Two years ago, UK-founded company builder Entrepreneurs First made a bold move: it asked all the companies that made it through the first stage of its talent accelerator to move from Europe to the US for at least 12 weeks.
It was a big shift in strategy — and attracted its fair share of eyebrow raises — but it seems to have paid off.
Entrepreneurs First (EF) has raised $200m, at a $1.3bn valuation, to double down on its strategy to act as “a bridge between the US and Europe”, says CEO and cofounder Alice Bentinck.
Its portfolio is now worth over $16bn, up from $3bn when EF last raised in 2022.
And, says Bentinck, at the end of its programme many of its companies are now raising $2-3m from both US and European investors, in just three or four days — at higher valuations.
Europeans in the US
The majority of founders participating in EF remain European (around 60%), but a similar number permanently relocate to the US once the programme ends. That decision is usually based around where the biggest customers for that particular business are based, says Bentinck — although she thinks there are clear benefits to working with those in the US.
“We underestimated the impact of giving teams access to American customers,” she adds. “They move so unbelievably fast — in hours and days, not weeks and months — which sets the pace of the company.”
The popularity of the SAFE (simple agreement for future equity) for early-stage funding rounds also helps “make things much easier”, she says — and contributes to the speed at which startups can raise seed funding.
Like the original Silicon Valley accelerator, Y Combinator, EF’s programme ends in a ‘demo day’ where companies pitch to investors.
“I’m delighted to see how many European investors show up to demo days,” says Bentinck, reeling off a list of names: LocalGlobe, Airstreet, Fly Ventures, Plural, Tiny VC. “They’re coming out, meeting teams, doing the legwork — and moving fast.”
But in general, she adds: “I’m surprised that European VCs don’t spend more time here. It’s a massive miss — and I made the same mistake.”
Being in Silicon Valley, where Bentinck and her family now live, is “a kick up the bum in terms of what great looks like”.
“SF is one big swarm of people working in the same industry — and it’s an ecosystem that’s 50 years ahead of us [in Europe].”
By contrast, top European founders (which often have US investors) “have a much bigger profile [in SF] than European VCs do”, thinks Bentinck. “Our very best founders are doing more to push that connection.”
Culture shock
Still, for the founders on EF’s programmes, moving to Silicon Valley can be quite a culture shock.
Each team which makes it past the first stage of the programme receives $250k in pre-seed funding from EF, which they can use for the relocation. EF also helps with the visa process and finding housing.
But paperwork isn’t the most challenging aspect of the move.
“The biggest shock for founders coming out here is how much they need to shift how they communicate,” says Bentinck. “It’s more nuanced than ‘be more arrogant’ or ‘be more confident’.”
Workshops and sessions on selling and fundraising are important parts of the programme, she adds.
“Founders often lack an understanding of the level of aggression and speed required” with fundraising, she says. “In Europe, it feels like a VC’s market, not a founder’s market. Here, you have to behave as if you’re running the world’s best fundraise process.”
Becoming a unicorn
EF’s own fundraise, which values it as a unicorn for the first time, is primarily a raise into the company, not the fund, Bentinck clarifies. Of the $200m raised, $40m will go into the fund (to invest in future startups).
Investors include LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman, Stripe founders John and Patrick Collison, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, Stripe corporate officer Claire Hughes Johnson, British angel investor Charlie Songhurst and Index Ventures partner Danny Rimer, alongside VCs like Greylock.
Longer term, EF is hoping to “get to a point where we have an evergreen capital vehicle” that fuels its investments into startups.
There might be another fundraise necessary before then, Bentinck says. “It depends on the market, and how quickly we choose to spend this capital.”
Despite having a portfolio valued at $16bn, which it’s been building for a decade now, EF hasn’t yet begun to actively generate returns or sold down any of its positions, says Bentinck — although plans to do so are “in development”.
“We’re trying to work out what to do with our positions, but they’re looking good,” she says. Portfolio winners she names currently include LA-based Gensyn, UK fintech Cleo, Web3 cyber startup Aztec, British brain monitoring startup Comind and voice agent startup PolyAI.
For now, EF’s portfolio looks set to add a whole lot more applied AI and deeptech companies — which Bentinck says make up the bulk of companies going through its programmes at the moment.
