Entrepreneur First (EF), a UK-based global talent investor, announced on Wednesday that it has secured $158M (approximately €150M) in a Series C round of funding.
The fresh funds will enable Entrepreneur First to invest in new startups and financial instruments aimed at up-ending the typical venture capital model. The company also said the aggregate value of companies created through its platform exceeds $10B (approx €9.5B).
Stripe’s Collison brothers, Sten Tamkivi, Elad Gil, Lachy Groom, co-founder of Wise Taavet Hinrikus, co-founder of LinkedIn Reid Hoffman, co-founder of WordPress Matt Mullenweg, co-founder of Monzo and GoCardless Tom Blomfield, former CEO of Github Nat Friedman, former COO of Twitch and Pandora Sara Clemens, co-founder of Nested and GoCardless Matt Robinson, Positive Sum’s Patrick O’Shaughnessy, and co-founders of Deepmind Demis Hassabis and Mustafa Suleyman, participated in the round.
Entrepreneur First: What you need to know
Matt Clifford and Alice Bentinck founded the London headquartered Entrepreneur First in 2011 to bring ambitious founders together to build global technology companies. It is a highly selective, 3-month long programme run in 6 cities across the globe.
“Talent is everywhere, but opportunity is not. The idea of taking strangers and helping them start robust and ambitious companies is no longer radical but essential to power the next stage of innovation,” says Matt Clifford, CEO, and co-founder of Entrepreneur First.
The platform invests in high-potential individuals to help them meet their co-founders, develop their ideas, and secure funding from leading investors in the shortest possible time.
“The whole EF thesis is finding individuals who otherwise might not start companies and then trying to accelerate their journey to success,” he continues.
“EF is completely unique in the early-stage funding landscape. Our whole effort focuses on talent rather than typical venture capital deal flow. We don’t try and win deals, we don’t pick deals, we find great people. That brings big strengths. The ability to partner before there even is a company is both a relationship and an economic strength,” he adds.
To date, EF has built over 500 companies from scratch, has over 3000 alumni worldwide, and its portfolio is valued at over $8B.
Notable alumni include Tractable – a computer vision unicorn focused on the insurance industry, Omnipresent – an employment platform for remote work, Aztec Protocol – a private transaction protocol, Cleo – a financial management app, and Permutive – a privacy-compliant advertising infrastructure platform.
The company has offices in London, Toronto, Paris, Berlin, Bangalore, and Singapore.
Alice Bentinck, co-founder of Entrepreneur First, says “As the value of EF’s portfolio companies passes $10B (approx €9.5B), we feel we’re just getting started. We want EF to have a product to enable every ambitious individual to find their co-founder. EF is already one of the world’s great talent communities and with this new funding and these new investors, we’re looking forward to partnering with thousands of more exceptional founders in the coming years”
Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn and Entrepreneur First board membe,r says, “We are entering a new era for venture funding, with a new generation of global founders needing support to build iconic companies from scratch. I’m excited to be part of this world-class syndicate. We’re all passionate about the power of entrepreneurship to change people’s lives and change the world. Entrepreneur First represents a new way for talented people to access that opportunity and a new way to build startup ecosystems outside Silicon Valley.”
