Peter Thiel’s Breakout Labs Announces First Successful Acquisition from the Program
December 2, 2013 — San Francisco — Breakout Labs, the Thiel Foundation’s newest program to support scientific innovation, announced today that its portfolio company SkyPhrase has been acquired by Yahoo! The acquisition represents the first successful commercial transition of a startup company supported by the two-year old Breakout Labs program.
SkyPhrase, founded by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) professor Nick Cassimatis, is developing an artificial intelligence platform that teaches computers how to better understand human speech. The field, known as Natural Language Processing (NLP), has long been a vexing challenge for computer science researchers because of the near-infinite variables involved in conveying meaning through human language. Traditional approaches to NLP, such as Siri or Wolfram Alpha, attempt to fit queries into existing language patterns that they have already encountered, resulting in often garbled results when confronted with something new. SkyPhrase’s novel approach teaches computers to analyze all available data to understand human queries piece-by-piece, understanding significantly more complex phrases than ever before.
“As advanced computing technologies become increasingly enmeshed in modern life, helping people interact more meaningfully with technology has become a difficult, yet critical challenge,” said Lindy Fishburne, executive director of Breakout Labs. “We’re thrilled at the rapid progress SkyPhrase has made and we’re extremely proud to have supported this work.”
“I am grateful to the Breakout Labs team for the early confidence they placed in our work,” said Cassimatis. “The grant enabled us to advance our technology and begin building a solid base of users interacting with our fantasy football and google analytics platforms. Breakout Labs also gave us greater visibility and access to the Silicon Valley ecosystem. Now, we’re excited to join Yahoo! Labs, who shares our vision for helping computers more deeply understand people’s natural language and intentions.”
Breakout Labs is a revolving philanthropic fund within the Thiel Foundation that helps cutting-edge science and technology companies bridge the finance gap between basic research funders and strategic investors. While working toward specific technical milestones, Breakout Labs companies benefit directly from a program of mentorship and networking; they also have access to the Thiel Foundation’s large community of investors, innovators, and entrepreneurs.
ABOUT BREAKOUT LABS
Breakout Labs, a program of the Thiel Foundation, is reshaping the way early-stage science and technology companies are funded. Founded in November 2011, Breakout Labs supports 16 companies in areas ranging from food science and biomedicine to clean energy. For many of these companies, Breakout Labs was the first external investor. Breakout Labs provides up to $350,000 for companies to achieve specific milestones that are critical to their development. Successful grantees will return a capped royalty stream and a small percentage of equity in their company to Breakout Labs and, thereby, contribute to the next generation of scientific innovation. For more information, see www.BreakoutLabs.org.
ABOUT THE THIEL FOUNDATION
The Thiel Foundation defends and promotes freedom in all its dimensions: political, personal, and economic. The Thiel Foundation supports innovative scientific research and new technologies that empower people to improve their lives, champions organizations and individuals who expose human rights abuses and authoritarianism in all its guises, and encourages the exploration of new ideas and new spaces where people can be less reliant on government and where freedom can flourish. For more information, see www.ThielFoundation.org.
