Entrepreneurs First (EF), a global talent investor and company builder, has raised $200 million in fresh capital from a group of veteran technology founders and investors, including Reid Hoffman, John and Patrick Collison, Eric Schmidt, Claire Hughes Johnson, Charlie Songhurst, Sara Clemens, Danny Rimer, and Matt Cohler, alongside leading institutional investors such as Greylock.

With this new capital, EF is reaffirming its core thesis: the world has more exceptional founders than it realises. EF aims to identify talented individuals at the earliest stage, equipping them with the peer group, structure, and early capital needed to create globally significant companies.

EF India boasts a portfolio of 50+ successful start-ups across various sectors. Under the leadership of Rahul Samat, EF India continues to identify and guide exceptional technical and entrepreneurial talent. From day one, EF helps founders find co-founders, develop ideas, build products, take them to market, and raise their first round of funding.

EF’s global portfolio of companies is now valued at over $16 billion, up from $3 billion in 2021 when they last raised. EF actively taps into potential founders from top universities, including Stanford, MIT, Berkeley, Yale, IIT Bombay, IIT Delhi, and BITS Pilani. Selected individuals join EF’s intensive company-building programmes in Europe, India, and the US. Those who successfully form companies receive pre-seed investment from EF and relocate to the Bay Area for their fundraising and scaling phase. EF companies are incorporated in the US and build from San Francisco from pre-seed onwards, maximising their potential to become global leaders.

“India remains one of the deepest pools of technical and entrepreneurial talent globally,” said Rahul Samat, Partner and General Manager of EF India. “We raised this capital to focus on identifying exceptional individuals early and helping them create outlier companies. Our India programme allows founders to start with no idea or co-founder, and within six months, they are positioned to raise funds from leading Silicon Valley investors. We are one of the only platforms in India that enables founders to build US-native companies from day one, with the structure, network, and capital to compete globally.”

EF India has played a pivotal role in identifying and backing leading Indian start-ups like Unbox Robotics, Unsiloed AI, Sidecar AI, and Aule Space. Some of these companies have secured funding from top investors such as Long Journey Ventures, Nexus Venture Partners, Uncorrelated Ventures, Matrix Partners, SOSV, and Pi Ventures. In 2024, EF began relocating all pre-seed-funded companies to the Bay Area ahead of their seed rounds, leading to improved speed, execution, and fundraising outcomes. On average, the time to raise capital has halved, and valuations have doubled.