Breakout Labs is a grant-making body operating as part of the

Thiel Foundation The Thiel Foundation is a private foundation created and funded by billionaire Peter Thiel, co-founder of PayPal and an early investor in Facebook. Theory of philanthropy Thiel concentrates the bulk of his philanthropic efforts on what he sees as ...

(a philanthropic organization created by

Peter Thiel Peter Andreas Thiel (; born 11 October 1967) is a German-American billionaire entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and political activist. A co-founder of PayPal, Palantir Technologies, and Founders Fund, he was the first outside investor in Fac ...

). Breakout Labs gives grants for early-stage scientific research that is too speculative or long-term to interest the for-profit sector (such as

angel investor An angel investor (also known as a business angel, informal investor, angel funder, private investor, or seed investor) is an individual who provides capital for a business or businesses start-up, usually in exchange for convertible debt or owners ...

s and

venture capitalist Venture capital (often abbreviated as VC) is a form of private equity financing that is provided by venture capital firms or funds to startups, early-stage, and emerging companies that have been deemed to have high growth potential or which hav ...

s) but may be unsuitable for traditional sources of funding for scientific research due to its radical or offbeat nature. Grants are made through a competitive application and selection process.

Recipients

Breakout Labs announced its first batch of grantees on April 17, 2012, its second batch of grantees on August 15, 2012, and its third batch of grantees in April 2013. The full list of grantees is on the Breakout Labs website.

Goals

Shifting the focus to innovation

has proposed a dichotomy between: * ''Intensive'' growth, which involves the creation of radical new technology. He likens this to "going from zero to one". * ''Extensive'' growth, which involves spreading existing technology to more people and making it faster, cheaper, and better.

Globalization Globalization, or globalisation (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), is the process of interaction and integration among people, companies, and governments worldwide. The term ''globalization'' first appeared in the early 20t ...

is an example of extensive growth. Thiel likens extensive growth to "going from 1 to N". Thiel believes that too many people in business and philanthropy are focused on extensive growth and there is too little focus on intensive growth. Thiel thus concentrates most of his philanthropic efforts on efforts that he considers likely to lead to intensive growth, i.e., radical innovation. Breakout Labs is part of these efforts. Many of these themes are also covered in his similarly titled book ''

Zero to One ''Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future'' is a 2014 book by the American entrepreneur and investor Peter Thiel co-written with Blake Masters. It is a condensed and updated version of a highly popular set of online notes taken ...

''.

Media coverage

The announcement of Breakout Labs (October 2011), as well as the announcements of its first batch of grantees (April 2012), received considerable media attention. The first and second batches of grantees were covered by

TechCrunch TechCrunch is an American online newspaper focusing on high tech and startup companies. It was founded in June 2005 by Archimedes Ventures, led by partners Michael Arrington and Keith Teare. In 2010, AOL acquired the company for approximately ...

. Breakout Labs was also covered in ''

Nature Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physics, physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomenon, phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. ...

'' and ''

Scientific American ''Scientific American'', informally abbreviated ''SciAm'' or sometimes ''SA'', is an American popular science magazine. Many famous scientists, including Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla, have contributed articles to it. In print since 1845, it i ...

''.

References

External links

* {{official, https://www.breakoutlabs.org Grants (money) Organizations established in 2012 Organizations based in San Francisco Philanthropic organizations based in the United States 2012 establishments in California