Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jul 19, 2026

Entrepreneurs First

Entrepreneurs First is an international business incubator and venture capital firm which supports individuals in building technology companies. Founded in 2011 by Matt Clifford and Alice Bentinck, the company has offices in London, Paris, Bangalore, New York and San Francisco.

Last revised
Jul 19, 2026
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≈ 6 min
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Wikipedia ↗
Entrepreneurs First
TypePrivately held company
IndustryHigh tech startups
Founded2011
FoundersMatt Clifford
Alice Bentinck
Headquarters
London
,
England
Area served
North America, Europe, Asia
Key people
Matt Clifford, Executive Chair
Alice Bentinck, CEO
Websitejoinef.com

Entrepreneurs First (formerly Entrepreneur First,1 commonly shortened to EF) is an international business incubator and venture capital firm which supports individuals in building technology companies. Founded in 2011 by Matt Clifford and Alice Bentinck, the company has offices in London, Paris, Bangalore, New York and San Francisco.23

The company operates by investing in individuals before they have established a cofounder or a specific business concept. EF has helped create more than 600 companies with a combined value of over $11 billion as of 2025.24

History

Entrepreneurs First was founded in 2011 by Matt Clifford and Alice Bentinck, who had worked as management consultants at McKinsey & Company since 2009. According to Clifford, the model was inspired by a McKinsey project to develop a technology cluster in East London using university graduates to create startups. Clifford and Bentinck subsequently left McKinsey to establish the program independently.5 Clifford originally served as CEO while Bentinck was the CPO.6 In 2023 Alice took over as CEO and Matt become chair.

McKinsey & Company provided seed funding, and KPMG, Microsoft, and Sky were early corporate sponsors.7

Bentinck founded Code First: Girls in late 2012, an initiative aimed at increasing the representation of women in the technology and digital workforce.8

In 2016, after four years of operating exclusively in London, Entrepreneurs First announced its expansion to Singapore.910

Clifford and Bentinck were awarded MBEs in the 2016 Birthday Honours for services to business.11 In 2017, it was announced that Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn and Partner at Greylock, was leading a $12.4 million investment into Entrepreneurs First.12 As part of his investment, Hoffman joined the board.13

In 2018, Entrepreneurs First expanded to four additional capitals: Berlin, Hong Kong, Paris and Bangalore.14 The company closed its Hong Kong office in 2019,3 and opened a Toronto office in 2020.1516 The Berlin, Canadian, and Singaporean office closed in Spring 2023 17

In 2021, it announced a partnership with Tezos Foundation to launch a platform for building Web3 startups in London, which will begin in October 2022.18

In July 2022, Entrepreneurs First announced the raise of a $158 million Series C.1920 Investors in the round included John Collison; Patrick Collison; Taavet Hinrikus; Reid Hoffman; Matt Mullenweg; Tom Blomfield; Nat Friedman; Demis Hassabis; Mustafa Suleyman; Elad Gil and Lachy Groom.19

In October 2023, Entrepreneurs First opened a San Francisco office and held its first startup demo day there in April 2024. Following this, startups from London, Bangalore, Paris, and New York were required to relocate to San Francisco and incorporate in the United States.21

Portfolio

The portfolio of startups cofounded through the program includes over 600 companies with a combined valuation of over $11 billion as of 2025.22 These range from early-stage businesses to companies that have achieved unicorn status or been acquired.

Entrepreneurs First's portfolio companies have been backed by leading investors, including Sequoia, Andreessen Horowitz, Softbank and GV (formerly Google Ventures).

Companies founded through the program include Tractable, Cleo, Omnipresent, Aztec, Hertzwell, Transcelestial, Airbank, and Magic Pony Technology, which was acquired by Twitter for a reported $150 million in 2016.23

Investors

Investors in Entrepreneurs First include: Reid Hoffman (cofounder of LinkedIn), John and Patrick Collison (cofounders of Stripe), Demis Hassabis and Mustafa Suleyman (cofounders of Deepmind), Taavet Hinrikus (cofounder of Wise), Matt Mullenweg, Tom Blomfield (cofounder of Monzo and GoCardless), Nat Friedman (former CEO of GitHub), Sara Clemens (former COO of WHATNOT and Twitch), Matt Robinson (cofounder of Nested and GoCardless), Patrick O’Shaughnessy (Positive Sum), Sten Tamkivi, Elad Gil, and Lachy Groom.

Program

Entrepreneurs First runs a 12-week program called 'FORM', which brings individuals together to establish cofounding partnerships and develop business concepts.24 Participants test partnership dynamics and iterate initial corporate ideas. During this time, participants are paid a stipend to cover their living costs.

At the end of this 3-month period, participants pitch their companies to Entrepreneurs First's 'Investment Committee' to receive a first 'pre-seed' investment in exchange for equity.25 If they accept this investment then founders move to the second part of the program called 'LAUNCH'.

During the second 12-week phase, called 'LAUNCH', participants typically move to San Francisco. The program concludes with a Demo Day at the San Francisco office, which has featured presentations attended by investors such as Reid Hoffman and Patrick Collison.

Following Demo Day, founders continue to gain exposure to hundreds of top Seed VCs and angels across the US, Europe and Asia through the EF Demo Day online platform.

Application process

The application process evaluates candidates individually rather than requiring an existing business plan or corporate team.7 The program looks for candidates who have either recently graduated, or have a few years of industry experience.26

The program receives a large number of applications per cohort but is highly selective, taking only a small percentage of these people per cohort.27 Many applicants are graduates from University of Cambridge, Imperial College London, University of Edinburgh, University College London, and the University of St Andrews.28 The organization recruits university graduates directly, presenting the program as an alternative to corporate employment or postgraduate academic research.29

Entrepreneurs First differs from other accelerators such as Y Combinator and Wayra in that it works with individuals rather than companies.30 However, its successful startups have gone on to receive investor funding from Y Combinator, as well as from Balderton Capital, Index Ventures, Notion Capital, and Octopus Investments.29

In July 2015, Entrepreneurs First announced the establishment of an £8.5 million fund, backed by Encore Capital Infocomm Investments, and angel investors such as Robin Klein and Alex Chesterman, which will enable it to accept 200 participants per year for the next three years.29

The San Francisco office serves as the company's central location for assisting participants with startup development and fundraising.

References

References

  1. "ENTREPRENEURS FIRST LP overview - Find and update company information - GOV.UK". find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk. Retrieved 28 March 2025.
  2. "Homepage". Entrepreneur First. Retrieved 19 July 2022.
  3. "Entrepreneur First, the 'talent investor,' pulls out of Hong Kong". TechCrunch. 15 October 2019. Retrieved 11 January 2022.
  4. "Stripe founders back Entrepreneur First in latest $158m fundraise | Sifted". sifted.eu. Retrieved 19 July 2022.
  5. "Focus on Founders: Alice Bentinck and Matt Clifford at Entrepreneur First". McKinsey & Company Alumni Center. 22 July 2014. Retrieved 1 October 2015.
  6. "Our Team - Entrepreneur First". www.joinef.com. Archived from the original on 19 September 2018. Retrieved 21 November 2017.
  7. Davidson, Lauren (20 September 2015). "Could this London accelerator be the biggest creator of start-ups in the world?". The Sunday Telegraph. Retrieved 1 October 2015.
  8. "Lessons from running a start-up accelerator". Retrieved 11 October 2016.
  9. Shead, Sam (20 January 2016). "Singapore is paying this British company to help build its startup scene". Business Insider. Retrieved 11 January 2022.
  10. Yap, Shiwen (17 January 2018). "Global venture builder Entrepreneur First unveils second Singapore cohort". DealStreetAsia. Retrieved 11 January 2022.
  11. "No. 61608". The London Gazette (Supplement). 11 June 2016. p. B16.
  12. "Start-up business puts entrepreneurs first". The Times. 12 September 2017. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 21 November 2017.
  13. "Linkedin's co-founder investing in a London startup hub". The Independent. 11 September 2017. Retrieved 21 November 2017.
  14. "Entrepreneur First, the company builder backed by Greylock, expands to Paris". Retrieved 17 July 2018.
  15. Joyner, April (3 July 2021). "A Canadian tech pioneer tells us why this Toronto accelerator, backed by Reid Hoffman, is a game changer". Business Insider. Retrieved 11 January 2022.
  16. O'Hear, Steve (23 September 2019). "Entrepreneur First, the 'talent investor,' to launch in Toronto, Canada early next year". TechCrunch. Retrieved 11 January 2022.
  17. Nicol-Schwarz, Kai. "Exclusive: Entrepreneur First launches in the US".
  18. Butcher, Mike (15 November 2021). "Entrepreneur First launches partnership with Tezos to spin up Web3 startups". TechCrunch. Retrieved 11 January 2022.
  19. "A who's who of founders-turned-investors pump $158 million into London's Entrepreneur First". Tech.eu. 29 June 2022. Retrieved 19 July 2022.
  20. "Entrepreneur First raises $158M at a $560M valuation, adding Stripe's Collison brothers to its list of backers". TechCrunch. 29 June 2022. Retrieved 19 July 2022.
  21. "Entrepreneur First hosts first demo day in San Francisco after US move". Sifted. Retrieved 18 April 2024.
  22. "Portfolio". Entrepreneurs First. Retrieved 7 September 2025.
  23. "Twitter pays up to $150M for Magic Pony Technology, which uses neural networks to improve images". TechCrunch. 20 June 2016. Retrieved 14 February 2019.
  24. "About Us". Entrepreneur First. Retrieved 19 July 2022.
  25. "Frequently Asked Questions". Entrepreneurs First. Retrieved 11 March 2025.
  26. "What does EF look for?". Entrepreneur First. Retrieved 19 July 2022.
  27. "Joinef website - FAQ". Entrepreneur First. 2015. Archived from the original on 11 May 2016. Retrieved 20 May 2016.
  28. Weinberg, Jonathan (25 February 2014). "A Tech Accelerator Grows in London". Fortune. Retrieved 1 October 2015.
  29. O'Hear, Steve (15 July 2015). "Entrepreneur First Raises £8.5M To Find Europe's Best Technical Talent And Invest 'Pre-Team, Pre-Idea'". TechCrunch. Retrieved 1 October 2015.
  30. Shead, Sam (10 September 2015). "Entrepreneur First: Why it's different to other accelerators and who its latest startup champions are". Tech World. Retrieved 1 October 2015.