Breakout Ventures

Breakout Ventures is a privately held venture capital firm founded in 2016. The firm was founded out of Breakout Labs, a program of the Thiel Foundation (a philanthropic organization created by Peter Thiel).^[1] The firm is headquartered in San Francisco, California.

Breakout Ventures

Founded	2016
Headquarters	38 Mesa St., San Francisco, CA
Website	breakout.vc

Breakout Ventures invests in early-stage companies across technology, biology, and chemistry sectors to build solutions for human health and sustainability. The firm supports science-driven companies moving with urgency throughout their entire life cycle, from seed to scale.^[2]

History

Breakout Labs was launched in November 2011.^[3] Breakout Labs issued convertible grants^[4] for early-stage commercialization of scientific research that was considered too speculative or long-term to interest the for-profit sector (such as angel investors and venture capitalists) but may have been unsuitable for traditional sources of funding for scientific research due to its radical or offbeat nature.^[5] Grants were made through a competitive application and selection process.^[6]

Breakout Labs announced its first batch of grantees on April 17, 2012,^[7] its second batch of grantees on August 15, 2012,^[8] and its third batch of grantees in April 2013.^[9]

In 2016, Breakout Ventures was founded as a separate entity to provide traditional venture capital investments in science-driven companies, utilizing the Breakout Labs grant program as a way to identify investment opportunities^[10]

In 2017, Breakout Ventures closed its debut fund was closed with US$60.1 million in commitments.^[11]

In 2021, Breakout Labs formerly closed, having provided 50 science focused grants in the program’s 10 year span.^[12]

In December 2021, Breakout Venture's second fund was oversubscribed with US$112.5 million in commitments.^[13]

Portfolio

The firm focuses on Series-A and Series-B stage science-driven companies. Its financial partners include Founders Fund, Formation 8, OATV, Lux Capital, Khosla Ventures among others.^[14] Some of its recent investments include Noetik (cancer treatment),^[15] Cytovale (medical diagnostics),^[16] Passkey Therapeutics (synergistic multifunctional therapeutics),^[17] Corpernic Catalysts (catalysts for ammonia production),^[18] EnPlusOne Biosciences (RNA therapeutics),^[19] Phantom Neuro (neurotechnology).^[20]