Stripe, LinkedIn Co-Founders back Entrepreneur First’s US$158M Series C round

Entrepreneur First (EF), an investor supporting individuals building technology companies, has secured a US$158 million Series C funding round from a group of veteran technology founders.

The investors include John and Patrick 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), Sara Clemens (former COO of Twitch and Pandora), Matt Robinson (Co-Founder of Nested and GoCardless), Patrick O’Shaughnessy (Positive Sum), Demis Hassabis and Mustafa Suleyman (Co-Founders of Deepmind), Sten Tamkivi, Elad Gil and Lachy Groom.

The cash will allow Entrepreneur First to invest in new startups and experiment and innovate on how best to fund the next generation of entrepreneurs by launching new products to upend the typical venture capital model. It will target a direct investment of US$100 million over the next three years in hundreds of entrepreneurs and will continue building out its talent product suite.

Also Read: How accelerator programmes can help entrepreneurs bring their vision to life

EF Singapore will introduce new products at different stages across the founding journey and expand its reach to emerging and aspiring founders across Southeast Asia. In addition, it will offer an exclusive and accelerated path to global funding to leverage top international funds for exceptional local talent.

“Entrepreneur First has demonstrated that talent investing in Singapore is thriving. Over several years, we’ve backed hundreds of individuals to transform their vision into world-class companies. This fundraise enables us to scale our proven approach into new investment areas to serve Southeast Asia’s emerging generation of outlier founders,” said Bernadette Cho, Partner, EF Singapore.

Founded in 2011 by Matt Clifford and Alice Bentinck in London, EF now employs 120 worldwide. It operates as an early-stage investor, helping talented people find co-founders to partner with before launching startups.

“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 CEO Clifford.

Entrepreneur First is also announcing today that the aggregate value of companies created through its platform in Singapore now exceeds US$1 billion and globally US$10 billion. Notable alumni from Singapore include Shiok Meats, Peakflo, Hawksight, and Transcelestial.

—

The post Stripe, LinkedIn Co-Founders back Entrepreneur First’s US$158M Series C round appeared first on e27.