<article>London-based venture builder, <a href="https://www.dealstreetasia.com/?s=entrepreneur+first">Entrepreneur First,</a> is raising a $255-million global fund, according to an SEC filing.</article>

London-based venture builder, <a href="https://www.dealstreetasia.com/?s=entrepreneur+first">Entrepreneur First,</a> is raising a $255-million global fund, according to an SEC filing.
<a href="https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1759587/000175958718000001/xslFormDX01/primary_doc.xml">The document</a> also states that the fund has secured commitments of $65 million from 11 investors.
Entrepreneur First (EF) currently invests from a $12-million (S$16 million) EF Singapore fund, more than half of which has been deployed into Asia-based startups. According to EF, it will begin tapping from the global fund once the Singapore fund has been fully deployed.
Entrepreneur First has backed 72 startups from Asia, comprising roughly half of all the startups it has invested in. The venture builder also invests in startups from London, Paris and Berlin.
In an interview with DEALSTREETASIA, Alice Bentinck, co-founder of EF shared that the venture builder aims to strengthen its international presence in 2019. Until last year, Entrepreneur First was only operating from London and Singapore. Today it is in six cities: Hong Kong, Bangalore, Singapore, Paris, Berlin and London.
Alice Bentinck, co-founder of EF said: &#8220;2019 is really about getting that running. We opened in Bangalore at the end of last year, with 50 individuals from the first cohort joining us in Bangalore. We’re about to start our second cohort in Hong Kong, our third cohort in Berlin, and second cohort in Paris in April. So it’s really about building our presence within those locations.&#8221;
During EF&#8217;s pan-Asian Investor Day in Singapore last month, the venture builder said it plans to invest in close to 400 founders in Asia by end-2019. Its most recent fourth cohort of Asian founders comprised 22 deep tech startups from Singapore and Hong Kong.
Globally, EF has graduated more than 1,200 founders who have created over 200 companies at an estimated cumulative value of $1.5 billion on paper.
Julia Zhou also contributed to this article.

London-based venture builder, Entrepreneur First, is raising a $255-million global fund, according to an SEC filing.

UK-based venture builder Entrepreneur First to raise $255m global fund

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UK-based venture builder Entrepreneur First to raise $255m global fund

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