Entrepreneur First invests in exceptional individuals to build startups from scratch. We bring together people with extraordinary futures to develop their most ambitious ideas and raise money from the world’s best investors.

We were founded on the belief that the world is missing out on some of its best founders. In particular, we believe this is because the best companies come from co-founding partnerships – but finding the right person in your existing network can be hugely challenging. In fact, it’s a matter of pure luck.

We exist to change that. We embed the most ambitious and driven people in a curated community to find their ideal co-founders, fast.

Alongside that, we give them access to leading advisors, the opportunity to pitch for pre-seed funding from us, and a network of the world’s best investors to break down the barriers to founding, and move fast.

Entrepreneur First’s unique model brings together the people who should be co-founders, to create impactful companies that otherwise wouldn’t exist.

Companies founded through our platform include Tractable (Computer Vision, currently valued at US$1B as of June 2021), Magic Pony Technology (AI, acquired by Twitter for a reported $150m), Represent (social commerce, acquired by CustomInk), BloomsburyAI (acquired by Facebook), Cleo (fintech), Open Cosmos (space), CloudNC (manufacturing), Transcelestial (satellite communications) and many more.

Over

600

companies
Over

$10B

combined portfolio value
The Programme

Our cohorts bring together curated communities of exceptional people.

If you secure a place on one of them, you’ll join a pool of like-minded people all committed to founding a startup right now.

You’ll test multiple partnerships – and you’ll break up when they don’t work. You’ll move on fast, enabling you to find the right person without constraints. You’ll test ideas, and build product market-fit. You’ll have access to intense mentorship, and you’ll pitch for investment.

How it works
Our backers

We’re proud to be backed by some of the world’s leading technology founders and leaders.

Investors in our US$158M Series C round include:

  • Patrick and John Collison, co-founders of Stripe
  • Taavet Hinrikus, co-founder of Wise
  • Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn
  • Matt Mullenweg, co-founder of WordPress
  • Tom Blomfield, co-founder of Monzo and GoCardless
  • Nat Friedman, former CEO of Github
  • Claire Hughes Johnson, former COO of Stripe
  • Sarah Clemens, former COO of Twitch and Pandora
  • Matt Robinson, co-founder of Nested and GoCardless
  • Patrick O’Shaughnessy, founding partner of Positive Sum and host of Invest Like the Best
  • Demis Hassabis and Mustafa Suleyman, co-founders of Deepmind.
Read more about the round
Our Impact

Lives accelerated.

Over 500 companies have been built through our platform – by co-founders who otherwise wouldn’t have met.

Our platform has a profound influence on the lives of our founders. Cohort members go from individuals, early in their careers, to CEOs and CTOs of globally impactful companies. Our alumni have gone from graduates, to the co-founders of centimillion – and billion – dollar companies in a few short years.

Interested in learning more about our platform?