Entrepreneurs First

About Entrepreneurs First

Global talent investor and company builder raised $200M at $1.3B unicorn valuation. Backed by Stripe founders, Reid Hoffman, Eric Schmidt, and Index Ventures. Portfolio collectively valued at $16B+. Backs exceptional individuals before they have a team or idea.

Investment Focus

Location / RegionUnited Kingdom

Funding StagePre Seed

Industry Focus

Ai Ml

Deep Tech

Enterprise Software

Investor Signals Profile

active

Sweet Spot

Exceptional solo technical founder — PhD, elite AI/ML engineer, or world-class operator — pre-idea

pre-team pre-idea

talent-first

co-founder matching

technical founders

global-to-Bay-Area

Bullish Signals

Portfolio valuation 5x'd to $16B since 2022 — proven model at scaleblog

Collison, Hoffman, Schmidt backing signals highest-conviction institutional endorsementblog

Bay Area relocation halved time-to-seed and doubled valuations for graduatesblog

Recent cohort graduates raising $2–15M seed rounds within weeks of completionblog

600+ companies; $11B+ portfolio value as of 2025external

SF hub open; all cohorts now relocate to USexternal

Tractable unicorn; Magic Pony sold $150M — 18 months post-programexternal

Sequoia, a16z, SoftBank backing portfolio companiesexternal

12-week FORM + 12-week LAUNCH — structured dual-sprint modelwikipedia

Demo Days opened by Hoffman & Collison — elite signalwikipedia

Hassabis, Suleyman, Hinrikus, Blomfield all backing EF — founder-led LP basewikipedia

Stipend paid during FORM — lowers barrier for top talentwikipedia

NYC + Paris + Bangalore + London — all funnel into SFwikipedia

Nat Friedman, Elad Gil, Lachy Groom added as LPs — Series Cwikipedia

$158M Series C at $560M valuation — 2022wikipedia

Contrarian Signals

Majority of $200M funds EF operations, not startups — only $70M for investmentsblog

Scaling cohort size risks diluting signal quality of talent identificationblog

Best graduates may have succeeded independently — program value debatableblog

Berlin, Singapore, Canada offices all closed 2023 — contraction signalexternal

Wikipedia flags article as promotional — neutral validation lackingexternal

Promotional tone flag reissued Dec 2025 — credibility optics riskwikipedia

HK office closed 2019 — history of market exitswikipedia

Founder Do's

Apply as an individual — no co-founder or idea required, EF provides both

Be a top technical profile: PhD, DeepMind/OpenAI engineer, or repeat founder

Commit to Bay Area relocation post-program for fastest seed fundraising path

Engage fully with cohort dynamics and structured co-founder matching process

Prepare to raise externally fast — EF's $250K is a launchpad, not long-term capital

Founder Don'ts

Don't apply if you already have a co-founder, team, or committed idea — wrong program

Don't expect EF to be a long-term capital partner beyond the pre-seed check

Don't join if cohort-based, structured programs don't suit your working style

Key GPs & Partners

Alice Bentinck

CEO & Co-Founder

ex-founderthesis-drivencommunity-builder

Matt Clifford

Executive Chair & Co-Founder

thesis-drivenex-founderopinionated

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Fund Overview

Fund Size$200M

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Website

Key People

Alice Bentinck, Matt Clifford

Alice BentinckCEO & Co-Founder

Matt CliffordExecutive Chair & Co-Founder