Entrepreneur First Raises $158 Million in Series C Funding From Global Alliance of Tech Founders
EF will target a direct investment of $100m over the next three years in hundreds of entrepreneurs, and will continue building out its talent product suite
By Akshit Pushkarna •
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Scaleup investor Entrepreneur First, a global fund which invests in early-stage founder talent has raised a $158m Series C funding round from a group of veteran technology founders, including co-founders of Stripe, Patrick and John Collison, Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn, Taavet Hinrikus, co-founder, Certific and Wordpress developer Matt Mullenweg.
The funds used will be to make investments into new startups. It will also allow EF a capacity to experiment, and innovate on how best to fund the next generation of entrepreneurs by launching new products aimed at up-ending the typical venture capital model.
The fund was founded by 2011 by Matt Clifford and Alice Bentinck in London as an early stage investor. The fund shares that the aim behind raising the current round of investments was to provide an opportunity to budding entrepreneurs who are currently facing a shortage in funding. The fund was founded by 2011 by Matt Clifford and Alice Bentinck in London as an early stage investor.
"Talent is everywhere, but opportunity is not. The idea of taking strangers and helping them start robust and ambitious companies is no longer radical but essential to power the next stage of innovation," said Matt Clifford, CEO and co-founder of Entrepreneur First.
In the last 3 years, EF has funded 40+ startups in India across SaaS, FinTech, HealthTech, Robotics, RetailTech, Biotechnology, D2C, Web3, Creator Tools, etc. Many of these startups have raised their next round of funding from some of the best VC funds in India and beyond.
Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn and Entrepreneur First board member said, "We are entering a new era for venture funding, with a new generation of global founders needing support to build iconic companies from scratch. I'm excited to be part of this world-class syndicate. We're all passionate about the power of entrepreneurship to change people's lives and to change the world. Entrepreneur First represents a new way for talented people to access that opportunity and a new way to build startup ecosystems outside Silicon Valley."
