Breakthrough Ventures

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.