The Refiners

Founded by entrepreneurs Géraldine Le Meur, Pierre Gaubil and Carlos Diaz, The Refiners is a San Francisco-based Seed Fund Program devoted to helping world-class entrepreneurs thrive in the bountiful yet complicated environment of Silicon Valley.

The Refiners focuses on investing in pre-seed and seed stage founders, typically investing in and supporting excellent founders who may just have an idea and a bare-bones MVP.

The vision is that innovation is everywhere, but you can’t afford not to be in Silicon Valley if you want to have a global impact in the digital space. Moving to the Valley, however, is a brutal process — competition is fierce, network is key, and time-to-market is of the essence.

The Refiners provides foreign founders with an established network upon arrival — 200+ Silicon Valley mentors who have joined forces to select, advise, and invest in the world’s most promising startups. This unparalleled access — to key executives, entrepreneurs, investors, experts, business and technological leaders — makes The Refiners one of the most effective cross-border Seed Fund in the world.

The Refiners helped companies such as Lalilo, Willo, Gabsee, Adok, Inmemori, Shone, Washos and Tempow set a foot in the US and expand from there.

After Fleet #5, the program decided to focus on supporting portfolio companies and no new applications to the program were accepted.

The Refiners is based in San Francisco.