Breakout Ventures has closed its $114 million Fund III to support early-stage AI-focused startups operating in scientific fields such as biology and chemistry.
The firm has already written checks to three companies and plans to invest in at least 20 companies through the fund, with average check sizes ranging from $500,000 to $5 million. Breakout Ventures managing director Lindy Fishburne told TechCrunch that the company is looking for companies focused on “unlocking the complexity of science with AI.”
Breakout was spun out of a Thiel Foundation grant program and officially launched in 2016. The company has raised two funds so far, a $60 million Fund 1 in 2017 and a $112.5 million Fund II in 2021, also focused on science startups.
“We have always focused on the opportunities for technology to unlock the power of biology and chemistry to solve vast unmet needs and create new markets,” she told TechCrunch.
She said it took about a year and a half to raise Fund III from limited partners including Kraft Group, Pinegrove Venture Partners and Cubed Capital.
“Breakout founders may be PhDs who developed the science they are trying to commercialize, or they may be people coming out of industry with a deep understanding of the need and opportunity,” she says. “In any case, we look for the right fit, and this is the obvious reason why we are the best people to start a particular company.”