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Last chance to apply for Breakthrough. Make sure to get your application in by March 1. You just never know what could happen by the will of the one who knows all!
Breakthrough Ventures
Venture Capital and Private Equity Principals
Palo Alto, California 1,479 followers
The launchpad for the next generation of founders.
About us
Breakthrough is the launchpad for the next generation of founders. We back student entrepreneurs with bold ideas and the drive to build something great—providing them with the capital, resources, and network to scale. With $10K in grants, $100K in cloud & AI credits, top-tier legal support, and 1:1 mentorship from top founders and VCs, we help startups gain traction without giving up equity. Each year, we bring together a select group of standout founders for Breakthrough Demo Day at Stanford, where they pitch to 150+ investors from top firms like Sequoia, a16z, Lightspeed, NEA, Harlem Capital and more. Our first batch of founders raised $8M and grew to 200K+ daily users—and we're just getting started. Backed by NVIDIA, Amazon, Emerson Collective, and Silicon Valley Bank, Breakthrough is on a mission to ensure that every ambitious founder—no matter their background—has the opportunity to succeed.
- Website
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breakvc.com
External link for Breakthrough Ventures
- Industry
- Venture Capital and Private Equity Principals
- Company size
- 2-10 employees
- Headquarters
- Palo Alto, California
- Type
- Nonprofit
- Founded
- 2024
Locations
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Primary
Get directions
Palo Alto, California 94025, US
Employees at Breakthrough Ventures
Updates
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We’re excited to announce our partnership with a16z speedrun to provide everyone in our next cohort with interviews to unlock additional resources!
Breakthrough Ventures x a16z speedrun 🔥 A year ago, Taya was just an idea. Breakthrough Ventures was the first place where building felt tangible. Itbaan and Roman built a community of founders who were serious about making things real, and that environment mattered. That momentum carried into a16z Speedrun, which helped us sharpen the company in so many ways. I’m excited that founders in Breakthrough Cohort III will now get direct interviews with Speedrun! Grateful to Jonathan Lai, Andrew Lee, Roman Scott, Itbaan Nafi, Andrew Chen, Joshua Lu, and Katia Ameri for making this partnership happen. ------------- 👋🏼 I'm Elena, and I'm building Taya -- a voice AI wearable that's jewelry first, and technology second. Follow me here on LinkedIn for updates as I build in public, and check out Taya's website here: http://tayanecklace.com/
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Partnering with Google DeepMind to put cutting-edge #ai tools in the hands of 250+ student builders 🚀🏃🏽♂️🔨 On March 7th, we’re bringing together engineers, researchers, and operators across campuses for Frontiers: Gen-AI Hackathon — a 12-hour build sprint focused on rapid prototyping, real systems, and practical applications using Google’s latest AI models. Built for students who want to ship fast and test real ideas. If you’re interested in getting involved — as a mentor, partner, or supporter — feel free to reach out directly. Registration >> https://lnkd.in/gd7TBZTS Breakthrough Ventures x The Changemakers Convening x MIT Sports Lab #google #deepmind #mit #harvard #stanford #berkeley #bostonuniversity #babson #wellesley #northeastern #tufts #brandeis #cambridge #boston #genai #aihackathon
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Breakthrough Ventures reposted this
i think in recent times, some of the best startups have been run by students, and my friends at Breakthrough Ventures agree! I’m excited to share that Afifa & I went from judging hackathon projects to judging startups, our goal is super simple: Enable the next generation of founders to the best of our ability. Breakthrough is a Stanford-run accelerator that just raised a $2M fund to back the mext generation of Gen-Z Founders In just 18 months, they’ve: - Backed 40+ student founders - Helped them raise $60M+ in venture capital - Supported the creation of 100+ jobs - Hosted the largest Demo Days in Stanford history (500+ investors) Now they’re investing $500K across selected teams, offering $100K in grants, plus: > Free legal support from Stanford Law > $350K in Microsoft , NVIDIA , and OpenAI credits > Access to hundreds of VC and CEO mentors We’re looking for cracked founders who: • Obsess over meaningful problems • Ship fast and iterate faster • Build with purpose • Commit and dedicate If you’re building something impactful or know someone who is, this is the ecosystem that can change everything. Feel free to shoot me a DM if you have any questions or want to chat. We'll be forwarding strong teams internally 👀. 👉 Apply at https://breakvc.com Huge congratulations to Itbaan Nafi , Raihan Ahmed , and Roman Scott on the incredible & impactful launch. Glad to see my friends at stanford doing work that shapes the future :)
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Breakthrough Ventures reposted this
We’re tryna steal $2 million from Stanford for Waterloo founders and we need your help. Excited to share that Muhib and I are officially Breakthrough Ventures Ambassadors, and we joined for a very specific reason: To amplify Waterloo students ambition, innovation, and obsession in America. Breakthrough is a Stanford-run accelerator that just raised a $2M fund to back the next generation of Gen-Z founders. In just 18 months, they’ve: ⭐ Backed 40+ student founders ⭐ Helped them raise $60M+ in venture capital ⭐ Supported the creation of 100+ jobs ⭐ Hosted the largest Demo Days in Stanford history (500+ investors) Now they’re investing $500K across selected teams, offering $100K in grants, plus: ✅ Free legal support from Stanford Law ✅ $350K in Microsoft, NVIDIA, and OpenAI credits ✅ Access to hundreds of VC and CEO mentors We’re looking for cracked founders who: • Obsess over meaningful problems • Ship fast and iterate faster • Build with purpose • Commit and dedicate If you’re building something impactful or know someone who is, this is the ecosystem that can change a trajectory. Feel free to shoot me a DM if you have any questions or want to chat. We'll be forwarding strong teams internally 👀. 👉 Apply here: https://breakvc.com Huge congratulations to Itbaan Nafi, Raihan Ahmed, and Roman Scott on the incredible momentum and impact. Looking forward to seeing huge things coming.
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Breakthrough Ventures reposted this
Excited to announce that Founders On The Yard Demo Day will officially take place at Plug and Play Tech Center on April 23 in Silicon Valley, one of the world’s largest and most active startup innovation platforms! We’ll be bringing a cohort of standout HBCU student and alumni founders to demo companies across AI-native SaaS, developer tools, agentic AI, fintech, healthcare tech, and more to connect them with the broader innovation ecosystem. If you’re an investor, operator, or ecosystem builder interested in engaging with early-stage founders, we’d love to have you join us. 📍 Plug and Play Tech Center 📅 April 23, 2026 RSVP to attend: https://luma.com/q1gl1390 #HBCU #SiliconValley #Startups #Founders #PlugAndPlay #Innovation #FoundersOnTheYard #StudentFounders
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Breakthrough Ventures reposted this
2 Million Dollars. Our partners Roman Scott, Itbaan Nafi, and Raihan Ahmed, have just raised $2M to launch Breakthrough Ventures, a hybrid accelerator for college students and recent grads nationwide. The fund will be deployed over three years to back 100+ startups. With $10K grants, mentorship, legal support AND the opportunity for $50K follow-on checks, founders will be able to SH1P better than ever before. We at SH1P are excited to be working with them on events, growth, and deal flow - sourcing amazing startups to Breakthrough Ventures and expanding our mission to help founders across the globe. SH1P's goal has always been to create a community where founders can expand unlike ever before, and this is one of the first major milestones in our plan. Apply to Breakthrough Ventures here: breakvc.com/apply As always - Thanks to all our partners: Foundity, nerdy network, Altare Society, Joseph Crayston, Catalyst Labs, Cliqk, Velric, Breakthrough Ventures at Stanford University, Viral Markets, Breakthrough Ventures, Caltech Nexus, and Boardy for making this happen, and a huge thanks to Lilly Schade, Nathan Noble, Abraham Rajput, Catarina Chia, Damodar Kamani, Alien Feng, aadrika maurya, Kavish Desai, Rohan Gurram, Pavan Kumar, Daniel Jung, Leonard Ang, Eugene Ong, Paislie Tran, and Isabelle Dijkhorst for all the help!
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Breakthrough Ventures reposted this
Stanford grads Roman Scott and Itbaan Nafi have raised $2M to launch Breakthrough Ventures, a hybrid accelerator for college students and recent grads nationwide. The fund will be deployed over three years to back 100+ startups, offering up to $10K grants, mentorship, legal support, and the opportunity for $50K follow-on checks. Built from Stanford Demo Days in 2024, Breakthrough uses a hybrid model with in-person meetups hosted at major venture firms and a Demo Day at Stanford. 🔗 https://buff.ly/6NBL7jR ---- 📩 Subscribe to the "POCIT Weekly" for more stories https://buff.ly/YWn8klC
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Breakthrough Ventures reposted this
Stanford grads Roman Scott and Itbaan Nafi have raised $2M to launch Breakthrough Ventures, a hybrid accelerator for college students and recent grads nationwide. The fund will be deployed over three years to back 100+ startups, offering up to $10K grants, mentorship, legal support, and the opportunity for $50K follow-on checks. Built from Stanford Demo Days in 2024, Breakthrough uses a hybrid model with in-person meetups hosted at major venture firms and a Demo Day at Stanford. 🔗 https://buff.ly/6NBL7jR ---- 📩 Subscribe to the "POCIT Weekly" for more stories https://buff.ly/YWn8klC
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Breakthrough Ventures reposted this
Breakthrough Ventures, a nationwide startup accelerator founded by Stanford students Roman Scott and Itbaan Nafi, has raised $2 million to expand its support for college founders and recent graduates. The program, which grew out of Demo Days at Stanford in 2024, offers grants of up to $10,000, compute credits, legal support, mentorship from top executives, and potential follow-on investments of $50,000. Backed by Mayfield, Silicon Valley Bank, Collide Capital, and Stanford-alumni founders, Breakthrough aims to incubate at least 100 startups over the next three years, offering a hybrid model with in-person meetups and a culminating Demo Day at Stanford. FOUNDERS: Roman Scott & Itbaan Nafi AMOUNT: $2,000,000 #VentureCapital #BreakthroughVentures #RomanScott #ItbaanNafi #TradedVC
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