Early-stage investor Entrepreneur First (EF) has raised $158 million from a group of veteran technology founders representing major tech companies including Stripe, LinkedIn, WordPress, Github, Twitch and Pandora, among others.
EF has raised the capital in the form of a Series C round.
Founded in 2011 by Matt Clifford and Alice Bentinck in London, EF now employs 120 people around the world. EF helps entrepreneurs find co-founders to partner with ahead of launching startups.
EF Singapore will be introducing new products at different stages across the founding journey, expanding its reach to emerging and aspiring founders in Southeast Asia, and offering an exclusive and accelerated path to global funding.
“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 at EF Singapore.
“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,” added Matt Clifford, CEO and co-founder of EF.
EF said that the aggregate value of companies created through its platform has exceeded $1 billion in Singapore and $10 billion globally.
Some companies it has funded through the Singapore business include cultivated meat and seafood company Shiok Meats, YC-backed streamlined customer collections and vendor payments firm Peakflo, laser communications startup Transcelestial and DeFi solutions Hawksight.
Meanwhile, EF has scored exits totalling over $680 million. The firm has offices in London, Toronto, Paris, Berlin, Bangalore and Singapore.