Breakout Ventures, a San Francisco firm, has closed its third fund at $114 million, its largest so far, highlighting the inseparable connection between AI and biology. Founders who grasp both are expected to create the most significant companies.
Lindy Fishburne began Breakout within the Thiel Foundation’s Breakout Labs in 2011, offering grants to scientist-entrepreneurs working on radical problems unsuitable for traditional venture capital. By 2016, some companies needed more than grants. In 2017, Fishburne and Julia Moore launched a $60 million venture fund, followed by a $112.5 million fund in 2021. Recently, they announced Fund III’s close at $114 million.
Breakout Ventures describes Fund III as AI-focused, aiming at AI opportunities in biology that can significantly accelerate scientific progression into medicine, such as drug discovery, diagnostics, and neurotechnology.
The firm now manages over $230 million across three vehicles, with Fishburne and Moore as managing partners. The team includes Dana Watt, Nima Ronaghi, CFO James Chan, general counsel Ziv Yoash, and director of platform Susanna Harris.
Breakout’s portfolio reflects the intersection of biology and technology. Noetik, an AI-native biotech, raised $40 million in 2024, and Phantom Neuro raised $19 million in 2025. ZymoChem uses enzymes for bio-based chemicals, raising $21 million in 2024. Surf Bio was acquired for $400 million in 2025.
These companies share a founder profile of scientists who think like engineers and tackle problems where the science itself is a commercial moat, a long-held belief by Fishburne.
AI’s impact on biology shifted from a fringe thesis to a mainstream belief around 2022. Companies, including Breakout’s portfolio, are building with new tools, compressing timelines in ways the industry is still adapting to.
Fund III will invest from pre-seed to Series A stages, continuing Breakout’s trend of being the first institutional investor in science-driven companies and following on as they grow. The focus sectors include biotech, life sciences, healthcare, robotics, automation, and developer tools.
Starting as a grant program for speculative ideas, $114 million is a particular kind of validation for Breakout. The science backed in 2011 looked radical but seems inevitable now.