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venture capital for early-stage science companies addressing human health & sustainability, focused on biology, chemistry, technology.
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Breakout Ventures is a San Francisco, California-based venture capital firm that invests in early-stage science-driven companies operating at the intersection of biology, chemistry, and technology. The firm primarily targets startups addressing human health and sustainability challenges across the biotechnology, deeptech, climate, and life sciences sectors. Breakout Ventures supports founders from the seed stage through Series B financing rounds, typically writing initial investment checks ranging from $100,000 to $10 million to scale complex scientific discoveries. The firm maintains a diverse portfolio of more than 23 active and exited companies spanning medical diagnostics, cellular agriculture, and precision therapies. This portfolio includes recognizable industry names such as Apeel Sciences, Pivot Bio, Phantom Neuro, and Cortexyme, which completed its initial public offering in 2019. Breakout Ventures was founded in 2016 as a spin-out from the Thiel Foundation's Breakout Labs program.
Key people at Breakout Ventures.
# Breakout Ventures: Backing Bold Science-Driven Entrepreneurs
Breakout Ventures is a seed-to-Series A venture capital firm that invests in early-stage companies developing research-based solutions at the intersection of biology, chemistry, and technology.[1][2] The firm's mission centers on supporting science-driven entrepreneurs building transformational solutions to improve human health and planetary sustainability. Rather than treating biology as an abstract discipline, Breakout positions itself as "the home for creative bioscience entrepreneurs" that harness the power of cells and computation to scale solutions.[5]
The firm's investment philosophy reflects a deep commitment to the science-first model. Breakout doesn't simply provide capital—it functions as an operational partner, offering strategic guidance, networking opportunities with domain experts, and hands-on support to help portfolio companies reach critical milestones.[1] The firm focuses on companies pursuing novel hypotheses that, at scale, can unlock tremendous opportunity and impact. Their sector focus spans biotech, deeptech, climate technology, and food & agriculture, with particular emphasis on life sciences and healthcare applications.[5]
Breakout Ventures was founded in 2016, emerging from the team's prior experience as founders of Breakout Labs at the Thiel Foundation.[4] This heritage is significant—the firm's leadership spent the previous decade supporting science-driven companies, giving them deep operational expertise and a proven track record in the deep science ecosystem. The founding team includes managing partners Lindy Fishburne and Julia Moore, alongside partners Dana Watt, PhD and Nima Ronaghi, PhD, reflecting the firm's commitment to having "deep generalists and extroverted PhDs" who understand both the scientific and entrepreneurial dimensions of their portfolio companies.[1][6]
The firm's evolution has been marked by a consistent focus on the convergence of biology, chemistry, and technology—recognizing early that this intersection would unlock new possibilities and challenge traditional scientific boundaries. By positioning themselves as partners "from seed to scale," Breakout established a differentiated model in the venture landscape where many firms focus exclusively on later-stage rounds.
Breakout's defining characteristic is treating biology as an engineering discipline. Rather than backing incremental improvements, the firm seeks founders pursuing novel hypotheses with the potential for transformational impact. This requires deep scientific literacy from the investment team—a capability embedded through their PhDs and decade-long track record in deep science.
The firm goes beyond traditional venture capital by offering strategic guidance, operational expertise, and a curated network of domain experts. This "in your corner" mentality—celebrating wins and providing support during setbacks—creates a differentiated value proposition for early-stage founders navigating complex scientific and regulatory landscapes.
While focused on the biology-chemistry-technology convergence, Breakout maintains portfolio diversity across biotech, climate tech, food & agriculture, and deeptech. This breadth allows the firm to identify cross-sector opportunities while maintaining deep expertise in each domain.
Breakout's investment range spans from $100K to $10M, enabling the firm to support companies across seed and Series A rounds with appropriately sized capital.[5] This flexibility is particularly valuable for early-stage deep science companies that may need smaller initial checks but substantial follow-on capital.
The firm's heritage from the Thiel Foundation and decade-long presence in the deep science ecosystem provides portfolio companies with access to a network that illuminates roads to success—from regulatory experts to manufacturing partners to potential acquirers.
Breakout Ventures operates at a critical inflection point in the venture ecosystem. The convergence of computational power, synthetic biology, and advanced materials science has made previously impossible scientific challenges tractable. The firm is riding the wave of what they term "the era of transformational science"—a period where biology, chemistry, and technology are colliding to unlock new possibilities.
The timing is particularly significant given several macro trends: the acceleration of drug discovery through AI and machine learning, the urgent need for sustainable alternatives to carbon-intensive manufacturing, and the emergence of cell engineering as a programmable discipline. Breakout's portfolio reflects these trends—companies like Noetik (AI-powered cancer immunotherapy discovery), Twelve (CO2 transformation), and Immusoft (engineered B cell therapeutics) are positioned at the forefront of these movements.
The firm's influence extends beyond individual portfolio companies. By consistently backing bold scientific entrepreneurs and providing operational support, Breakout is helping legitimize and scale the deep science venture model. This matters because many founders with transformational scientific ideas lack the business acumen or network to navigate venture capital—Breakout fills that gap, effectively expanding the pool of fundable science-driven entrepreneurs.
Breakout Ventures is well-positioned to capture significant value as the deep science venture market matures. The firm's combination of scientific credibility, operational expertise, and patient capital creates a defensible competitive advantage in an increasingly crowded venture landscape.
Looking ahead, several trends will likely shape Breakout's trajectory. First, the regulatory environment around biotechnology and synthetic biology will continue evolving—firms with deep regulatory expertise like Breakout will have outsized influence. Second, the integration of AI into drug discovery and materials science will accelerate, favoring investors who understand both computational and biological domains. Third, sustainability and climate tech will likely receive increased capital allocation, playing to Breakout's strengths.
The firm's future influence will likely expand as their portfolio companies scale and achieve meaningful exits. Early successes in areas like cell engineering and AI-driven drug discovery could establish Breakout as a category-defining investor in deep science. The question isn't whether transformational science will reshape industries—it will. The question is which investors will have backed the founders who lead that transformation. Breakout's track record and philosophy suggest they'll be among them.
Key people at Breakout Ventures.
Breakout Ventures has more than 26 tracked investments across 20 companies. The latest tracked deal is $130.0M Series B in Apreo Health in August 2025.
