Breakers is breaking into the venture capital scene.
The new Seattle-based fund led by former Anthos Capital investor Annie Luchsinger recently emerged as it looks to back early-stage tech startups and “outlier” founders.
Breakers has not revealed the size of its first fund. It plans to back pre-seed and seed-stage software and consumer internet businesses with an average check size of $250,000. The firm is looking across the U.S. and Canada for potential investments.
“That said, I live in Seattle and plan on playing to the fund’s strengths,” said Luchsinger, who is originally from Wisconsin. “Having home-field advantage should mean that we are a big supporter of the talented entrepreneurs in the local community who will create some of the next household names in technology and consumer businesses.”
Luchsinger spent the past five years at Anthos Capital, a Los Angeles firm founded in 2007 that invests in emerging consumer and technology companies. She helped Anthos open its Seattle office.
The entrepreneur, who previously co-founded an end-of-life startup called Grace, said she got the “founder’s itch” again — not to start another company, but rather her own investment firm.
The University of Wisconsin grad is the sole general partner at Breakers, which is part of the inaugural cohort of Recast Accelerate, a new program backed by Melinda Gates that supports early stage funds led by women and non-binary managers.
“I expect to have founders that look a lot different than the traditional founder,” Luchsinger said.
Luchsinger said she’s looking in markets outside of places like San Francisco or New York.
“I want to back high potential operators, wherever they are, whatever they look like,” she said.
Before joining Anthos, Luchsinger cut her teeth as a founder at Grace, which shut down after nearly three years of operation.
“It’s where I learned the early ropes of venture capital through the lens of raising it vs. deploying it,” she said.
Seed-stage deal value and deal count dropped for the fourth consecutive quarter in Q2, PitchBook reported in July.
Luchsinger said the recent downturn helps “breed a healthier business” at the early stages.
“It’s been a nice forcing function for everyone,” she said. “It gets investors and founders to behave in a more rational way. It creates better alignment. I think we’re in a much better place there.”
