Breakout Ventures Fund III

About Breakout Ventures Fund III

San Francisco-based deep science VC. Fund III ($114M) backs seed-stage founders commercializing scientific breakthroughs with a focus on AI-enabled neuroscience and biology. LPs include JIMCO and Korea Omega Investment Corporation.

Investment Focus

Location / RegionUnited States

Funding StageSeed

Industry Focus

Ai Ml

Biotech

Deep Tech

Investor Signals Profile

active

Sweet Spot

Scientist-founder building AI-accelerated platform in neurotech, drug discovery, or diagnostics

AI-enabled science

deep biotech

neuroscience

scientist-founders

platform discovery

Bullish Signals

Fund III freshly closed at $114M with institutional LPs JIMCO and Korea Omegablog

Surf Bio acquired by Halozyme up to $400M; Noetik GSK deal $50M upfront — real exitsblog

Neuroscience concentration positioned as earliest institutional call on new inflectionblog

Leads ~50% of rounds with $500K–$5M checks; takes double-digit equity positionsblog

Portfolio spans biotech, chem-tech, materials — broad science frontier coveragewebsite

Backs pre-company founders; open to pre-launch stagewebsite

Deep corporate & next-stage investor network for BD tractionwebsite

Portfolio includes carbon, gene therapy, biofabrication — frontier diversitywebsite

10+ years at science-tech frontier — rare institutional longevitywebsite

Contrarian Signals

Avoids AI for admin/workflow; rejects generic AI-bio positioning entirelyblog

Neuroscience has more failed funds behind it than almost any biotech sub-verticalblog

Modest $114M size is intentional — not competing with large multi-stage fundsblog

Wide thesis (bio, chem, materials) risks diluted focuswebsite

Pre-company bets increase execution risk at portfolio scalewebsite

Founder Do's

Come as a scientist-first founder with a defensible core scientific discovery

Target drug discovery, diagnostics, neurotech, or materials science

Be open to pre-seed or seed with no commercial PMF yet but strong scientific foundation

Highlight platform potential — acquirable and partner-valuable company architecture

Engage GPs at a technical peer level; they will go deep on the science

Founder Don'ts

Don't pitch AI tools for admin or workflow automation — explicitly out of scope

Don't come with software-wrapper-only business models dressed as deep tech

Don't expect a passive investor — Breakout leads ~50% of rounds and takes conviction positions

Key GPs & Partners

Lindy Fishburne

Managing Partner

thesis-drivenex-foundercontrarian

Julia Moore

Co-Managing Partner

thesis-driven

Nima Ronaghi

Partner

ex-founderhands-on

Dana Watt

Partner

ex-founderhands-on

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Fund Overview

Fund Size$114M

Saves0

Website

Key People

Lindy Fishburne, Julia Moore

Lindy FishburneManaging Partner

Julia MooreCo-Managing Partner

Nima RonaghiPartner

Dana WattPartner