Company builder Entrepreneur First lands in Bangalore

Photo credit: Crispin Semmens

London-based Entrepreneur First (EF) has expanded its Asia footprint. The company builder announced today that it has brought its “talent first” accelerator program to Bangalore, India – its third location in the region after Singapore and Hong Kong.

India’s startup capital has always been an attractive location for its large pool of tech talent, says EF. “Since we entered Asia three years ago, we have witnessed a very encouraging glimpse of what the most talented and ambitious individuals from India can achieve. By setting up in Bangalore, we can access even more of such individuals, especially technologists,” explains EF Global Expansion director Anne Marie Droste.

EF has taken a slightly different approach from other accelerators. Rather than supporting fully-formed teams, its program focuses on individuals who are matched into teams at the end of each run. The idea is to get people with skills who don’t necessarily know how to go about building a business and help them do just that.

For Bangalore, EF will provide a monthly US$2,000 stipend for participating members, and invest US$55,000 in the startups that will evolve from its program. Its emphasis will be on deep tech, which includes artificial intelligence, machine learning, and robotics.

The Bangalore program officially starts on January 28, 2019, and aims to recruit up to 50 individuals for its inaugural cohort. Interested parties may apply at its website beginning today.

Backed by Silicon Valley’s Greylock Partners, EF has successfully built over 150 companies that are collectively worth almost US$1.5 billion. Outside Asia and its home market, EF has set up shop in Berlin and Paris.