Breakers VC Research
Overview
Breakers is an early-stage venture capital firm founded in 2023 and headquartered in Seattle, Washington. The firm was launched by Annie Luchsinger, a former investor at Anthos Capital, under the tagline "An early stage fund for movers and shakers." Breakers invests in founders who "break the rules, break the mold, break the glass, break the cycle, break the internet" — centering the brand around outlier, non-consensus founders. Fund I was announced in September 2023 and closed in October 2025. Breakers was part of the inaugural cohort of Recast Accelerate, a program backed by Melinda Gates that supports early-stage funds led by women and non-binary managers.
Investment Thesis
Breakers is a true generalist fund, deliberately reserving optionality to invest across all industries and sectors. The core thesis is simple: find exceptional, rule-breaking founders wherever they are, especially in markets and geographies underserved by traditional coastal VC. The fund is explicitly not sector-constrained, backing software, consumer internet, AI, fintech, health tech, hardware, and more. What unifies the portfolio is founder quality and the conviction that great founders can emerge from anywhere.
Stage Focus
Breakers invests exclusively at pre-seed and seed stages. They have no stated interest in later-stage follow-on rounds outside of supporting existing portfolio companies. This is a deliberate focus on the earliest, highest-risk, highest-upside inflection points in a company's life.
Check Size
The average check size is $250,000. This is a small-to-micro check by institutional standards. The fund is intentionally designed to be a non-lead, highly supportive investor — described by the firm as aiming to be "the friendliest, fastest, most helpful non-lead check on your cap table." The firm does not lead rounds; they are a follower/co-investor on the cap table.
Geographic Focus
Breakers primarily invests across the United States and Canada, with particular emphasis on underserved markets: Pacific Northwest (PNW), Texas, and Canada. The firm explicitly seeks founders in places where other VCs do not regularly pound the pavement. Annie Luchsinger, based in Seattle, leverages home-field advantage in the Pacific Northwest. Partners Callie Blixrud (Minneapolis) and Zach Glabman add coverage in the Midwest and hardware/industrial sectors.
Team
Annie Luchsinger — General Partner, Seattle, WA Annie founded Breakers in 2023 after five years at Anthos Capital, an LA-based consumer and technology fund where she helped open the Seattle office. Before Anthos, she co-founded Grace, an end-of-life startup, where she experienced the early-stage founder journey firsthand. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and brings a strong consumer and generalist investment background.
Callie Blixrud — Partner, Minneapolis, MN Callie is a Partner at Breakers based in Minneapolis. Her background spans strategy, futures, and experience design — bringing a non-traditional VC perspective that aligns with Breakers' philosophy of backing non-consensus founders.
Zach Glabman — Venture Partner Zach is a Venture Partner at Breakers with a focus on pre-seed and seed investments, particularly in hardware and industrial technology. He previously managed raw materials purchasing for Tesla across three continents during the COVID-era metals crisis and studied at the University of Oxford.
Decision Process
Breakers operates as a small, nimble fund. The firm emphasizes speed and creativity in how they engage with founders. The decision process is driven primarily by Annie Luchsinger with input from the small partner team, consistent with a solo-GP or small partnership model. They stress that "it's never too early (or too late!) to have a conversation" — indicating an open-door, proactive sourcing approach.
Portfolio Highlights
Breakers has backed 20+ companies across a broad range of sectors:
AI / Enterprise Software: MarkOS (Seattle, AI asset management, $4M Seed Jul 2024), Kilo (agentic engineering tools, $8M Dec 2025), Artificial Agency (Edmonton, AI agents, $16M Seed Jul 2024), Internet Backyard (financial infrastructure for compute economy, $4.5M Seed Dec 2025), Woven Intelligence, Enata.ai, ResultFlow.ai
Developer Tools / Infrastructure: Columnar (Seed May 2025, Bessemer co-invested), Select.dev, Scalar, Orchestra
Consumer: BelliWelli (gut-health CPG, Series B, $16.4M raised), Butter, Olive Travel, Tallee
Fintech / Insurance: Authentic Insurance, Passage, Conduit, Kyte ($99M raised, acquired)
Health Tech: AccelHealth
Hardware / Industrial: Bethlehem Steel
Recent Activity
Fund I officially closed in October 2025. The firm was actively deploying through 2025:
- Dec 2025: Internet Backyard (Seed, financial infrastructure for compute economy)
- Dec 2025: Kilo (agentic engineering, $8M)
- May 2025: Columnar (Seed, Bessemer co-led)
- Jul 2024: MarkOS and Artificial Agency (concurrent Seed investments)
Co-Investors
Breakers co-invests regularly with Bessemer Venture Partners, Basis Set Ventures, Operator Collective, Ludlow Ventures, Toyota Ventures, KAYA, ASCEND, Four Acres, and Cota Capital. Their non-lead position makes them complementary to a wide range of lead investors.
Geographic Differentiation
Breakers is one of the few early-stage funds explicitly emphasizing non-coastal markets in the US and Canada. This is a conscious strategic differentiator — Annie built Anthos' Seattle presence and understands that great founders emerge outside San Francisco and New York.