Antler (venture capital firm)

In 2017, Magnus Grimeland founded Antler in Singapore.[2][3][4] Grimeland, a graduate of Harvard College previously worked at McKinsey & Company and then worked with Rocket Internet to co-found Zalora Group.[2][3] Later on, Zalora Group became part of Global Fashion Group where Grimeland became its COO.[2][3] During his time there he noticed how technology workers were in jobs that weren't fully utilizing their talents and left them to start their own businesses.[2][3]Grimeland founded Antler to help such workers.[2][3]

Antler runs a combined incubator and accelerator program that lasts for several months and has two phases.[2][3][4][5] The first phase helps entrepreneurs find co-founders and teams to help develop their business idea.[2][3][5] The second phase, Antler selects a number of teams and works with them to build their product towards a public pitch event or demo day.[2][3][5] The first program was launched in Singapore in 2018 where 1,400 people applied, 62 were accepted and at the end, 13 companies were selected.[2] In 2020, Antler and National University of Singapore launched a part-time version of the program for participants who are currently working.[5][6]

While Antler is focused on investing in companies during their early stage phase, it 2021 it has stated has considering extending to later stages, funding companies up to Series C.[7]

As of May 2022, Antler has invested in over 450 startup companies.[2] One in eight of Antler's investments have failed and it currently has not produced a Unicorn or a investment exit of significant scale.[2]

Investors of Antler include individual such as Eduardo Saverin and Christen Sveaas as well as institutions such as Canica, Credit Saison, International Finance Corporation, Schroders, Vækstfonden and Phoenix Group.[2][3][7]

Antler has offices in Asia-Pacific, Europe and North America.[2][3] Offices were opened in Nairobi, Kenya and in Sao Paulo, Brazil in 2019 and 2022 respectively.[8][9]

• Official website