Entrepreneur First

Entrepreneur First selects individuals rather than existing teams or products. The firm recruits cohorts of high-potential candidates, many of whom join without a business idea or co-founder, and runs them through a structured matching and ideation process. Only after a company is formed from within the cohort does the firm provide a formal investment. This means Entrepreneur First assumes origination risk at the individual level — a step most accelerators never take.

Participants initially receive a small, equity-free grant to support their living costs during the ideation phase. Once they form a company with a matched co-founder, Entrepreneur First invests up to $250,000 in the new entity. The firm can also provide up to $5 million in follow-on capital across subsequent funding rounds, offering continued financial support up to a company's Series B.

The firm's backers include prominent technology founders such as John and Patrick Collison of Stripe, Reid Hoffman of LinkedIn, Demis Hassabis of Google DeepMind, and Eric Schmidt. Co-investors that have funded Entrepreneur First portfolio companies include Sequoia, Andreessen Horowitz, Index Ventures, Khosla Ventures, and Founders Fund. This network forms a distinct funnel that connects newly formed companies to top-tier Silicon Valley venture capital.

The firm runs talent-investing programs in London, Paris, Bangalore, and San Francisco. A structural element of the program is its role as 'a bridge to Silicon Valley': each cohort receives dedicated support from a San Francisco-based partner, three months of office space in the city, U.S. market development workshops, and direct, bespoke introductions to over 200 venture capital firms at a San Francisco Demo Day.

The portfolio reflects the deep technology and life science expertise of its recruited founders. Concentrations include enterprise AI, fintech, digital health, synthetic biology, robotics, space technology, and privacy infrastructure. Named companies span from Tractable (computer vision for insurance) and Aztec (blockchain privacy) to Spore.Bio (instant microbial detection) and Magdrive (satellite propulsion), indicating a thesis-agnostic but deep-tech-dependent investment pattern.

The firm states its portfolio of companies is collectively valued at over $16 billion. This figure includes unicorns and successful exits, though the firm does not publicly disclose its ownership stake in individual companies or a net IRR. The valuation is based on the aggregate marks of companies that have passed through its formation programs and subsequent fundraising.