MAKING PROGRESS
INEVITABLE
Antler is the investor backing the world’s most driven founders, from day zero to greatness.
MAKING PROGRESS
Founded on the belief that people innovating is the key to building a better future, Antler partners with exceptional founders across six continents to launch and scale startups that address meaningful opportunities and challenges.
Knowing that exceptional founders can come from anywhere with any background, we have offices in 25 cities across six continents, including Austin, New York, London, Berlin, Stockholm, Bangalore, Jakarta, Singapore, Seoul, Tokyo, and Sydney.
Our global community of builders, investors, operators, experts, and partner organizations backs people from the very start of their founder journey—pre-team or even pre-idea. Since 2018, we have helped create and invested in more than 600 startups across a wide range of industries and technologies, with the goal of backing more than 6,000 by 2030.
A better future will not happen automatically—the world needs determined, ambitious, and resilient founders to build it. We are committed to supporting them and pursuing our vision of making progress inevitable.
THE PRINCIPLES THAT GUIDE US
Founders first
We obsess about making our founders successful
Build our people
By developing each other, we build leaders that define the future
100% ownership
No excuses—own up and get it done
Best idea wins
We are a meritocracy—the idea matters, not who had it
Don’t tread water
Move fast and deliver high-quality results
Disagree and commit
We can debate fiercely—but when the decision is made, we commit and execute
Uncomfortably ambitious
We set improbable goals and meet them
Do more with less
Any cent spent is spent on the right thing
Give back
It’s not a zero-sum game—when all give back, all receive more
Our leadership
The Antler leadership team consists of serial entrepreneurs, experienced operators and seasoned investors.
David was previously Chief Revenue Officer at Facebook for 11 years, overseeing advertising and marketing for business products and leading the company’s global sales and marketing teams.
Before Facebook, David was vice president of global online sales and operations at Google. He was previously deputy chief of staff of the U.S. Treasury Department during the Clinton administration.
Lawrence Summers is a Charles W. Eliot professor and president emeritus at Harvard University. He is also the former Secretary of Treasury for President Clinton. Previously he was Director of the National Economic Council, Chief Economist of the World Bank and President of Harvard University.
Nancy Zimmerman is co-founder and managing partner of Bracebridge Capital.
For over 25 years, Nancy has been a pioneer in absolute return investing and generating uncorrelated returns for endowments, foundations, family offices, and pensions. Before Bracebridge, Nancy managed the interest rate option group at Goldman Sachs.
In 2021, Nancy became a member of the Board of Fellows of the Corporation of Brown University. She also serves as the inaugural chair of the President’s Advisory Council for Brown’s Carney Institute for Brain Science.
Peter Harrison is the Group Chief Executive at Schroders, the British multinational asset management company founded in 1804, with 574.4bn GBP in assets under management (2020). Harrison began his career at Schroders and subsequently held roles at Newton Investment Management, JP Morgan Asset Management as Head of Global Equities and Multi-Asset and at Deutsche Asset Management as Global Chief Investment Officer. He was Chairman and Chief Executive of RWC Partners before re-joining Schroders as Global Head of Equities in March 2013.
Ken Hitchner is the former CEO of APAC ex-Japan, Goldman Sachs. Hitchner joined Goldman Sachs in 1991 after a career as a US Navy pilot. Among the many achievements during his 28 years at one of the world’s premier financial institutions was helping set up and lead its global healthcare banking practice and leading APAC ex-Japan. Ken earned an BA from the University of Colorado and an MBA as a merit fellow from Columbia University Business School.
Aaron Harris is the founder of Magid & Co., where he works with founders to scale their startups and navigate fundraising. He was previously a partner at Y Combinator for 7.5 years, where he funded and advised hundreds of companies including Deel, OpenSea, Scale ($7.3 billion, Rappi, and Groww, Ironclad, Lattice, Ajaib, Xendit and others). He also built YC’s Series A program, which helped hundreds of companies raise over $3 billion in Series A and B rounds. Aaron founded Tutorspree, worked at Bridgewater Associates and went to Harvard University.
Retired CEO of T. Rowe Price GIS - T. Rowe Price, the global asset management firm with over $1 trillion under management. Ruppert is also a Venture Partner at Greenspring Associates and an active early-stage investor and Board member of INSEAD Business School and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, among others.
FAQs
What does day zero investing mean?
Day zero investing means backing founders from the very beginning—whether it’s pre-team or even pre-idea—and continuing to support them on their company’s journey to greatness. We are there when a founder is at the starting line, when everything is possible and nothing is certain. When they have made the life-changing decision to take the leap and build a company, leaving conventional career paths behind. When their belief, passion, and drive are often the only things fueling them. And we are still there after we make our first investment, as a long-term partner providing advice, introductions, resources, and follow-on funding—all the way to their exit.
Who is part of Antler’s global community?
Our global community includes founders, investors, operators, experts, and partner organizations across six continents. Antler founders scale faster—from winning their first 100 customers and marketing a new product to raising their next round of funding—with the backing of 5,000+ fellow Antler founders across six continents. They learn from the best in the business through our advisor network of 600 leading operators, our sector-focused communities, and our monthly socials across our locations. And they are powered by curated people and resources for hiring, going to market, and fundraising, along with perks from leading tech providers. Antler founders have a home with us for life—no matter what direction their business or career takes, we’re committed to winning together.
Is Antler an accelerator or incubator?
We are not an accelerator or incubator, we’re the day zero investor. While we take huge pride in helping our founders develop, validate, and start scaling their idea and business model in a short period of time through our residencies around the world, we don’t launch and leave. We keep supporting our founders for the full life cycle of their company—from day zero to greatness.
What is Antler’s investment philosophy?
Above all, we invest in people. We believe that every great company starts with a great team—and the strongest teams pursue the best ideas. Working with thousands of founders around the world, we have found that an amazing team with a mediocre idea in most cases will outperform a mediocre team with a great idea. And great teams will often pivot their idea after finding a more pressing or interesting problem to solve. If we decide to invest, it is first and foremost because we have high conviction that the team we are backing will be future winners and because we can and want to work with the team. Read our full investment philosophy.
