Two Stanford students announced Monday that they have raised $2 million for an accelerator program called Breakthrough Ventures, which aims to fund businesses founded by college students and recent graduates nationwide.
Roman Scott and Itbaan Nafi began building the accelerator program after hosting a series of popular Demo Days at Stanford starting in 2024 and decided to expand it after students were achieving success.
“This fundraise turns Breakthrough from just being a seasonal accelerator into a lifelong partnership with our founders,” Nafi, who is still a master’s candidate at Stanford, told TechCrunch.
Scott received his undergraduate degree from Stanford in 2024 and went on to earn a master’s degree there the following year.
Early last year, the duo tapped Raihan Ahmed to lead the accelerator and then got to work, officially fundraising from the likes of Mayfield and Collide Capital (as well as a slew of Stanford founder alumni) to back the next generation of AI, health, consumer, deep tech, and sustainability companies. Scott said what makes their accelerator different is that it is specifically built “for student founders by student founders.”
Student programs like this aren’t new. UC Berkeley offers a similar program called Free Ventures for students seeking pre-seed funding, and MIT has its own Sandbox Innovation Fund. Even Stanford has some accelerator programs, both run by or affiliated with the school, such as StartX, LaunchPad, and Cardinal Ventures.
“Students have enjoyed how we’ve brought together so many others from different American colleges,” Nafi said of his program, comparing it to Stanford’s Treehacks hackathon.
“Breakthrough’s purpose is to fill in the funding and opportunity gap that exists in many of these ecosystems because students have historically lacked access to capital and the networks required to launch their entrepreneurial pursuits,” Scott added.
Breakthrough will have a hybrid model, with in-person meetups at local powerhouse VC firms, culminating in a Demo Day at Stanford. Those participating in the program get access to grant funding (up to $10,000), compute credits (through Microsoft and the Nvidia Inception program), legal support, mentorship, “along with the opportunity to receive a $50,000 follow-on investment at the conclusion of the program,” Nafi said.
“We’ve nailed the student-founder experience to a T,” Nafi said. “Hence why we offer the resources we do and have structured the program in this way. Students really feel like we get them, and that’s because we are students.”
The duo hopes to deploy the fund over three years, aiming to incubate at least 100 companies. Overall, Nafi hopes this fund will help grow Breakthrough into “the hub for Gen Z entrepreneurship and thought leadership,” specifically given the anxiety many young people feel about their economic future.
Applications for the latest cohort open today.
“We hope that by supporting young entrepreneurs, we’re able to uplift as many stories as possible to then inspire many more across the world to use the tools and knowledge around them to pursue entrepreneurship not only to change their communities, but also gain economic stability for themselves and their families,” Nafi said.
This piece was updated to correct the name of one of the investment firms.