Breakout Ventures Launches Fund III with $114M to Continue Building the Future Powered by Science

Fund III is actively being deployed, with three new seed investments in founder-led companies unlocking the complexity of science with AI.

Fund II portfolio company Surf Bio recently announced its acquisition by Halozyme (HALO) for up to $400M.

SAN FRANCISCO: Breakout Ventures today announced the close of its $114M Fund III. Since its launch in 2016, Breakout Ventures has partnered with exceptional founders to scale scientific innovation and build breakout companies. Given Breakout’s ongoing success, the new fund received strong support from returning investors including Cortes Capital, S-Cubed Capital, The Kraft Group, Pinegrove Venture Partners, and an affiliate of LH Capital, and is pleased to add new limited partners including JIMCO, the global investment arm of the Jameel family, and Korea Omega Investment Corporation.

With the launch of this new fund, Managing Partner Lindy Fishburne said, “We've spent the last decade investing early in founding teams using technology to harness the power of science to architect the future. As AI is unleashed on the magnitudes of data in biology and chemistry, we are experiencing incredible speed, momentum and efficiency that’s fundamentally changing cost curves and return profiles. This new fund will build on our track record of supporting scientific founders through rigorous partnership as they navigate the complexities of moving towards commercialization.”

The firm’s expertise as specialist investors has delivered traction across funds. Having already returned capital to Fund I investors, additional standout investments include Cytovale, maker of the first FDA-cleared AI-enabled rapid sepsis diagnostic used in emergency departments across the country, and Twelve, the US-based manufacturer of sustainable aviation fuel made from air.

Fund II, announced in 2021, also has great momentum:

• Surf Bio was acquired by Halozyme (HALO) for up to $400M, delivering a significant return for Breakout as the lead investor on the company's only institutional round.
• Noetik is building foundation models for human biology, training self-supervised models on the world's largest multimodal human tumor dataset to predict clinical outcomes. Its landmark $50M upfront partnership with GSK establishes a scalable licensing model and positions Noetik at the core of pharma’s AI stack.
• Phantom Neuro is redefining human-machine connection, building neural interfaces that enable real-time control of prosthetic limbs without brain surgery. With FDA Breakthrough Device Designation and a newly launched patient registry, the company is moving from lab innovation to clinical reality fast.
• ZymoChem is reprogramming industrial chemistry to produce drop-in, high-performance polymers that replace petrochemicals at scale. With partners like Lululemon, their platform is proving that fossil-free chemistry can win on cost, carbon, and performance.

Ron Alfa, MD, PhD, Co-Founder and CEO at Noetik, added, “Breakout's team brings the conviction and clarity you want around the table. Insights from their experience sharpened how we position both our technology and our business model for pharma and AI leaders alike. Tapping into their curated network accelerated our momentum in real time.”

Breakout Ventures is actively deploying capital from Fund III, with initial Seed investments in founders unlocking the complexity of science with AI:

• Reach Industries: Serial founder-led startup building the visual intelligence layer for regulated environments using agentic computer vision
• Stealth Co: Industry veteran-founded newco reducing friction between discovery and market by unlocking commercial distribution of scientific innovations
• Stealth Co: Spinout from the University of Chicago accelerating functional small molecule discovery with computationally enhanced chemical analysis

“The founders we back are doing the most valuable work in science and technology today: translating scientific innovation into companies that can scale to change our future,” said Julia Moore, Managing Partner at Breakout Ventures. “That takes more than capital. It takes first true believers with the expertise, the network, and the conviction to help make it real. That's exactly what we've built at Breakout, and Fund III is our most ambitious chapter yet.”

Breakout is also pleased to announce the promotion of investor Nima Ronaghi, PhD, to Partner, underscoring both his impact on the firm’s performance and the continued development of its investment platform.

About Breakout Ventures

Breakout Ventures partners with exceptional founders scaling scientific innovation to build the breakout companies powering our future. With over a decade of investing in seed-stage companies at the frontier of science and technology, Breakout Ventures offers deep domain expertise, rigorous partnership and a catalytic network to unlock momentum. Breakout Ventures is headquartered in San Francisco. Connect at contact@breakout.vc or on LinkedIn.

Fonte: Business Wire