Entrepreneur First

I recently kicked off a series of 💗Female Founder Breakfasts💗 at Entrepreneur First, and hearing from women founders as they share their wins and challenges has shown me just how energising and valuable a space like this can be. That's why I’d love to open it up to my network and beyond! I've always had role models - people who’ve changed over time but consistently inspired me to step up my game in life and work. These breakfasts are here to offer that same kind of inspiration - a chance for women considering founding their own company to connect and learn from founders in our current cohort. Plus, you'll get to hear from guest speakers including EF alumni who have raised from top VC funds and are making waves in their industries as I write this. This is an opportunity to get real, no-BS insights into what it takes to build a successful venture! We're primarily looking for current undergrad, masters, or PhD students, as well as early professionals. If you’re interested in joining us, please apply via the link in the comments. We’re keeping it small and selective, so spots are very limited. Looking forward to meeting some innncreeddibleee women! Habs Isabelle Kim Maria Luque Anguita Ladislaya L. Emily Tsen Jemima B. Emma Norris

From a state school & stabbings to a billion-dollar+ startup. It’s wild that anyone, from anywhere, can build a generational company from their bedroom today. Thanks for having me on, Jimmy.

Such an enormous honour to receive a CBE at Windsor Castle today for services to artificial intelligence. Really a recognition of enormous hard work from many friends and colleagues at Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (and Entrepreneur First) and lots more still to do!

Join us in Paris on November 22nd at Ekimetrics HQ for a two-day hackathon focused on creating cutting-edge, on-device AI applications. Teams will use Hugging Face and Meta's latest AI libraries to develop private, real-time B2C solutions, pushing the limits of edge computing. Get guidance from AI experts at Hugging Face, Meta, PyTorch, Scaleway, and Entrepreneur First, along with the chance to connect with like-minded innovators. Top projects will compete for $5K+ in cash prizes and lunch with a jury member. Only 100 spots available. Apply here 👉 https://lu.ma/g0fjf4mb

Excited to unveil a *brand new* event series that we at Entrepreneur First have been developing with prominent angel investor Nadav Rosenberg - Cell to Scale! The "Cell to Scale" series is dedicated to highlighting the founders of pioneering Biotech and Techbio companies, diving into their founding journeys and unique perspectives on the future of their fields. Our inaugural event is set for November 19th and will feature Jack O'Meara, co-founder of Ochre Bio. If you'd like to learn more about our kick-off event and the series, you can find more information on the event page (link in the comments). Look forward to seeing you there!

Our October portfolio roundup features impressive Series A raises, a large innovation funding award, and a number of new product innovation articles in TechCrunch. Omnea, Genie AI, Level Nine, Phantasma Labs, Plumerai, Level Zero Health.

Last Saturday saw two hackathons kicking off simultaneously in Vancouver and New York, with plenty of red bull and pizza to fuel people through the night. These were hosted by Ian Splinter on the West coast and Simon Pastor and Laura Enriquez on the East. In Vancouver Anush Mutyala, Ellie Taghavi and Nicolas Del Aguila took home the winning prize with an impressive tool to automatically write documentation and produce flow charts for hardware projects. The test case was uploading a video of users building lego sets and generating written instructions for others to follow. In NYC Adam N. and Emre Onal built Telly - a personal phone call assistant that navigates through interactive voice responses and holds on your behalf, then loops you back in when a human is on the line. The following day, all five winners were flown over to California to join our SF Launch founders at a privately hosted roundtable with John Collison at Stripe HQ, where they heard first hand what it takes to build a $77B company. Notable insights that were taken away were the relentless focus on executing faster and better, and the sheer scale of what could be achieved in 10 years time.

I’m thrilled to announce that we’ll be hosting EF Paris’s second annual Bio x AI Hackathon on December 6th and 7th! Building on the success of last year’s edition with InstaDeep, we’re excited to partner with Theremia and :probabl. This is your opportunity to collaborate with other ML engineers and computational biologists toward a single mission: solving the most pressing medical and biological challenges of our time. Spots are limited—sign up below and share with those who should be part of this event!

After the success of Europe’s largest defense tech hackathon in Munich, we're gearing up for the next European Defense Tech Hackathon this November in Paris. In June, we brought together 100+ hackers from across Europe and beyond to tackle some of the most critical challenges in defense tech—saving lives, deterring conflict, and securing Europe's future through innovation. From counter-drone systems to battlefield AI and landmine detection, the projects were game-changing. Now, many of those projects have become startups, and we can't wait to see what’s next. Join us in Paris to shape the future of defense tech together: 👉 https://lu.ma/m7rt59cd

At EF we believe there are brilliant minds who could build extraordinary companies given the right environment, network, and support. Building on the success of the Saturday Morning Club in London hosted by Max Mugnaioni, the Paris team are hosting a series of these sessions in partnership with Galion.exe. This club is a focused environment outside of work commitments, for exceptional individuals with the ambition to found their own startup one day. Whether you're waiting to find the right cofounder or need to balance financial obligations, the Saturday Morning Club gives you the support and structure to take the next step toward building your company. The next session is on November 2nd. Apply now 👉 https://lu.ma/smc3