Founded in 2011 by Matt Clifford and Alice Bentinck, Entrepreneur First is a venture capital firm that invests in exceptional individuals to create start-ups from scratch. At the heart of Entrepreneur First’s belief, it employs a very unique approach of investing in individuals rather than pre-existing startup ideas. Their philosophy focuses on intrinsic qualities that transform outliers into successful founders. They identify and nurture ‘force amplifiers’ who have a determination to build and an urge to tackle big ideas. With headquarters based in London, the firm has offices in New York, Paris and Bangalore.

Entrepreneur First primarily focuses on founders who are at an early stage of building their companies. They show a keen interest in investment during the ideation, pre-seed and seed stage, aiming to provide support during the idea development and business formation phases.

The firm has demonstrated a broad sectoral interest where it covers diverse industries such as advertising, automotive, biotechnology, environment, commerce, communications, compliance, real estate, consumer, cybersecurity, data science, education, energy, healthcare, and many others. Without a fixed ticket size, the firm aims to have a sense of flexibility to invest in each start-up based on the potential of the founders and the specific needs of the venture.

Some of the portfolio companies backed by Entrepreneur First include Tractable, Aztec, Neptune, La Vie, Unitary, GenoMines, and Magdrive with more than 32 exits of notable companies like Zash, Affable, and Friday Finance.