Ashurst guides $200m fundraise for London startup accelerator

Ashurst has advised startup accelerator Entrepreneurs First on its latest $200 million fundraising as the London-founded programme looks to expand its backing of early-stage founders.

The organisation counts several high-profile technology investors among its backers, including Stripe founders John and Patrick Collison, former Google chief executive Eric Schmidt and Benchmark partner Matt Cohler.

Entrepreneurs First often backs individuals before they have formed a company, helping them find co-founders, develop ideas, launch technology startups and pitch investors through its accelerator programmes.

The organisation was founded in 2011 by British entrepreneurs Matt Clifford and Alice Bentinck. Its portfolio of companies is now worth more than $16 billion.

Entrepreneurs First operates programmes in several global hubs including London, San Francisco and Bangalore.

Advising

Ashurst advised Entrepreneurs First on the fundraising. The Ashurst team was led by London corporate partner Jacob Gold, with partners Patricia Allen and Sharon Kim advising on tax matters and Bradley Rice advising on regulatory aspects.

The mandate comes in a busy period for City firms advising on fundraises for UK tech companies.

Latham has been particularly active, advising data centre startup Nscale on its $2 billion round and self-driving AI company Wayve on a $1.2 billion raise that also saw Weil involved.