Entrepreneurs First

Entrepreneurs First (EF) is a category-defining global 'talent investor' that backs exceptional individuals before they have a co-founder, a team, or even a concrete idea. Founded in 2011 by Alice Bentinck and Matt Clifford, EF's core belief is that it matters not only which companies get started, but who starts them — and that liberating the world's most ambitious people from the artificial constraints of conventional career paths (high-status jobs, citation counts, promotion cycles) will unlock a new generation of world-class technology companies. EF selects cohorts of outstanding individuals from leading academic institutions and tech communities globally, helps them find optimal co-founders through a structured matching process, and then provides equity-free grants, up to $250K in initial investment, and up to $5M in follow-on funding through Series B. With offices in London, Paris, Bangalore, and San Francisco, EF acts as a bridge between global talent and Silicon Valley, culminating in Demo Days attended by 200+ partners from the world's top VCs. Its portfolio of 600+ companies is collectively valued at over $16B.