades and values of the underlying reference instruments.

If events (e.g., a market closure, market volatility, company announcement or a natural disaster) occur that are expected to materially affect the value of such investment, or in the event that application of these methods of valuation results in a price for an investment that is deemed not to be representative of the market value of such investment, or if a price is not available, the investment will be valued by the Global Valuation Committee, or its delegate, in accordance with a policy approved by the Board as reflecting fair value (“Fair Valued Investments”). The fair valuation approaches that may be used by the Global Valuation Committee include market approach, income approach and cost approach. Valuation techniques such as discounted cash flow, use of market comparables and matrix pricing are types of valuation approaches and are typically used in determining fair value. When determining the price for Fair Valued Investments, the Global Valuation Committee, or its delegate, seeks to determine the price that the Fund might reasonably expect to receive or pay from the current sale or purchase of that asset or liability in an arm’s-length transaction. Fair value determinations shall be based upon all available factors that the Global Valuation Committee, or its delegate, deems relevant and consistent with the principles of fair value measurement. The pricing of all Fair Valued Investments is subsequently reported to the Board or a committee thereof on a quarterly basis.

Fair Value Hierarchy: Various inputs are used in determining the fair value of financial instruments. These inputs to valuation techniques are categorized into a fair value hierarchy consisting of three broad levels for financial reporting purposes as follows:

•

Level 1 — Unadjusted price quotations in active markets/exchanges for identical assets or liabilities that the Fund has the ability to access;

•

Level 2 — Other observable inputs (including, but not limited to, quoted prices for similar assets or liabilities in markets that are active, quoted prices for identical or similar assets or liabilities in markets that are not active, inputs other than quoted prices that are observable for the assets or liabilities (such as interest rates, yield curves, volatilities, prepayment speeds, loss severities, credit risks and default rates) or other market–corroborated inputs); and

•

Level 3 — Unobservable inputs based on the best information available in the circumstances, to the extent observable inputs are not available (including the Global Valuation Committee’s assumptions used in determining the fair value of financial instruments).

The hierarchy gives the highest priority to unadjusted quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities (Level 1 measurements) and the lowest priority to unobservable inputs (Level 3 measurements). Accordingly, the degree of judgment exercised in determining fair value is greatest for instruments categorized in Level 3. The inputs used to measure fair value may fall into different levels of the fair value hierarchy. In such cases, for disclosure purposes, the fair value hierarchy classification is determined based on the lowest level input that is significant to the fair value measurement in its entirety. Investments classified within Level 3 have significant unobservable inputs used by the Global Valuation Committee in determining the price for Fair Valued Investments. Level 3 investments include equity or debt issued by privately held companies or funds that may not have a secondary market and/or may have a limited number of investors. The categorization of a value determined for financial instruments is based on the pricing transparency of the financial instruments and is not necessarily an indication of the risks associated with investing in those securities.

As of January 31, 2021, certain investments of the Fund were fair valued using NAV per share as no quoted market value is available and therefore have been excluded from the fair value hierarchy.


N O T E S T O F I N A N C I A L S T A T E M E N T S		21

Notes to Financial Statements (continued)

4.	*SECURITIES AND OTHER INVESTMENTS*

Securities Lending: The Fund may lend its securities to approved borrowers, such as brokers, dealers and other financial institutions. The borrower pledges and maintains with the Fund collateral consisting of cash, an irrevocable letter of credit issued by a bank, or securities issued or guaranteed by the U.S. Government. The initial collateral received by the Fund is required to have a value of at least 102% of the current value of the loaned securities for securities traded on U.S. exchanges and a value of at least 105% for all other securities. The collateral is maintained thereafter at a value equal to at least 100% of the current market value of the securities on loan. The market value of the loaned securities is determined at the close of each business day of the Fund and any additional required collateral is delivered to the Fund, or excess collateral returned by the Fund, on the next business day. During the term of the loan, the Fund is entitled to all distributions made on or in respect of the loaned securities, but does not receive interest income on securities received as collateral. Loans of securities are terminable at any time and the borrower, after notice, is required to return borrowed securities within the standard time period for settlement of securities transactions.

As of period end, any securities on loan were collateralized by cash and/or U.S. Government obligations. Cash collateral invested by the securities lending agent, BlackRock Investment Management, LLC (“BIM”), if any, is disclosed in the Schedule of Investments. Any non-cash collateral received cannot be sold, re-invested or pledged by the Fund, except in the event of borrower default. The securities on loan, if any, are disclosed in the Fund’s Schedule of Investments. The market value of any securities on loan and the value of any related collateral are shown separately in the Statement of Assets and Liabilities as a component of investments at value – unaffiliated and collateral on securities loaned at value, respectively.

Securities lending transactions are entered into by the Fund under Master Securities Lending Agreements (each, an “MSLA”), which provide the right, in the event of default (including bankruptcy or insolvency), for the non-defaulting party to liquidate the collateral and calculate a net exposure to the defaulting party or request additional collateral. In the event that a borrower defaults, the Fund, as lender, would offset the market value of the collateral received against the market value of the securities loaned. When the value of the collateral is greater than that of the market value of the securities loaned, the lender is left with a net amount payable to the defaulting party. However, bankruptcy or insolvency laws of a particular jurisdiction may impose restrictions on or prohibitions against such a right of offset in the event of an MSLA counterparty’s bankruptcy or insolvency. Under the MSLA, absent an event of default, the borrower can resell or re-pledge the loaned securities, and the Fund can reinvest cash collateral received in connection with loaned securities. Upon an event of default, the parties’ obligations to return the securities or collateral to the other party are extinguished, and the parties can resell or re-pledge the loaned securities or the collateral received in connection with the loaned securities in order to satisfy the defaulting party’s net payment obligation for all transactions under the MSLA. The defaulting party remains liable for any deficiency.

As of period end, the following table is a summary of the Fund’s securities on loan by counterparty which are subject to offset under an MSLA:


Counterparty		Securities Loaned at Value		Cash Collateral Received	^(a)		Net Amount
Barclays Capital, Inc.	$	1,510,836	$	(1,510,836	)	$	—


^(a) Collateral received in excess of the market value of securities on loan is not presented in this table. The total cash collateral received by the Fund is disclosed in the Fund’s Statement of Assets and Liabilities.

The risks of securities lending include the risk that the borrower may not provide additional collateral when required or may not return the securities when due. To mitigate these risks, the Fund benefits from a borrower default indemnity provided by BIM. BIM’s indemnity allows for full replacement of the securities loaned to the extent the collateral received does not cover the value on the securities loaned in the event of borrower default. The Fund could incur a loss if the value of an investment purchased with cash collateral falls below the market value of loaned securities or if the value of an investment purchased with cash collateral falls below the value of the original cash collateral received. Such losses are borne entirely by the Fund.

5.	*DERIVATIVE FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS*

The Fund engages in various portfolio investment strategies using derivative contracts both to increase the returns of the Fund and/or to manage its exposure to certain risks such as credit risk, equity risk, interest rate risk, foreign currency exchange rate risk, commodity price risk or other risks (e.g., inflation risk). Derivative financial instruments categorized by risk exposure are included in the Schedule of Investments. These contracts may be transacted on an exchange or OTC.

Forward Foreign Currency Exchange Contracts: Forward foreign currency exchange contracts are entered into to gain or reduce exposure to foreign currencies (foreign currency exchange rate risk).

A forward foreign currency exchange contract is an agreement between two parties to buy and sell a currency at a set exchange rate on a specified date. These contracts help to manage the overall exposure to the currencies in which some of the investments held by the Fund are denominated and in some cases, may be used to obtain exposure to a particular market. The contracts are traded OTC and not on an organized exchange.

The contract is marked-to-market daily and the change in market value is recorded as unrealized appreciation (depreciation) in the Statement of Assets and Liabilities. When a contract is closed, a realized gain or loss is recorded in the Statement of Operations equal to the difference between the value at the time it was opened and the value at the time it was closed. Non-deliverable forward foreign currency exchange contracts are settled with the counterparty in cash without the delivery of foreign currency. The use of forward foreign currency exchange contracts involves the risk that the value of a forward foreign currency exchange contract changes unfavorably due to movements in the value of the referenced foreign currencies, and such value may exceed the amounts reflected in the Statement of Assets and Liabilities. Cash amounts pledged for forward foreign currency exchange contracts are considered restricted and are included in cash pledged as collateral for OTC derivatives in the Statement of Assets and Liabilities. A Fund’s risk of loss from counterparty credit risk on OTC derivatives is generally limited to the aggregate unrealized gain netted against any collateral held by the Fund.


22		2 0 2 1 B L A C K R O C K A N N U A L R E P O R T T O S H A R E H O L D E R S

Notes to Financial Statements (continued)

Swaps: Swap contracts are entered into to manage exposure to issuers, markets and securities. Such contracts are agreements between the Fund and a counterparty to make periodic net payments on a specified notional amount or a net payment upon termination. Swap agreements are privately negotiated in the OTC market and may be entered into as a bilateral contract (“OTC swaps”) or centrally cleared (“centrally cleared swaps”).

For OTC swaps, any upfront premiums paid and any upfront fees received are shown as swap premiums paid and swap premiums received, respectively, in the Statement of Assets and Liabilities and amortized over the term of the contract. The daily fluctuation in market value is recorded as unrealized appreciation (depreciation) on OTC Swaps in the Statement of Assets and Liabilities. Payments received or paid are recorded in the Statement of Operations as realized gains or losses, respectively. When an OTC swap is terminated, a realized gain or loss is recorded in the Statement of Operations equal to the difference between the proceeds from (or cost of) the closing transaction and the Fund’s basis in the contract, if any. Generally, the basis of the contract is the premium received or paid.

•

Total return swaps — Total return swaps are entered into to obtain exposure to a security or market without owning such security or investing directly in such market or to exchange the risk/return of one security or market (e.g., fixed-income) with another security or market (e.g., equity or commodity prices) (equity risk, commodity price risk and/or interest rate risk).

Total return swaps are agreements in which there is an exchange of cash flows whereby one party commits to make payments based on the total return (distributions plus capital gains/losses) of an underlying instrument, or basket of underlying instruments, in exchange for fixed or floating rate interest payments. If the total return of the instrument(s) or index underlying the transaction exceeds or falls short of the offsetting fixed or floating interest rate obligation, the Fund receives payment from or makes a payment to the counterparty.

Certain total return swaps are designed to function as a portfolio of direct investments in long and short equity positions. This means that the Fund has the ability to trade in and out of these long and short positions within the swap and will receive the economic benefits and risks equivalent to direct investment in these positions, subject to certain adjustments due to events related to the counterparty. Benefits and risks include capital appreciation (depreciation), corporate actions and dividends received and paid, all of which are reflected in the swap’s market value. The market value also includes interest charges and credits (“financing fees”) related to the notional values of the long and short positions and cash balances within the swap. These interest charges and credits are based on a specified benchmark rate plus or minus a specified spread determined based upon the country and/or currency of the positions in the portfolio.

Positions within the swap and financing fees are reset periodically. During a reset, any unrealized appreciation (depreciation) on positions and accrued financing fees become available for cash settlement between the Fund and the counterparty. The amounts that are available for cash settlement are recorded as realized gains or losses in the Statement of Operations. Cash settlement in and out of the swap may occur at a reset date or any other date, at the discretion of the Fund and the counterparty, over the life of the agreement. Certain swaps have no stated expiration and can be terminated by either party at any time.

Swap transactions involve, to varying degrees, elements of interest rate, credit and market risk in excess of the amounts recognized in the Statement of Assets and Liabilities. Such risks involve the possibility that there will be no liquid market for these agreements, that the counterparty to the agreements may default on its obligation to perform or disagree as to the meaning of the contractual terms in the agreements, and that there may be unfavorable changes in interest rates and/or market values associated with these transactions.

Master Netting Arrangements: In order to define its contractual rights and to secure rights that will help it mitigate its counterparty risk, a Fund may enter into an International Swaps and Derivatives Association, Inc. Master Agreement (“ISDA Master Agreement”) or similar agreement with its counterparties. An ISDA Master Agreement is a bilateral agreement between a Fund and a counterparty that governs certain OTC derivatives and typically contains, among other things, collateral posting terms and netting provisions in the event of a default and/or termination event. Under an ISDA Master Agreement, a Fund may, under certain circumstances, offset with the counterparty certain derivative financial instruments’ payables and/or receivables with collateral held and/or posted and create one single net payment. The provisions of the ISDA Master Agreement typically permit a single net payment in the event of default including the bankruptcy or insolvency of the counterparty. However, bankruptcy or insolvency laws of a particular jurisdiction may impose restrictions on or prohibitions against the right of offset in bankruptcy, insolvency or other events.

Collateral Requirements: For derivatives traded under an ISDA Master Agreement, the collateral requirements are typically calculated by netting the mark-to-market amount for each transaction under such agreement and comparing that amount to the value of any collateral currently pledged by the Fund and the counterparty.

Cash collateral that has been pledged to cover obligations of the Fund and cash collateral received from the counterparty, if any, is reported separately in the Statement of Assets and Liabilities as cash pledged as collateral and cash received as collateral, respectively. Non-cash collateral pledged by the Fund, if any, is noted in the Schedule of Investments. Generally, the amount of collateral due from or to a counterparty is subject to a certain minimum transfer amount threshold before a transfer is required, which is determined at the close of business of the Fund. Any additional required collateral is delivered to/pledged by the Fund on the next business day. Typically, the counterparty is not permitted to sell, re-pledge or use cash and non-cash collateral it receives. The Fund generally agrees not to use non-cash collateral that it receives but may, absent default or certain other circumstances defined in the underlying ISDA Master Agreement, be permitted to use cash collateral received. In such cases, interest may be paid pursuant to the collateral arrangement with the counterparty. To the extent amounts due to the Fund from the counterparties are not fully collateralized, the Fund bears the risk of loss from counterparty non-performance. Likewise, to the extent the Fund has delivered collateral to a counterparty and stands ready to perform under the terms of its agreement with such counterparty, the Fund bears the risk of loss from a counterparty in the amount of the value of the collateral in the event the counterparty fails to return such collateral. Based on the terms of agreements, collateral may not be required for all derivative contracts.

For financial reporting purposes, the Fund does not offset derivative assets and derivative liabilities that are subject to netting arrangements, if any, in the Statement of Assets and Liabilities.


N O T E S T O F I N A N C I A L S T A T E M E N T S		23

Notes to Financial Statements (continued)

6.	*INVESTMENT ADVISORY AGREEMENT AND OTHER TRANSACTIONS WITH AFFILIATES*

Investment Advisory: The Trust, on behalf of the Fund, entered into an Investment Advisory Agreement with the Manager, the Fund’s investment adviser and an indirect, wholly-owned subsidiary of BlackRock, Inc. (“BlackRock”), to provide investment advisory services. The Manager is responsible for the management of the Fund’s portfolio and provides the personnel, facilities, equipment and certain other services necessary to the operations of the Fund.

For such services, the Fund pays the Manager a monthly fee at an annual rate equal to the following percentages of the average daily value of the Fund’s net assets:



Average Daily Net Assets	Investment Advisory Fees

First $1 billion		0.75	%
$1 billion - $3 billion		0.71
$3 billion - $5 billion		0.68
$5 billion - $10 billion		0.65
Greater than $10 billion		0.64

The Manager entered into a sub-advisory agreement with each of BlackRock International Limited (“BIL”) and BlackRock (Singapore) Limited (“BRS”) (collectively, the “Sub-Advisers”), each an affiliate of the Manager. The Manager pays BIL and BRS for services they provide for that portion of the Fund for which BIL and BRS, as applicable, acts as sub-adviser, a monthly fee that is equal to a percentage of the investment advisory fees paid by the Fund to the Manager.

Service and Distribution Fees: The Trust, on behalf of the Fund, entered into a Distribution Agreement and a Distribution and Service Plan with BlackRock Investments, LLC (“BRIL”), an affiliate of the Manager. Pursuant to the Distribution and Service Plan and in accordance with Rule 12b-1 under the 1940 Act, the Fund pays BRIL ongoing service and distribution fees. The fees are accrued daily and paid monthly at annual rates based upon the average daily net assets of the relevant share class of the Fund as follows:



Share Class	Service Fees			Distribution Fees

Investor A		0.25	%		N/A
Investor C		0.25			0.75	%

BRIL and broker-dealers, pursuant to sub-agreements with BRIL, provide shareholder servicing and distribution services to the Fund. The ongoing service and/or distribution fee compensates BRIL and each broker-dealer for providing shareholder servicing and/or distribution related services to shareholders.

For the year ended January 31, 2021, the following table shows the class specific service and distribution fees borne directly by each share class of the Fund:



	Investor A		Investor C		Total

Service and distribution fees — class specific	$	405,529	$	25,613	$	431,142

Administration: The Trust, on behalf of the Fund, entered into an Administration Agreement with the Manager, an indirect, wholly-owned subsidiary of BlackRock, to provide administrative services. For these services, the Manager receives an administration fee computed daily and payable monthly, based on a percentage of the average daily net assets of the Fund. The administration fee, which is shown as administration in the Statement of Operations, is paid at the annual rates below.



Average Daily Net Assets	Administration Fees

First $500 million		0.0425	%
$500 million - $1 billion		0.0400
$1 billion - $2 billion		0.0375
$2 billion - $4 billion		0.0350
$4 billion - $13 billion		0.0325
Greater than $13 billion		0.0300

In addition, the Manager charges each of the share classes an administration fee, which is shown as administration — class specific in the Statement of Operations, at an annual rate of 0.02% of the average daily net assets of each respective class.

For the year ended January 31, 2021, the Fund paid the following to the Manager in return for these services, which are included in administration and administration — class specific in the Statement of Operations:



	Institutional		Investor A		Investor C		Total

Administration fees — class specific	$	14,184	$	32,369	$	513	$	47,066

Transfer Agent: Pursuant to written agreements, certain financial intermediaries, some of which may be affiliates, provide the Fund with sub-accounting, recordkeeping, sub-transfer agency and other administrative services with respect to servicing of underlying investor accounts. For these services, these entities receive an asset-based fee or an annual fee per shareholder account, which will vary depending on share class and/or net assets. For the year ended January 31, 2021, the Fund did not pay any amounts to affiliates in return for these services.


24		2 0 2 1 B L A C K R O C K A N N U A L R E P O R T T O S H A R E H O L D E R S

Notes to Financial Statements (continued)

The Manager maintains a call center that is responsible for providing certain shareholder services to the Fund. Shareholder services include responding to inquiries and processing purchases and sales based upon instructions from shareholders. For the year ended January 31, 2021, the Fund reimbursed the Manager the following amounts for costs incurred in running the call center, which are included in transfer agent — class specific in the Statement of Operations:



	Institutional		Investor A		Investor C		Total

Reimbursed amounts		$ 487		$ 3,392		$ 1,345		$ 5,224

For the year ended January 31, 2021, the following table shows the class specific transfer agent fees borne directly by each share class of the Fund:



	Institutional		Investor A		Investor C		Total

Transfer agent fees — class specific		$ 159,085		$ 340,566		$ 7,446		$ 507,097

Other Fees: For the year ended January 31, 2021, affiliates earned underwriting discounts, direct commissions and dealer concessions on sales of the Fund’s Investor A Shares of $1,771.

For the year ended January 31, 2021, affiliates received CDSCs in the amount of $860 and $955 for Investor A Shares and Investor C Shares, respectively.

Expense Limitations, Waivers and Reimbursements: The Manager contractually agreed to waive its investment advisory fees by the amount of investment advisory fees the Fund pays to the Manager indirectly through its investment in affiliated money market funds (the “affiliated money market fund waiver”) through May 31, 2021. The contractual agreement may be terminated upon 90 days’ notice by a majority of the trustees who are not “interested persons” of the Trust, as defined in the 1940 Act (“Independent Trustees”), or by a vote of a majority of the outstanding voting securities of the Fund. The amount of waivers and/or reimbursements of fees and expenses made pursuant to the expense limitation described below will be reduced by the amount of the affiliated money market fund waiver. Prior to May 29, 2020, this waiver was voluntary. This amount is included in fees waived and/or reimbursed by the Manager in the Statement of Operations. For the year ended January 31, 2021, the amount waived was $3,069.

The Manager has contractually agreed to waive its investment advisory fee with respect to any portion of the Fund’s assets invested in affiliated equity and fixed-income mutual funds and affiliated exchange-traded funds that have a contractual management fee through May 31, 2021. The contractual agreement may be terminated upon 90 days’ notice by a majority of the Independent Trustees, or by a vote of a majority of the outstanding voting securities of the Fund. For the year ended January 31, 2021, there were no fees waived and/or reimbursed by the Manager pursuant to this arrangement.

The Manager contractually agreed to waive and/or reimburse fees or expenses in order to limit expenses, excluding interest expense, dividend expense, tax expense, acquired fund fees and expenses, and certain other fund expenses, which constitute extraordinary expenses not incurred in the ordinary course of the Fund’s business (“expense limitation”). The current expense limitations as a percentage of average daily net assets are as follows:



Institutional		Investor A		Investor C

	0.75%		1.00%		1.75%

Prior to May 29, 2020, the expense limitations as a percentage of average daily net assets for classes were as follows:



Institutional		Investor A		Investor C

	1.05%		1.30%		2.05%

The Manager has agreed not to reduce or discontinue these contractual expense limitations through May 31, 2021, unless approved by the Board, including a majority of the Independent Trustees, or by a vote of a majority of the outstanding voting securities of the Fund. For the year ended January 31, 2021, the Manager waived and/or reimbursed investment advisory fees of $273,866 which is included in fees waived and/or reimbursed by the Manager in the Statement of Operations.

In addition, these amounts waived and/or reimbursed by the Manager are included in administration fees waived — class specific and transfer agent fees waived and/or reimbursed — class specific, respectively, in the Statement of Operations. For the year ended January 31, 2021, class specific expense waivers and/or reimbursements are as follows:



	Institutional		Investor A		Investor C		Total

Administration fees waived — class specific		$ 14,184		$ 32,369		$ 513		$ 47,066
Transfer agent fees waived and/or reimbursed — class specific		125,449		266,002		5,965		397,416

Securities Lending: The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) has issued an exemptive order which permits BIM, an affiliate of the Manager, to serve as securities lending agent for the Fund, subject to applicable conditions. As securities lending agent, BIM bears all operational costs directly related to securities lending. The Fund is responsible for expenses in connection with the investment of cash collateral received for securities on loan (the “collateral investment expenses”). The cash collateral is invested in a private investment company, Money Market Series, managed by the Manager or its affiliates. However, BIM has agreed to cap the collateral investment expenses of the Money Market Series to an annual rate of 0.04%. The investment adviser to the Money Market Series will not charge any advisory fees with respect to shares purchased by the Fund. The Money Market Series may, under certain circumstances, impose a liquidity fee of up to 2% of the value withdrawn or temporarily restrict withdrawals for up to 10 business days during a 90 day period, in the event that the private investment company’s weekly liquid assets fall below certain thresholds. The Money Market Series seeks current income consistent with maintaining liquidity and preserving capital. Although the Money Market Series is not registered under the 1940 Act, its investments may follow the parameters of investments by a money market fund that is subject to Rule 2a-7 under the 1940 Act.


N O T E S T O F I N A N C I A L S T A T E M E N T S		25

Notes to Financial Statements (continued)

Securities lending income is equal to the total of income earned from the reinvestment of cash collateral, net of fees and other payments to and from borrowers of securities, and less the collateral investment expenses. The Fund retains a portion of securities lending income and remits a remaining portion to BIM as compensation for its services as securities lending agent.

Pursuant to the current securities lending agreement, the Fund retains 77% of securities lending income (which excludes collateral investment expenses), and this amount retained can never be less than 70% of the total of securities lending income plus the collateral investment expenses.

In addition, commencing the business day following the date that the aggregate securities lending income earned across the BlackRock Multi-Asset Complex in a calendar year exceeds a specified threshold, the Fund, pursuant to the securities lending agreement, will retain for the remainder of that calendar year securities lending income in an amount equal to 81% of securities lending income (which excludes collateral investment expenses), and this amount retained can never be less than 70% of the total of securities lending income plus the collateral investment expenses.

Prior to January 1, 2021, the Fund retained 75% of securities lending income (which excluded collateral investment expenses) and the amount retained could never be less than 70% of the total of securities lending income plus the collateral investment expenses. In addition, commencing the business day following the date that the aggregate securities lending income earned across the BlackRock Multi-Asset Complex in a calendar year exceeded a specified threshold, the Fund would retain for the remainder of that calendar year 80% of securities lending income (which excluded collateral investment expenses), and the amount retained could never be less than 70% of the total of securities lending income plus the collateral investment expenses.

The share of securities lending income earned by the Fund is shown as securities lending income — affiliated — net in the Statement of Operations. For the year ended January 31, 2021, the Fund paid BIM $1,673 for securities lending agent services.

Interfund Lending: In accordance with an exemptive order (the “Order”) from the SEC, the Fund may participate in a joint lending and borrowing facility for temporary purposes (the “Interfund Lending Program”), subject to compliance with the terms and conditions of the Order, and to the extent permitted by the Fund’s investment policies and restrictions. The Fund is currently permitted to borrow and lend under the Interfund Lending Program.

A lending BlackRock fund may lend in aggregate up to 15% of its net assets, but may not lend more than 5% of its net assets to any one borrowing fund through the Interfund Lending Program. A borrowing BlackRock fund may not borrow through the Interfund Lending Program or from any other source more than 33 1/3% of its total assets (or any lower threshold provided for by the fund’s investment restrictions). If a borrowing BlackRock fund’s total outstanding borrowings exceed 10% of its total assets, each of its outstanding interfund loans will be subject to collateralization of at least 102% of the outstanding principal value of the loan. All interfund loans are for temporary or emergency purposes and the interest rate to be charged will be the average of the highest current overnight repurchase agreement rate available to a lending fund and the bank loan rate, as calculated according to a formula established by the Board.

During the year ended January 31, 2021, the Fund did not participate in the Interfund Lending Program.

Trustees and Officers: Certain trustees and/or officers of the Trust are directors and/or officers of BlackRock or its affiliates. The Fund reimburses the Manager for a portion of the compensation paid to the Trust’s Chief Compliance Officer, which is included in Trustees and Officer in the Statement of Operations.

7.	*PURCHASES AND SALES*

For the year ended January 31, 2021, purchases and sales of investments, excluding short-term investments, were $157,966,522 and $133,725,470, respectively.

8.	*INCOME TAX INFORMATION*

It is the Fund’s policy to comply with the requirements of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, applicable to regulated investment companies, and to distribute substantially all of its taxable income to its shareholders. Therefore, no U.S. federal income tax provision is required.

The Fund files U.S. federal and various state and local tax returns. No income tax returns are currently under examination. The statute of limitations on the Fund’s U.S. federal tax returns generally remains open for a period of three fiscal years after they are filed. The statutes of limitations on the Fund’s state and local tax returns may remain open for an additional year depending upon the jurisdiction.

Management has analyzed tax laws and regulations and their application to the Fund as of January 31, 2021, inclusive of the open tax return years, and does not believe that there are any uncertain tax positions that require recognition of a tax liability in the Fund’s financial statements.

The tax character of distributions paid was as follows:



	01/31/21		01/31/20

Ordinary income	$	3,781,180	$	1,809,607
Long-term capital gains		—		390,168
Return of capital		1,232,944		—

	$	5,014,124	$	2,199,775


26		2 0 2 1 B L A C K R O C K A N N U A L R E P O R T T O S H A R E H O L D E R S

Notes to Financial Statements (continued)

As of period end, the tax components of accumulated loss were as follows:



	Amounts

Non-expiring capital loss carryforwards^(a)	$	(8,826,517	)
Net unrealized gains^(b)		1,817,233

	$	(7,009,284	)

^(a)

Amounts available to offset future realized capital gains.

^(b)

The difference between book-basis and tax-basis net unrealized gains was attributable primarily to the tax deferral of losses on wash sales, the realization for tax purposes of unrealized gains (losses) on certain foreign currency contracts and the accounting for swap agreements.

As of January 31, 2021, gross unrealized appreciation and depreciation based on cost of investments (including short positions and derivatives, if any) for U.S. federal income tax purposes were as follows:



	Amounts

Tax cost	$	272,295,136

Gross unrealized appreciation	$	14,369,377
Gross unrealized depreciation		(12,552,388	)

Net unrealized appreciation (depreciation)	$	1,816,989

9.	*BANK BORROWINGS*

The Trust, on behalf of the Fund, along with certain other funds managed by the Manager and its affiliates (“Participating Funds”), is a party to a 364-day, $2.25 billion credit agreement with a group of lenders. Under this agreement, the Fund may borrow to fund shareholder redemptions. Excluding commitments designated for certain individual funds, the Participating Funds, including the Fund, can borrow up to an aggregate commitment amount of $1.75 billion at any time outstanding, subject to asset coverage and other limitations as specified in the agreement. The credit agreement has the following terms: a fee of 0.10% per annum on unused commitment amounts and interest at a rate equal to the higher of (a) one-month LIBOR (but, in any event, not less than 0.00%) on the date the loan is made plus 0.80% per annum or (b) the Fed Funds rate (but, in any event, not less than 0.00%) in effect from time to time plus 0.80% per annum on amounts borrowed. The agreement expires in April 2021 unless extended or renewed. These fees were allocated among such funds based upon portions of the aggregate commitment available to them and relative net assets of Participating Funds. During the year ended January 31, 2021, the Fund did not borrow under the credit agreement.

10.

PRINCIPAL RISKS

In the normal course of business, the Fund invests in securities or other instruments and may enter into certain transactions, and such activities subject the Fund to various risks, including among others, fluctuations in the market (market risk) or failure of an issuer to meet all of its obligations. The value of securities or other instruments may also be affected by various factors, including, without limitation: (i) the general economy; (ii) the overall market as well as local, regional or global political and/or social instability; (iii) regulation, taxation or international tax treaties between various countries; or (iv) currency, interest rate and price fluctuations. Local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, the spread of infectious illness or other public health issues, recessions, or other events could have a significant impact on the Fund and its investments. The Fund’s prospectus provides details of the risks to which the Fund is subject.

The Fund may be exposed to additional risks when reinvesting cash collateral in money market funds that do not seek to maintain a stable NAV per share of $1.00, which may be subject to redemption gates or liquidity fees under certain circumstances.

Market Risk: An outbreak of respiratory disease caused by a novel coronavirus has developed into a global pandemic and has resulted in closing borders, quarantines, disruptions to supply chains and customer activity, as well as general concern and uncertainty. The impact of this pandemic, and other global health crises that may arise in the future, could affect the economies of many nations, individual companies and the market in general in ways that cannot necessarily be foreseen at the present time. This pandemic may result in substantial market volatility and may adversely impact the prices and liquidity of a fund’s investments. The duration of this pandemic and its effects cannot be determined with certainty.

Valuation Risk: The market values of equities, such as common stocks and preferred securities or equity related investments, such as futures and options, may decline due to general market conditions which are not specifically related to a particular company. They may also decline due to factors which affect a particular industry or industries. The Fund may invest in illiquid investments. An illiquid investment is any investment that the Fund reasonably expects cannot be sold or disposed of in current market conditions in seven calendar days or less without the sale or disposition significantly changing the market value of the investment. The Fund may experience difficulty in selling illiquid investments in a timely manner at the price that it believes the investments are worth. Prices may fluctuate widely over short or extended periods in response to company, market or economic news. Markets also tend to move in cycles, with periods of rising and falling prices. This volatility may cause the Fund’s NAV to experience significant increases or decreases over short periods of time. If there is a general decline in the securities and other markets, the NAV of the Fund may lose value, regardless of the individual results of the securities and other instruments in which the Fund invests.

Counterparty Credit Risk: The Fund may be exposed to counterparty credit risk, or the risk that an entity may fail to or be unable to perform on its commitments related to unsettled or open transactions, including making timely interest and/or principal payments or otherwise honoring its obligations. The Fund manages counterparty credit risk by entering into transactions only with counterparties that the Manager believes have the financial resources to honor their obligations and by monitoring the financial stability of those counterparties. Financial assets, which potentially expose the Fund to market, issuer and counterparty credit risks, consist principally of financial instruments and


N O T E S T O F I N A N C I A L S T A T E M E N T S		27

Notes to Financial Statements (continued)

receivables due from counterparties. The extent of the Fund’s exposure to market, issuer and counterparty credit risks with respect to these financial assets is approximately their value recorded in the Statement of Assets and Liabilities, less any collateral held by the Fund.

A derivative contract may suffer a mark-to-market loss if the value of the contract decreases due to an unfavorable change in the market rates or values of the underlying instrument. Losses can also occur if the counterparty does not perform under the contract.

Concentration Risk: A diversified portfolio, where this is appropriate and consistent with a fund’s objectives, minimizes the risk that a price change of a particular investment will have a material impact on the NAV of a fund. The investment concentrations within the Fund’s portfolio are disclosed in its Schedule of Investments.

The Fund invest a significant portion of its assets in securities within a single or limited number of market sectors. When a Fund concentrates its investments in this manner, it assumes the risk that economic, regulatory, political and social conditions affecting such sectors may have a significant impact on the Fund and could affect the income from, or the value or liquidity of the Fund’s portfolio. Investment percentages in specific sectors are presented in the Schedule of Investments.

LIBOR Transition Risk: The United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority announced a phase out of the London Interbank Offered Rate (“LIBOR”) by the end of 2021, and it is expected that LIBOR will cease to be published after that time. The Fund may be exposed to financial instruments tied to LIBOR to determine payment obligations, financing terms, hedging strategies or investment value. The transition process away from LIBOR might lead to increased volatility and illiquidity in markets for, and reduce the effectiveness of new hedges placed against, instruments whose terms currently include LIBOR. The ultimate effect of the LIBOR transition process on the Fund is uncertain.

11.

CAPITAL SHARE TRANSACTIONS

Transactions in capital shares for each class were as follows:



	Year Ended 01/31/21						Year Ended 01/31/20

Share Class	Shares			Amounts			Shares			Amounts

Institutional

Shares sold		2,875,247		$	35,444,839			6,913,337		$	98,988,486

Shares issued in reinvestment of distributions		128,997			1,612,144			63,181			896,185

Shares redeemed		(2,354,080	)		(28,062,061	)		(2,186,423	)		(30,932,343	)

		650,164		$	8,994,922			4,790,095		$	68,952,328


Investor A

Shares sold and automatic conversion of shares		4,543,147		$	53,272,103			13,983,225		$	203,699,374

Shares issued in reinvestment of distributions		270,525			3,369,301			88,540			1,261,519

Shares redeemed		(3,554,391	)		(43,762,965	)		(2,950,862	)		(42,271,952	)

		1,259,281		$	12,878,439			11,120,903		$	162,688,941


Investor C

Shares sold		31,593		$	371,238			90,315		$	1,234,155

Shares issued in reinvestment of distributions		2,373			29,470			2,373			33,190

Shares redeemed and automatic conversion of shares		(141,813	)		(1,715,362	)		(37,488	)		(513,284	)

		(107,847	)	$	(1,314,654	)		55,200		$	754,061

		1,801,598		$	20,558,707			15,966,198		$	232,395,330

12.

SUBSEQUENT EVENTS

Management has evaluated the impact of all subsequent events on the Fund through the date the financial statements were issued and has determined that there were no subsequent events requiring adjustment or additional disclosure in the financial statements.


28		2 0 2 1 B L A C K R O C K A N N U A L R E P O R T T O S H A R E H O L D E R S

Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

To the Shareholders of BlackRock Real Estate Securities Fund and the Board of Trustees of BlackRock Funds^SM:

Opinion on the Financial Statements and Financial Highlights

We have audited the accompanying statement of assets and liabilities of BlackRock Real Estate Securities Fund of BlackRock Funds^SM (the “Fund”), including the schedule of investments, as of January 31, 2021, the related statement of operations for the year then ended, the statements of changes in net assets for each of the two years in the period then ended, the financial highlights for each of the five years in the period then ended, and the related notes. In our opinion, the financial statements and financial highlights present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Fund as of January 31, 2021, and the results of its operations for the year then ended, the changes in its net assets for each of the two years in the period then ended, and the financial highlights for each of the five years in the period then ended, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.

Basis for Opinion

These financial statements and financial highlights are the responsibility of the Fund’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Fund’s financial statements and financial highlights based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB) and are required to be independent with respect to the Fund in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements and financial highlights are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud. The Fund is not required to have, nor were we engaged to perform, an audit of its internal control over financial reporting. As part of our audits we are required to obtain an understanding of internal control over financial reporting but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the Fund’s internal control over financial reporting. Accordingly, we express no such opinion.

Our audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements and financial highlights, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements and financial highlights. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements and financial highlights. Our procedures included confirmation of securities owned as of January 31, 2021, by correspondence with the custodian and brokers; when replies were not received from brokers, we performed other auditing procedures. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.

Deloitte & Touche LLP

Boston, Massachusetts

March 23, 2021

We have served as the auditor of one or more BlackRock investment companies since 1992.


R E P O R T O F I N D E P E N D E N T R E G I S T E R E D P U B L I C A C C O U N T I N G F I R M		29

Important Tax Information (unaudited)

The following maximum amounts are hereby designated as qualified dividend income for individuals for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2021:



Fund Name	Qualified Dividend Income

BlackRock Real Estate Securities Fund		$ 111,170

The following maximum amounts are hereby designated as qualified business income for individuals for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2021:



Fund Name	Qualified Business Income

BlackRock Real Estate Securities Fund		$ 3,379,143


30		2 0 2 1 B L A C K R O C K A N N U A L R E P O R T T O S H A R E H O L D E R S

Statement Regarding Liquidity Risk Management Program

In compliance with Rule 22e-4 under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “Liquidity Rule”), BlackRock Funds^SM (the “Trust”) has adopted and implemented a liquidity risk management program (the “Program”) for BlackRock Real Estate Securities Fund (the “Fund”), a series of the Trust, which is reasonably designed to assess and manage the Fund’s liquidity risk.

The Board of Trustees (the “Board”) of the Trust, on behalf of the Fund, met on November 10-11, 2020 (the “Meeting”) to review the Program. The Board previously appointed BlackRock Advisors, LLC or BlackRock Fund Advisors (“BlackRock”), each an investment adviser to certain Funds, as the program administrator for each Fund’s Program, as applicable. BlackRock also previously delegated oversight of the Program to the 40 Act Liquidity Risk Management Committee (the “Committee”). At the Meeting, the Committee, on behalf of BlackRock, provided the Board with a report that addressed the operation of the Program and assessed its adequacy and effectiveness of implementation, including the management of each Fund’s Highly Liquid Investment Minimum (“HLIM”) where applicable, and any material changes to the Program (the “Report”). The Report covered the period from October 1, 2019 through September 30, 2020 (the “Program Reporting Period”).

The Report described the Program’s liquidity classification methodology for categorizing a Fund’s investments (including derivative transactions) into one of four liquidity buckets. It also referenced the methodology used by BlackRock to establish a Fund’s HLIM and noted that the Committee reviews and ratifies the HLIM assigned to each Fund no less frequently than annually. The Report also discussed notable events affecting liquidity over the Program Reporting Period, including the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on the Funds and the overall market.

The Report noted that the Program complied with the key factors for consideration under the Liquidity Rule for assessing, managing and periodically reviewing a Fund’s liquidity risk, as follows:

The Fund’s investment strategy and liquidity of portfolio investments during both normal and reasonably foreseeable stressed conditions. During the Program Reporting Period, the Committee reviewed whether each Fund’s strategy is appropriate for an open-end fund structure with a focus on Funds with more significant and consistent holdings of less liquid and illiquid assets. The Committee also factored a Fund’s concentration in an issuer into the liquidity classification methodology by taking issuer position sizes into account. Where a Fund participated in borrowings for investment purposes (such as tender option bonds and reverse repurchase agreements), such borrowings were factored into the Program’s calculation of a Fund’s liquidity bucketing. Derivative exposure was also considered in such calculation.

Short-term and long-term cash flow projections during both normal and reasonably foreseeable stressed conditions. During the Program Reporting Period, the Committee reviewed historical net redemption activity and used this information as a component to establish each Fund’s reasonably anticipated trading size (“RATS”). Each Fund has adopted an in-kind redemption policy which may be utilized to meet larger redemption requests. The Committee may also take into consideration a Fund’s shareholder ownership concentration (which, depending on product type and distribution channel, may or may not be available), a Fund’s distribution channels, and the degree of certainty associated with a Fund’s short-term and long-term cash flow projections.

Holdings of cash and cash equivalents, as well as borrowing arrangements. The Committee considered the terms of the credit facility committed to the Funds, the financial health of the institution providing the facility and the fact that the credit facility is shared among multiple Funds (including that a portion of the aggregate commitment amount is specifically designated for BlackRock Floating Rate Income Portfolio, a series of BlackRock Funds V). The Committee also considered other types of borrowing available to the Funds, such as the ability to use reverse repurchase agreements and interfund lending, as applicable.

There were no material changes to the Program during the Program Reporting Period. The Report provided to the Board stated that the Committee concluded that based on the operation of the functions, as described in the Report, the Program is operating as intended and is effective in implementing the requirements of the Liquidity Rule.


S T A T E M E N T R E G A R D I N G L I Q U I D I T Y R I S K M A N A G E M E N T P R O G R A M		31

Trustee and Officer Information


Independent Trustees^(a)

Name Year of Birth^(b)	Position(s) Held (Length of Service)^(c)	Principal Occupation(s) During Past Five Years	Number of BlackRock-Advised Registered Investment Companies (“RICs”) Consisting of Investment Portfolios (“Portfolios”) Overseen	Public Company and Other Investment Company Directorships Held During Past Five Years

Mark Stalnecker 1951	Chair of the Board (Since 2019) and Trustee (Since 2015)	Chief Investment Officer, University of Delaware from 1999 to 2013; Trustee and Chair of the Finance and Investment Committees, Winterthur Museum and Country Estate from 2005 to 2016; Member of the Investment Committee, Delaware Public Employees’ Retirement System since 2002; Member of the Investment Committee, Christiana Care Health System from 2009 to 2017; Member of the Investment Committee, Delaware Community Foundation from 2013 to 2014; Director and Chair of the Audit Committee, SEI Private Trust Co. from 2001 to 2014.	33 RICs consisting of 157 Portfolios	None

Bruce R. Bond 1946	Trustee (Since 2019)	Board Member, Amsphere Limited (software) since 2018; Trustee and Member of the Governance Committee, State Street Research Mutual Funds from 1997 to 2005; Board Member of Governance, Audit and Finance Committee, Avaya Inc. (computer equipment) from 2003 to 2007.	33 RICs consisting of 157 Portfolios	None

Susan J. Carter 1956	Trustee (Since 2016)	Director, Pacific Pension Institute from 2014 to 2018; Advisory Board Member, Center for Private Equity and Entrepreneurship at Tuck School of Business since 1997; Senior Advisor, Commonfund Capital, Inc. (“CCI”) (investment adviser) in 2015; Chief Executive Officer, CCI from 2013 to 2014; President & Chief Executive Officer, CCI from 1997 to 2013; Advisory Board Member, Girls Who Invest from 2015 to 2018 and Board Member thereof since 2018; Advisory Board Member, Bridges Fund Management since 2016; Trustee, Financial Accounting Foundation since 2017; Practitioner Advisory Board Member, Private Capital Research Institute (“PCRI”) since 2017; Lecturer in the Practice of Management, Yale School of Management since 2019.	33 RICs consisting of 157 Portfolios	None

Collette Chilton 1958	Trustee (Since 2015)	Chief Investment Officer, Williams College since 2006; Chief Investment Officer, Lucent Asset Management Corporation from 1998 to 2006. Director, Boys and Girls Club of Boston since 2017; Director, B1 Capital since 2018; Director, David and Lucile Packard Foundation since 2020.	33 RICs consisting of 157 Portfolios	None

Neil A. Cotty 1954	Trustee (Since 2016)	Bank of America Corporation from 1996 to 2015, serving in various senior finance leadership roles, including Chief Accounting Officer from 2009 to 2015, Chief Financial Officer of Global Banking, Markets and Wealth Management from 2008 to 2009, Chief Accounting Officer from 2004 to 2008, Chief Financial Officer of Consumer Bank from 2003 to 2004, Chief Financial Officer of Global Corporate Investment Bank from 1999 to 2002.	33 RICs consisting of 157 Portfolios	None

Lena G. Goldberg 1949	Trustee (Since 2019)	Senior Lecturer, Harvard Business School, since 2008; Director, Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Inc. since 2013; FMR LLC/Fidelity Investments (financial services) from 1996 to 2008, serving in various senior roles including Executive Vice President—Strategic Corporate Initiatives and Executive Vice President and General Counsel; Partner, Sullivan & Worcester LLP from 1985 to 1996 and Associate thereof from 1979 to 1985.	33 RICs consisting of 157 Portfolios	None

Henry R. Keizer 1956	Trustee (Since 2019)	Director, Park Indemnity Ltd. (captive insurer) since 2010; Director, MUFG Americas Holdings Corporation and MUFG Union Bank, N.A. (financial and bank holding company) from 2014 to 2016; Director, American Institute of Certified Public Accountants from 2009 to 2011; Director, KPMG LLP (audit, tax and advisory services) from 2004 to 2005 and 2010 to 2012; Director, KPMG International in 2012, Deputy Chairman and Chief Operating Officer thereof from 2010 to 2012 and U.S. Vice Chairman of Audit thereof from 2005 to 2010; Global Head of Audit, KPMGI (consortium of KPMG firms) from 2006 to 2010; Director, YMCA of Greater New York from 2006 to 2010.	33 RICs consisting of 157 Portfolios	Hertz Global Holdings (car rental); Montpelier Re Holdings, Ltd. (publicly held property and casualty reinsurance) from 2013 until 2015; WABCO (commercial vehicle safety systems); Sealed Air Corp. (packaging) until May 2020


32		2 0 2 1 B L A C K R O C K A N N U A L R E P O R T T O S H A R E H O L D E R S

Trustee and Officer Information (continued)


Independent Trustees^(a)

Name Year of Birth^(b)	Position(s) Held (Length of Service)^(c)	Principal Occupation(s) During Past Five Years	Number of BlackRock-Advised Registered Investment Companies (“RICs”) Consisting of Investment Portfolios (“Portfolios”) Overseen	Public Company and Other Investment Company Directorships Held During Past Five Years

Cynthia A. Montgomery 1952	Trustee (Since 2007)	Professor, Harvard Business School since 1989.	33 RICs consisting of 157 Portfolios	Newell Rubbermaid, Inc. (manufacturing) 1995-2016

Donald C. Opatrny 1952	Trustee (Since 2019)	Trustee, Vice Chair, Member of the Executive Committee and Chair of the Investment Committee, Cornell University from 2004 to 2019; President, Trustee and Member of the Investment Committee, The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum from 2007 to 2014; Member of the Board and Investment Committee, University School from 2007 to 2018; Member of the Investment Committee, Mellon Foundation from 2009 to 2015; Trustee, Artstor (a Mellon Foundation affiliate) from 2010 to 2015; President and Trustee, the Center for the Arts, Jackson Hole from 2011 to 2018; Director, Athena Capital Advisors LLC (investment management firm) since 2013; Trustee and Chair of the Investment Committee, Community Foundation of Jackson Hole since 2014; Member of Affordable Housing Supply Board of Jackson, Wyoming since 2017; Member, Investment Funds Committee, State of Wyoming since 2017; Trustee, Phoenix Art Museum since 2018; Trustee, Arizona Community Foundation and Member of Investment Committee since 2020.	33 RICs consisting of 157 Portfolios	None

Joseph P. Platt 1947	Trustee (Since 2007)	General Partner, Thorn Partners, LP (private investments) since 1998; Director, WQED Multi-Media (public broadcasting not-for-profit) since 2001; Chair, Basic Health International (non-profit) since 2015.	33 RICs consisting of 157 Portfolios	Greenlight Capital Re, Ltd. (reinsurance company); Consol Energy Inc.

Kenneth L. Urish 1951	Trustee (Since 2007)	Managing Partner, Urish Popeck & Co., LLC (certified public accountants and consultants) since 1976; Past-Chairman of the Professional Ethics Committee of the Pennsylvania Institute of Certified Public Accountants and Committee Member thereof since 2007; Member of External Advisory Board, The Pennsylvania State University Accounting Department since founding in 2001; Principal, UP Strategic Wealth Investment Advisors, LLC since 2013; Trustee, The Holy Family Institute from 2001 to 2010; President and Trustee, Pittsburgh Catholic Publishing Associates from 2003 to 2008; Director, Inter-Tel from 2006 to 2007. Member Advisory Board, ESG Competent Boards since 2020.	33 RICs consisting of 157 Portfolios	None

Claire A. Walton 1957	Trustee (Since 2016)	Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer of Liberty Square Asset Management, LP from 1998 to 2015; General Partner of Neon Liberty Capital Management, LLC since 2003; Director, Boston Hedge Fund Group from 2009 to 2018; Director, Woodstock Ski Runners since 2013; Director, Massachusetts Council on Economic Education from 2013 to 2015.	33 RICs consisting of 157 Portfolios	None


T R U S T E E A N D O F F I C E R I N F O R M A T I O N		33

Trustee and Officer Information (continued)


Interested Trustees^(a)(d)

Name Year of Birth^(b)	Position(s) Held (Length of Service)^(c)	Principal Occupation(s) During Past Five Years	Number of BlackRock-Advised Registered Investment Companies (“RICs”) Consisting of Investment Portfolios (“Portfolios”) Overseen	Public Company and Other Investment Company Directorships Held During Past Five Years

Robert Fairbairn 1965	Trustee (Since 2018)	Vice Chairman of BlackRock, Inc. since 2019; Member of BlackRock’s Global Executive and Global Operating Committees; Co-Chair of BlackRock’s Human Capital Committee; Senior Managing Director of BlackRock, Inc. from 2010 to 2019; oversaw BlackRock’s Strategic Partner Program and Strategic Product Management Group from 2012 to 2019; Member of the Board of Managers of BlackRock Investments, LLC from 2011 to 2018; Global Head of BlackRock’s Retail and iShares^® businesses from 2012 to 2016.	117 RICs consisting of 265 Portfolios	None

John M. Perlowski^(e) 1964	Trustee (Since 2015), President and Chief Executive Officer (Since 2010)	Managing Director of BlackRock, Inc. since 2009; Head of BlackRock Global Accounting and Product Services since 2009; Advisory Director of Family Resource Network (charitable foundation) since 2009.	118 RICs consisting of 266 Portfolios	None

^(a)	The address of each Trustee is c/o BlackRock, Inc., 55 East 52nd Street, New York, New York 10055.

^(b)	Independent Trustees serve until their resignation, retirement, removal or death, or until December 31 of the year in which they turn 75. The Board may determine to extend the terms of Independent Trustees on a case-by-case basis, as appropriate.

^(c)

Following the combination of Merrill Lynch Investment Managers, L.P. (“MLIM”) and BlackRock, Inc. in September 2006, the various legacy MLIM and legacy BlackRock fund boards were realigned and consolidated into three new fund boards in 2007. Furthermore, effective January 1, 2019, three BlackRock Fund Complexes were realigned and consolidated into two BlackRock Fund Complexes. As a result, although the chart shows the year that each Independent Trustee joined the Board, certain Independent Trustees first became members of the boards of other BlackRock-advised Funds, legacy MLIM funds or legacy BlackRock funds as follows: Bruce R. Bond, 2005; Cynthia A. Montgomery, 1994; Joseph P. Platt, 1999; Kenneth L. Urish, 1999; Lena G. Goldberg, 2016; Henry R. Keizer, 2016; Donald C. Opatrny, 2015.

^(d)	Mr. Fairbairn and Mr. Perlowski are both “interested persons,” as defined in the 1940 Act, of the Trust based on their positions with BlackRock, Inc. and its affiliates. Mr. Fairbairn and Mr. Perlowski are also board members of the BlackRock Fixed-Income Complex.

^(e)	Mr. Perlowski is also a trustee of the BlackRock Credit Strategies Fund.


34		2 0 2 1 B L A C K R O C K A N N U A L R E P O R T T O S H A R E H O L D E R S

Trustee and Officer Information (continued)


Officers Who Are Not Trustees^(a)

Name Year of Birth^(b)	Position(s) Held (Length of Service)	Principal Occupation(s) During Past Five Years

Thomas Callahan 1968	Vice President (Since 2016)	Managing Director of BlackRock, Inc. since 2013; Member of the Board of Managers of BlackRock Investments, LLC (principal underwriter) since 2019 and Managing Director thereof since 2017; Head of BlackRock’s Global Cash Management Business since 2016; Co-Head of the Global Cash Management Business from 2014 to 2016; Deputy Head of the Global Cash Management Business from 2013 to 2014; Member of the Cash Management Group Executive Committee since 2013; Chief Executive Officer of NYSE Liffe U.S. from 2008 to 2013.

Jennifer McGovern 1977	Vice President (Since 2014)	Managing Director of BlackRock, Inc. since 2016; Director of BlackRock, Inc. from 2011 to 2015; Head of Americas Product Development and Governance for BlackRock’s Global Product Group since 2019; Head of Product Structure and Oversight for BlackRock’s U.S. Wealth Advisory Group from 2013 to 2019.

Trent Walker 1974	Chief Financial Officer (Since 2021)	Managing Director of BlackRock, Inc. since September 2019; Executive Vice President of PIMCO from 2016 to 2019; Senior Vice President of PIMCO from 2008 to 2015; Treasurer from 2013 to 2019 and Assistant Treasurer from 2007 to 2017 of PIMCO Funds, PIMCO Variable Insurance Trust, PIMCO ETF Trust, PIMCO Equity Series, PIMCO Equity Series VIT, PIMCO Managed Accounts Trust, 2 PIMCO-sponsored interval funds and 21 PIMCO-sponsored closed-end funds.

Jay M. Fife 1970	Treasurer (Since 2007)	Managing Director of BlackRock, Inc. since 2007.

Charles Park 1967	Chief Compliance Officer (Since 2014)	Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Officer for certain BlackRock-advised Funds from 2014 to 2015; Chief Compliance Officer of BlackRock Advisors, LLC and the BlackRock-advised Funds in the BlackRock Multi-Asset Complex and the BlackRock Fixed-Income Complex since 2014; Principal of and Chief Compliance Officer for iShares^® Delaware Trust Sponsor LLC since 2012 and BlackRock Fund Advisors (“BFA”) since 2006; Chief Compliance Officer for the BFA-advised iShares^® exchange traded funds since 2006; Chief Compliance Officer for BlackRock Asset Management International Inc. since 2012.

Lisa Belle 1968	Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Officer (Since 2019)	Managing Director of BlackRock, Inc. since 2019; Global Financial Crime Head for Asset and Wealth Management of JP Morgan from 2013 to 2019; Managing Director of RBS Securities from 2012 to 2013; Head of Financial Crimes for Barclays Wealth Americas from 2010 to 2012.

Janey Ahn 1975	Secretary (Since 2019)	Managing Director of BlackRock, Inc. since 2018; Director of BlackRock, Inc. from 2009 to 2017.
^(a) The address of each Officer is c/o BlackRock, Inc., 55 East 52nd Street, New York, New York 10055. ^(b) Officers of the Trust serve at the pleasure of the Board.

Further information about the Trust’s Trustees and Officers is available in the Trust’s Statement of Additional Information, which can be obtained without charge by calling (800) 441-7762.

Neal J. Andrews retired as the Chief Financial Officer effective December 31, 2020, and Trent Walker was elected as the Chief Financial Officer effective January 1, 2021.


T R U S T E E A N D O F F I C E R I N F O R M A T I O N		35

Additional Information

Regulation Regarding Derivatives

On October 28, 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) adopted new regulations governing the use of derivatives by registered investment companies (“Rule 18f-4”). The Fund will be required to implement and comply with Rule 18f-4 by the third quarter of 2022. Once implemented, Rule 18f-4 will impose limits on the amount of derivatives a fund can enter into, eliminate the asset segregation framework currently used by funds to comply with Section 18 of the 1940 Act, treat derivatives as senior securities so that a failure to comply with the limits would result in a statutory violation and require funds whose use of derivatives is more than a limited specified exposure amount to establish and maintain a comprehensive derivatives risk management program and appoint a derivatives risk manager.

General Information

Quarterly performance, semi-annual and annual reports, current net asset value and other information regarding the Fund may be found on BlackRock’s website, which can be accessed at blackrock.com. Any reference to BlackRock’s website in this report is intended to allow investors public access to information regarding the Fund and does not, and is not intended to, incorporate BlackRock’s website in this report.

Householding

The Fund will mail only one copy of shareholder documents, including prospectuses, annual and semi-annual reports, Rule 30e-3 notices and proxy statements, to shareholders with multiple accounts at the same address. This practice is commonly called “householding” and is intended to reduce expenses and eliminate duplicate mailings of shareholder documents. Mailings of your shareholder documents may be householded indefinitely unless you instruct us otherwise. If you do not want the mailing of these documents to be combined with those for other members of your household, please call the Fund at (800) 441-7762.

Availability of Quarterly Schedule of Investments

The Fund files its complete schedule of portfolio holdings with the SEC for the first and third quarters of each fiscal year as an exhibit to its reports on Form N-PORT. The Fund’s Form N-PORT is available on the SEC’s website at sec.gov. Additionally, the Fund makes its portfolio holdings for the first and third quarters of each fiscal year available at blackrock.com/fundreports.

Availability of Proxy Voting Policies and Procedures

A description of the policies and procedures that the Fund uses to determine how to vote proxies relating to portfolio securities is available upon request and without charge (1) by calling (800) 441-7762; (2) at blackrock.com; and (3) on the SEC’s website at sec.gov.

Availability of Proxy Voting Record

Information about how the Fund voted proxies relating to securities held in the Fund’s portfolio during the most recent 12-month period ended June 30 is available upon request and without charge (1) at blackrock.com; or by calling (800) 441-7762 and (2) on the SEC’s website at sec.gov.

BlackRock’s Mutual Fund Family

BlackRock offers a diverse lineup of open-end mutual funds crossing all investment styles and managed by experts in equity, fixed-income and tax-exempt investing. Visit blackrock.com for more information.

Shareholder Privileges

Account Information

Call us at (800) 441-7762 from 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM ET on any business day to get information about your account balances, recent transactions and share prices. You can also visit blackrock.com for more information.

Automatic Investment Plans

Investor class shareholders who want to invest regularly can arrange to have $50 or more automatically deducted from their checking or savings account and invested in any of the BlackRock funds.

Systematic Withdrawal Plans

Investor class shareholders can establish a systematic withdrawal plan and receive periodic payments of $50 or more from their BlackRock funds, as long as their account balance is at least $10,000.

Retirement Plans

Shareholders may make investments in conjunction with Traditional, Rollover, Roth, Coverdell, Simple IRAs, SEP IRAs and 403(b) Plans.


36		2 0 2 1 B L A C K R O C K A N N U A L R E P O R T T O S H A R E H O L D E R S

Additional Information (continued)

BlackRock Privacy Principles

BlackRock is committed to maintaining the privacy of its current and former fund investors and individual clients (collectively, “Clients”) and to safeguarding their non-public personal information. The following information is provided to help you understand what personal information BlackRock collects, how we protect that information and why in certain cases we share such information with select parties.

If you are located in a jurisdiction where specific laws, rules or regulations require BlackRock to provide you with additional or different privacy-related rights beyond what is set forth below, then BlackRock will comply with those specific laws, rules or regulations.

BlackRock obtains or verifies personal non-public information from and about you from different sources, including the following: (i) information we receive from you or, if applicable, your financial intermediary, on applications, forms or other documents; (ii) information about your transactions with us, our affiliates, or others; (iii) information we receive from a consumer reporting agency; and (iv) from visits to our websites.

BlackRock does not sell or disclose to non-affiliated third parties any non-public personal information about its Clients, except as permitted by law or as is necessary to respond to regulatory requests or to service Client accounts. These non-affiliated third parties are required to protect the confidentiality and security of this information and to use it only for its intended purpose.

We may share information with our affiliates to service your account or to provide you with information about other BlackRock products or services that may be of interest to you. In addition, BlackRock restricts access to non-public personal information about its Clients to those BlackRock employees with a legitimate business need for the information. BlackRock maintains physical, electronic and procedural safeguards that are designed to protect the non-public personal information of its Clients, including procedures relating to the proper storage and disposal of such information.

Fund and Service Providers

Investment Adviser and Administrator

BlackRock Advisors, LLC

Wilmington, DE 19809

Sub-Advisers

BlackRock International Limited

Edinburgh, EH3 8BL

United Kingdom

BlackRock (Singapore) Limited

079912 Singapore

Accounting Agent and Transfer Agent

BNY Mellon Investment Servicing (US) Inc.

Wilmington, DE 19809

Custodian

The Bank of New York Mellon

New York, NY 10286

Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

Deloitte & Touche LLP

Boston, MA 02116

Distributor

BlackRock Investments, LLC

New York, NY 10022

Legal Counsel

Sidley Austin LLP

New York, NY 10019

Address of the Trust

100 Bellevue Parkway

Wilmington, DE 19809


A D D I T I O N A L I N F O R M A T I O N		37

Glossary of Terms Used in this Report


Currency Abbreviation

EUR		Euro

USD		United States Dollar


Portfolio Abbreviation

OTC		Over-the-Counter

REIT		Real Estate Investment Trust


38		2 0 2 1 B L A C K R O C K A N N U A L R E P O R T T O S H A R E H O L D E R S

Want to know more?

blackrock.com | 800-441-7762

This report is intended for current holders. It is not authorized for use as an offer of sale or a solicitation of an offer to buy shares of the Fund unless preceded or accompanied by the Fund’s current prospectus. Past performance results shown in this report should not be considered a representation of future performance. Investment returns and principal value of shares will fluctuate so that shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost. Statements and other information herein are as dated and are subject to change.

REALES-1/21-AR

(b) Not Applicable

Item 2 –

Code of Ethics – The registrant (or the “Fund”) has adopted a code of ethics, as of the end of the period covered by this report, applicable to the registrant’s principal executive officer, principal financial officer, principal accounting officer or controller, or persons performing similar functions. During the period covered by this report, the code of ethics was amended to update certain information and to make other non-material changes. During the period covered by this report, there have been no waivers granted under the code of ethics. The registrant undertakes to provide a copy of the code of ethics to any person upon request, without charge, who calls 1-800-441-7762.

Item 3 –

Audit Committee Financial Expert – The registrant’s board of directors (the “board of directors”), has determined that (i) the registrant has the following audit committee financial experts serving on its audit committee and (ii) each audit committee financial expert is independent:

Neil A. Cotty

Henry R. Keizer

Kenneth L. Urish

Under applicable securities laws, a person determined to be an audit committee financial expert will not be deemed an “expert” for any purpose, including without limitation for the purposes of Section 11 of the Securities Act of 1933, as a result of being designated or identified as an audit committee financial expert. The designation or identification of a person as an audit committee financial expert does not impose on such person any duties, obligations, or liabilities greater than the duties, obligations, and liabilities imposed on such person as a member of the audit committee and board of directors in the absence of such designation or identification. The designation or identification of a person as an audit committee financial expert does not affect the duties, obligations, or liability of any other member of the audit committee or board of directors.

Item 4 –

Principal Accountant Fees and Services

The following table presents fees billed by Deloitte & Touche LLP (“D&T”) in each of the last two fiscal years for the services rendered to the Fund:

(a) Audit Fees

(b) Audit-Related Fees¹

(c) Tax Fees²

(d) All Other Fees

Entity Name

Current
Fiscal Year

End

Previous
Fiscal Year
End

Current
Fiscal Year
End

Previous
Fiscal Year
End

Current
Fiscal Year
End

Previous
Fiscal Year
End

Current
Fiscal Year
End

Previous
Fiscal Year
End

BlackRock Real Estate Securities Fund

$21,210

$21,828

$15,600

$13,200

The following table presents fees billed by D&T that were required to be approved by the registrant’s audit committee (the “Committee”) for services that relate directly to the operations or financial reporting of the Fund and that are rendered on behalf of BlackRock Advisors, LLC (the “Investment Adviser” or “BlackRock”) and entities controlling, controlled by, or under common control with BlackRock (not including any sub-adviser whose role is primarily portfolio management and is subcontracted with or overseen by another investment adviser) that provide ongoing services to the Fund (“Affiliated Service Providers”):


	Current Fiscal Year End	Previous Fiscal Year End
(b) Audit-Related Fees¹	$0	$0
(c) Tax Fees²	$0	$0


(d) All Other Fees³		$2,032,000		$1,984,000

The nature of the services includes assurance and related services reasonably related to the performance of the audit or review of financial statements not included in Audit Fees, including accounting consultations, agreed-upon procedure reports, attestation reports, comfort letters, out-of-pocket expenses and internal control reviews not required by regulators.

The nature of the services includes tax compliance and/or tax preparation, including services relating to the filing or amendment of federal, state or local income tax returns, regulated investment company qualification reviews, taxable income and tax distribution calculations.

Non-audit fees of $2,032,000 and $1,984,000 for the current fiscal year and previous fiscal year, respectively, were paid to the Fund’s principal accountant in their entirety by BlackRock, in connection with services provided to the Affiliated Service Providers of the Fund and of certain other funds sponsored and advised by BlackRock or its affiliates for a service organization review and an accounting research tool subscription. These amounts represent aggregate fees paid by BlackRock and were not allocated on a per fund basis.

(e)(1) Audit Committee Pre-Approval Policies and Procedures:

The Committee has adopted policies and procedures with regard to the pre-approval of services. Audit, audit-related and tax compliance services provided to the registrant on an annual basis require specific pre-approval by the Committee. The Committee also must approve other non-audit services provided to the registrant and those non-audit services provided to the Investment Adviser and Affiliated Service Providers that relate directly to the operations and the financial reporting of the registrant. Certain of these non-audit services that the Committee believes are (a) consistent with the SEC’s auditor independence rules and (b) routine and recurring services that will not impair the independence of the independent accountants may be approved by the Committee without consideration on a specific case-by-case basis (“general pre-approval”). The term of any general pre-approval is 12 months from the date of the pre-approval, unless the Committee provides for a different period. Tax or other non-audit services provided to the registrant which have a direct impact on the operations or financial reporting of the registrant will only be deemed pre-approved provided that any individual project does not exceed $10,000 attributable to the registrant or $50,000 per project. For this purpose, multiple projects will be aggregated to determine if they exceed the previously mentioned cost levels.

Any proposed services exceeding the pre-approved cost levels will require specific pre-approval by the Committee, as will any other services not subject to general pre-approval (e.g., unanticipated but permissible services). The Committee is informed of each service approved subject to general pre-approval at the next regularly scheduled in-person board meeting. At this meeting, an analysis of such services is presented to the Committee for ratification. The Committee may delegate to the Committee Chairman the authority to approve the provision of and fees for any specific engagement of permitted non-audit services, including services exceeding pre-approved cost levels.

(e)(2) None of the services described in each of Items 4(b) through (d) were approved by the Committee pursuant to the de minimis exception in paragraph (c)(7)(i)(C) of Rule 2-01 of Regulation S-X.

(f) Not Applicable

(g) The aggregate non-audit fees, defined as the sum of the fees shown under “Audit-Related Fees,” “Tax Fees” and “All Other Fees,” paid to the accountant for services rendered by the accountant to the registrant, the Investment Adviser and the Affiliated Service Providers were:

(Entity Name

Current Fiscal Year

End

Previous Fiscal Year

End

BlackRock Real Estate Securities Fund

$15,600

$13,200

Additionally, the amounts billed by D&T in connection with services provided to the Affiliated Service Providers of the Fund and of other funds sponsored and advised by BlackRock or its affiliates during the current and previous fiscal years for a service organization review and an accounting research tool subscription were:


Current Fiscal Year End		Previous Fiscal Year End
$2,032,000		$1,984,000

These amounts represent aggregate fees paid by BlackRock and were not allocated on a per fund basis.

(h) The Committee has considered and determined that the provision of non-audit services that were rendered to the Investment Adviser and the Affiliated Service Providers that were not pre-approved pursuant to paragraph (c)(7)(ii) of Rule 2-01 of Regulation S-X is compatible with maintaining the principal accountant’s independence.

Item 5 –

Audit Committee of Listed Registrant – Not Applicable

Item 6 –

Investments

(a) The registrant’s Schedule of Investments is included as part of the Report to Stockholders filed under Item 1 of this Form.

(b) Not Applicable due to no such divestments during the semi-annual period covered since the previous Form N-CSR filing.

Item 7 –

Disclosure of Proxy Voting Policies and Procedures for Closed-End Management Investment Companies – Not Applicable

Item 8 –

Portfolio Managers of Closed-End Management Investment Companies – Not Applicable

Item 9 –

Purchases of Equity Securities by Closed-End Management Investment Company and Affiliated Purchasers – Not Applicable

Item 10 –

Submission of Matters to a Vote of Security Holders – There have been no material changes to these procedures.

Item 11 –

Controls and Procedures

(a) The registrant’s principal executive and principal financial officers, or persons performing similar functions, have concluded that the registrant’s disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Rule 30a-3(c) under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”)) are effective as of a date within 90 days of the filing of this report based on the evaluation of these controls and procedures required by Rule 30a-3(b) under the 1940 Act and Rule 15d-15(b) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended.

(b) There were no changes in the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Rule 30a-3(d) under the 1940 Act) that occurred during the period covered by this report that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting.

Item 12 –

Disclosure of Securities Lending Activities for Closed-End Management Investment Companies – Not Applicable

Item 13 –

Exhibits attached hereto

(a)(1) Code of Ethics – See Item 2

(a)(2) Section 302 Certifications are attached

(a)(3) Not Applicable

(a)(4) Not Applicable

(b) Section 906 Certifications are attached

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Investment Company Act of 1940, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.

BlackRock Funds


		By:		/s/ John M. Perlowski
				John M. Perlowski
				Chief Executive Officer (principal executive officer) of
				BlackRock Funds

Date: April 5, 2021

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Investment Company Act of 1940, this report has been signed below by the following persons on behalf of the registrant and in the capacities and on the dates indicated.


		By:		/s/ John M. Perlowski
				John M. Perlowski
				Chief Executive Officer (principal executive officer) of
				BlackRock Funds

Date: April 5, 2021


		By:		/s/ Trent Walker
				Trent Walker
				Chief Financial Officer (principal financial officer) of
				BlackRock Funds

Date: April 5, 2021

EX-99. CERT

CERTIFICATION PURSUANT TO RULE 30a-2(a) UNDER THE 1940 ACT AND SECTION 302 OF THE

SARBANES-OXLEY ACT OF 2002

I, John M. Perlowski, Chief Executive Officer (principal executive officer) of BlackRock Funds, certify that:

1. I have reviewed this report on Form N-CSR of BlackRock Funds;

2. Based on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which such statements were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered by this report;

3. Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial information included in this report, fairly present in all material respects the financial condition, results of operations, changes in net assets, and cash flows (if the financial statements are required to include a statement of cash flows) of the registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in this report;

4. The registrant’s other certifying officer(s) and I are responsible for establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Rule 30a-3(c) under the Investment Company Act of 1940) and internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Rule 30a-3(d) under the Investment Company Act of 1940) for the registrant and have:

a) designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our supervision, to ensure that material information relating to the registrant, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known to us by others within those entities, particularly during the period in which this report is being prepared;

b) designed such internal control over financial reporting, or caused such internal control over financial reporting to be designed under our supervision, to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles;

c) evaluated the effectiveness of the registrant’s disclosure controls and procedures and presented in this report our conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures, as of a date within 90 days prior to the filing date of this report based on such evaluation; and

d) disclosed in this report any change in the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the period covered by this report that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting; and

5. The registrant’s other certifying officer(s) and I have disclosed to the registrant’s auditors and the audit committee of the registrant’s board of directors (or persons performing the equivalent functions):

a) all significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the design or operation of internal control over financial reporting which are reasonably likely to adversely affect the registrant’s ability to record, process, summarize, and report financial information; and

b) any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or other employees who have a significant role in the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting.

Date: April 5, 2021

/s/ John M. Perlowski

John M. Perlowski

Chief Executive Officer (principal executive officer) of

BlackRock Funds

EX-99. CERT

CERTIFICATION PURSUANT TO RULE 30a-2(a) UNDER THE 1940 ACT AND SECTION 302 OF THE

SARBANES-OXLEY ACT OF 2002

I, Trent Walker, Chief Financial Officer (principal financial officer) of BlackRock Funds, certify that:

1. I have reviewed this report on Form N-CSR of BlackRock Funds;

b) any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or other employees who have a significant role in the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting.

Date: April 5, 2021

/s/ Trent Walker

Trent Walker

Chief Financial Officer (principal financial officer) of

BlackRock Funds

Exhibit 99.906CERT

Certification Pursuant to Rule 30a-2(b) under the 1940 Act and

Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002

Pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 1350, the undersigned officer of BlackRock Funds (the “registrant”), hereby certifies, to the best of his knowledge, that the registrant’s Report on Form N-CSR for the period ended January 31, 2021 (the “Report”) fully complies with the requirements of Section 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and that the information contained in the Report fairly presents, in all material respects, the financial condition and results of operations of the registrant.

Date: April 5, 2021

/s/ John M. Perlowski

John M. Perlowski

Chief Executive Officer (principal executive officer) of

BlackRock Funds

Date: April 5, 2021

/s/ Trent Walker

Trent Walker

Chief Financial Officer (principal financial officer) of

BlackRock Funds

This certification is being furnished pursuant to Rule 30a-2(b) under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, and 18 U.S.C. § 1350 and is not being filed as part of the Form N-CSR with the Securities and Exchange Commission.