Entrepreneurs First Raises $200m of Fresh Capital to Unlock the Next Generation of Outlier Founders

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Entrepreneurs First (EF), a global talent investor and company builder based in San Francisco, today announced it has raised $200m of fresh capital from a group of veteran technology founders and investors, including John and Patrick Collison, Eric Schmidt, Claire Hughes Johnson, Charlie Songhurst, Sara Clemens, Danny Rimer, and Matt Cohler, alongside leading institutional investors including Greylock.

Informally known as the “CAA for startups,” Entrepreneurs First backs individuals before they have a team or an idea, and then helps them build startups from scratch. EF recruits top technical and entrepreneurial talent all over the world, often straight out of university, and guides them through finding a co-founder, developing an idea, and raising their first round of funding.

EF’s portfolio of companies is now collectively valued at over $16 billion, up from $3 billion in 2021 when they last raised. “We have raised this capital to double down on what we do best: identifying extraordinary individuals early and helping them build outlier companies from scratch,” said Alice Bentinck, co-founder and CEO of Entrepreneurs First. “Once we have identified the talent, our role is to create the environments, peer groups and standards that push exceptional people to operate at the edge of their capabilities,” said Matt Clifford, co-founder and Chairman of Entrepreneurs First.

In the same way top technology companies recruit on campuses, Entrepreneurs First has full-time talent scouts across leading universities including Stanford, MIT, Berkeley, Yale, Princeton, CMU, and UT Austin, as well as top schools across Europe and India. Selected individuals join EF’s intensive company-building programs in Europe, India, and the US. Those that successfully form companies receive pre-seed investment from EF and relocate to the Bay Area for the fundraising and scaling phase of the program. Today, all EF companies incorporate in the US and are expected to build from San Francisco from pre-seed onwards, maximizing their chances of becoming global category leaders.

EF companies are backed by world-leading investors such as Sequoia, Andreessen Horowitz, Benchmark, Founders Fund and Index. Notable EF-backed companies include Cleo (Balderton Capital), Aztec (a16z), Gensyn (a16z) and PolyAI (Khosla). Recent Bay Area cohorts raised up to $15m in seed funding within two weeks of completing the program.

In 2024, EF began relocating all pre-seed-funded companies to the Bay Area ahead of their seed rounds. Since then, founders have seen material improvements in speed, execution, and fundraising outcomes. On average, time to raise has halved, and valuations have doubled. “The Bay Area program is not just about proximity to capital,” said Bentinck. “It changes the ambition gradient. Founders move faster, think bigger and compete on a global stage from day one.”

Entrepreneurs First is backed by serial entrepreneurs and prolific technology investors, including Elad Gil, Nat Friedman, Founders Fund, Greylock, John and Patrick Collison, Demis Hassabis and Mustafa Suleyman. New to this round are founders and investors like Aidan Gomez, Barney Hussey-Yeo, Danny Rimer, Eric Schmidt, Jeffrey Dean & Heidi Hopper, Jeff Hammerbacher, Mati Staniszewski, Matt Cohler and Nick McKeown.

With $200m in fresh capital, EF is doubling down on its core thesis; the world has more exceptional founders than it realizes. EF exists to identify them early and equip them with the peer group and early capital to build globally significant companies that would not otherwise exist.

About Entrepreneurs First

Entrepreneurs First is a global pioneer with the mission to break ambitious individuals free from traditional definitions of success and guide them toward building transformative companies. By curating cohorts of exceptional peers from top academic and tech communities worldwide, EF nurtures aspiring founders with access to a world-class advisor network and the support necessary to realize their global ambitions. Its portfolio companies are backed by world-leading investors, including Sequoia, Andreessen Horowitz, SoftBank, and Khosla Ventures. Together they are worth over $16 billion and include a number of unicorns and successful exits. Entrepreneurs First started investing in 2015 and was founded in 2011 by Alice Bentinck and Matt Clifford. Entrepreneurs First has offices in London, Paris, Bangalore and San Francisco.