Frst’s purpose is to provide Day One capital and support to European founders with global ambitions.
As we embark on the second decade of our craft, it is clear that the best way to do so is to help them settle and thrive in San Francisco.
God knows we love to be contrarian, and not everyone likes us because of it. But we can’t beat the laws of physics: the highest-quality customers of the AI era are in the Bay Area, and it’s hard to iterate well with a 9-hour time difference.
We believe that for most founders it doesn’t mean cutting ties with their European roots, because of the exceptional talent pool they can tap into there. Not to mention geofenced industries such as finance, defense and health, where you can still build Europe-focused giants (Revolut!)
But in most cases the CEO, as well as most non-technical people, should probably be in SF.
Next: Jackson Square, Venture Partners, & more
Important times command important changes, and we are happy to announce the following:
- Frst will now have a home at 595 Pacific Avenue, San Francisco 94113. The whole team will be there on a regular basis
- Our Partner Gabriel de Vinzelles is leaving full-time investing to start an ambitious company in SF. He will remain deeply associated with Frst’s future through a Venture Partner role
- We are further strengthening our local presence and support to Frst founders with three other SF-based Venture Partners:
- Sylvain Gariel: A seasoned entrepreneur at the crossroads of bio and AI (ex-cofounder & COO of DNA Script, $300m+ raised), Sylvain has been based in SF for 7 years and has recently kicked off his second act
- Grégoire Gambatto: Grégoire moved his company Ctrl+G (AI training data, Frst portfolio) to SF a year ago to be closer to his customers at AI labs. A vocal advocate of SF as the place to make it for French founders, Grégoire regularly shares updates on his journey with his 100k+ followers on Linkedin and Youtube
- Saturnin Pugnet: Saturnin is a founding member of World, a startup inspired by Sam Altman now valued at over 10 billion dollars. Over the past decade he has acted as an advisor to governments and startups, as well as an investor in early-stage deep tech companies
Frst’s HQ remains in Paris, where those talents keep being born.
See you on the other side!
