Build your company with Antler in France

Antler is a global, early-stage investor that understands world-class startups are built by exceptional entrepreneurs. This is why we bring together and invest in highly driven people who turn their vision into reality. The Antler team in France provides support by connecting our founders with subject matter experts, successful founders, and mentors as well as early access to capital to help build and scale their startups.

Why Antler? 

A better future will not happen automatically—the world needs talented, driven, and resilient people to build it. By helping thousands of founders meet, ideate, launch and scale the next generation of great companies that address some of the most pressing challenges of our time, we move society forward and make progress a certainty.

Individuals

Looking for a co-founder?

Are you an individual ready to start something new, and looking for the right co-founder?

Antler brings together an exclusive group of ambitious people to explore ideas together. Meet, learn, and co-create with exceptional builders. Join us to turn your vision into reality.

Teams

Already have the dream team?

Do you already have a team and are ready to start building? Joining Antler gives you the opportunity to build alongside like-minded, ambitious founders.

Build long-lasting relationships, gain access to coaching, network resources, investor introductions, and valuable support—regardless of your idea’s stage.

Program Details:

01

Overview of the program:

  • Start date: March 18th, 2023
  • Duration: 10-12 weeks of Residency (Start) and 12 post-investment Residency (Build).
  • Location: Paris, France
  • Language: Program is run in English with French components 
  • Cohort:  A handpicked group of 50-60 thoughtfully selected founders 
  • Funding Opportunity: High-performing teams can secure 150k of Pre-seed investment for a fully diluted 10% equity stake 
  • Community: build together with a group of driven entrepreneurs with from diverse backgrounds

Structure: The in-person program is structured in three phases and runs full-time:

6 Weeks Pre-Residency
  • Social networking & community events
  • Kickstart early ideation sprints
  • Expert sessions on deep-tech topics
Weeks 1-2: Team building and ideation
  • Co-founder meeting and team building
  • Activities: Speed Networking, teamwork, design thinking workshops
  • Goal: Establish working relationships, initiate meaningful discussions
Weeks 3-9: Problem validation & Customer discovery
  • Work with selected co-founders, gain traction
  • Dedicated coach support during program
  • Shift to pitching mode: Present progress & plans
  • Get feedback from Antler team & fellow founders
  • Aim: Secure spot in Investment Committee for decision-making
Weeks 10-12: Traction & Fundraising
  • Emphasis on traction and product
  • Craft compelling narrative
  • Pitch to Investment Committee: Antler and external VC partners
Weeks 12-24: Product, Go to Market, and Fundraising
  • Only available for teams passing the Investment Committee
  • Intensive 3- month sprint focusing on product, go to market, fundraising and building a team

02
03

Funding

  • At the end of the program, your team will pitch to our Investment Committee for a pre-seed funding from Antler at the following terms: €150,000 investment for a fully diluted 10% equity stake. From this, €45,000 will be deducted to cover program costs. If you don’t  secure Antler’s investment, no fees or equity will be involved.

What happens after investment?

  • During the 12-week residency, your team created a strong bond with Antler. In the ensuing weeks, we'll work closely to refine your product, sales, and fundraising plans. Our partners and worldwide network will provide tailored guidance to help you build your core team and develop effective go-to-market and fundraising strategies.

Continued Benefits as you Grow

  • As an Antler startup, you will remain a member of our global community where you will meet other founders from around the world, access our portfolio job boards, sign up to events, draw from our resource library, share learnings, and get support from other founders, advisors, and the Antler team.

Antler startups are moving the world forward

As one of the most active investors globally, Antler is backing game-changing companies.

10+

Average work experience of founders working with Antler

$4.7B+

Combined portfolio value across Antler

1,000+

Startups founded around the world

30%

Startups with at least one woman co-founder

Application process

The full application process takes about 2-3 weeks to complete. Once you apply, our scouting team will guide you through the full process and will be available to answer all your questions.

Application

Apply on apply.antler.co using your LinkedIn account or CV and fill out a short questionnaire.

Drive interview

Introduce yourself through a first call where we get to know you. We are looking to get a better understanding of your background and explore if our program would create value for you. In case you have an idea and/or team, we will focus on digging deeper into your project, team, and motivation.

Partner interview

You will hear back from us after your first-round interview on whether or not you qualify for our partner interview. The partner interview is the opportunity to showcase your business or tech acumen.

Offer to join Antler

Once we have made an offer, the next steps are simple. You’ll sign an Antler Founder Agreement and shortly after we will send you a welcome package and start onboarding you to the cohort.

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Application process

The full application process takes about 2-3 weeks to complete. Once you apply, our scouting team will guide you through the full process and will be available to answer all your questions.

Application

Apply on apply.antler.co using your LinkedIn account or CV and fill out a short questionnaire.

Drive interview

Introduce yourself through a first call where we get to know you. We are looking to get a better understanding of your background and explore if our program would create value for you. In case you have an idea and/or team, we will focus on digging deeper into your project, team, and motivation.

Partner interview

You will hear back from us after your first-round interview on whether or not you qualify for our partner interview. The partner interview is the opportunity to showcase your business or tech acumen.

Offer to join Antler

Once we have made an offer, the next steps are simple. You’ll sign an Antler Founder Agreement and shortly after we will send you a welcome package and start onboarding you to the cohort.

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Application process

The full application process takes about 2-3 weeks to complete. Once you apply, our scouting team will guide you through the full process and will be available to answer all your questions.

Application

Apply on apply.antler.co using your LinkedIn account or CV and fill out a short questionnaire.

Drive interview

Introduce yourself through a first call where we get to know you. We are looking to get a better understanding of your background and explore if our program would create value for you. In case you have an idea and/or team, we will focus on digging deeper into your project, team, and motivation.

Partner interview

You will hear back from us after your first-round interview on whether or not you qualify for our partner interview. The partner interview is the opportunity to showcase your business or tech acumen.

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Founder testimonials

Don't just take it from us. Hear from phenomenal people who joined Antler in France to launch their company.

Bree Pagonis

WIRL

We had never stepped foot in the startup space before. Antler’s support from initial ideation through to setting us up for success when pitching to external investors was invaluable.

Valentin Kassarnig

SoSha

Many decisions are made in uncertainty that define the outcome of your company. Antler gives me the support needed to make those decisions.

Charbel Ayoub

Pathzero

The last two years launching and scaling Pathzero has been exhilarating, challenging and an incredible learning curve. My involvement with Antler early on opened my eyes to a new horizon that I’d never considered before.

Andrea Derman

I went into the Antler experience straight from the MBA classroom.

And wow! It was like taking top students from every MBA class and putting them together, full-time, for 11 weeks to brainstorm and build. Everyone is so inspiring, motivated and fun to be around. There is a sense of community where teams truly help each other with shaping our products. But most importantly, while building those products, without noticing you also build yourself. It was truly an amazing experience that I would recommend to every entrepreneurial mind.

Malcolm-Wiley Floyd

Stairs Financial

Antler’s collection of founders, operators and investors is the strongest platform for an early stage founder on the market.

Creating Impact 

At Antler, we approach impact with a broad perspective, beyond the ESG and institutional KPIs. We look holistically at the vision of the founders and the impact they aspire to have in the world, whether building critical technologies to solve some of humanity's biggest existential challenges, or taking a 360 view of the outcomes their business and technologies will have not only in the market, but on the planet, society and individual lives.

We believe that there has never been a more exciting time to be a founder because of the opportunities we face to create meaningful and deep impact on the course of our planet, economy, society and the quality of our lives. We seek determined founders who aim to harness their own potential ,technology and business to improve people’s lives.

Entrepass Partner

Our team

Meet the people dedicated to our founders’ success here in France

Antoine Poirson
Partner

Antoine is a partner at Antler France. He was previously a partner at Antler's London office. Antoine was also the cofounder, chairman and COO of StanPlus Tech, a VC backed startup leading the change in the Indian medical transportation market. Before his MBA at INSEAD, Antoine spent 8 years at Areva, the World Nuclear Energy leader and a growing OEM in Renewable Energy.

Jamie Wong
Partner

Jamie is a Partner at Antler France. She is a former entrepreneur, having built the startup Vyable in the US and a social entrepreneurship start-up studio. She moved on to the investment side four years ago, as a Founding and Managing Partner at Narrative Fund, and as a Venture Partner at EF.

Marie Tricot
Capital Director

Marie is our Capital Director. She was previously Managing Director of the AIFM management company October Factory, a wholly owned entity of the October Group, a leading European alternative SME lender.

Lorenzo Puzzangara
Head of Finance

Lorenzo is Finance lead at Antler’s French office, where he oversees all matters linked to the funds and finance function. Prior to Antler, he was with a Geneva-based multi-family office managing EUR 2.4B AUM. He also spent 4 years as COO of a fintech start-up operating in Europe and Israel.

Maren Janas
Program Manager

Maren manages the program and coaches the cohorts at Antler France. Previously she build corporate ventures and accelerators at Deloitte in Germany. She holds a Master's Degree in CEMS/International Management attending WU Vienna & HEC Paris.

Gaultier Brun
Investment Associate

Gaultier is an Investment Associate at Antler France. He was previously with GFC in Berlin focusing on Eastern Europe. He also had experiences in tech startups such as Convelio & sunday. He holds a double Master's degree from EDHEC Business School.

Raphael Charpenet
Investment Analyst

Raphaël is an Investment Analyst at Antler France. Graduated from ESSEC Business School with a specialization in Urban Economy, he previously worked with the French early-stage VC fund Axeleo Capital (AXC) focused on Smart Cities topics. He also has Real Estate and Strategy Consulting experiences at Klépierre and E-Cube Strategy Consultants.

Gabrielle Precetti
Visiting Investment Associate

Gabrielle is a Visiting Investment Associate at Antler France. She has experience with innovation and industrial programs in the French defence sector, as well as with business development in Benelux. She graduated from McGill University and PSL.

Gaultier Brun
Investment Associate

Gaultier is an Investment Associate at Antler France. He was previously with GFC in Berlin focusing on Eastern Europe. He also had experiences in tech startups such as Convelio & sunday. He holds a double Master's degree from EDHEC Business School.

Lorenzo Puzzangara
Head of Finance

Lorenzo is Finance lead at Antler’s French office, where he oversees all matters linked to the funds and finance function. Prior to Antler, he was with a Geneva-based multi-family office managing EUR 2.4B AUM. He also spent 4 years as COO of a fintech start-up operating in Europe and Israel.

Thomas Clamagirand
Portfolio & Investment Director

Thomas is our Portfolio & Investment Manager at Antler France. He is a former founder, having built the very successful consumer app Baby Sittor. Since then, he's been involved in the tech ecosystem through the French public investment arm BPI France, and as an Operating Partner & Product Manager.

Maren Janas
Program Manager

Maren manages the program and coaches the cohorts at Antler France. Previously she build corporate ventures and accelerators at Deloitte in Germany. She holds a Master's Degree in CEMS/International Management attending WU Vienna & HEC Paris.

Euryale Chatelard
Program & Investment Director

Euryale is our Program & Investment Director at Antler France. She has a long entrepreneurial track record. After an early career in finance, she founded THEM in China, acquired by Altima where she stayed on post acquisition to build Altima Russia up until exiting the business to Accenture Interactive. She then created Trianon Startups, and organization that fostered tech & startup collaboration between France & Russia. She holds a MSc in economics from Dauphine University in Paris.

Antler France
Antoine Poirson
Partner

Antoine is a partner at Antler France. He was previously a partner at Antler's London office. Antoine was also the cofounder, chairman and COO of StanPlus Tech, a VC backed startup leading the change in the Indian medical transportation market. Before his MBA at INSEAD, Antoine spent 8 years at Areva, the World Nuclear Energy leader and a growing OEM in Renewable Energy.

We’re hiring!

We are expanding our team of passionate people backing the most driven founders in France. Check out our open positions at Antler in France.

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Our Guiding Principles

Above all things, we invest in people. We believe that every great company starts with a great team—and the strongest teams pursue the best ideas. We level the playing field by bringing together innovative people from all backgrounds and geographies so they can find co-founders that light a fire in them. By surrounding founders with a dynamic community of thinkers and builders—and connecting them with world-class talent—we are uniquely committed to raising their game and focusing their vision. 

  • Put 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.

FAQs

Why should I apply to Antler France?

Antler is the day zero investor backing the world's most driven people, from day greatness. We are one of the world’s most active early-stage investors, present in 27 locations across six continents. Since making our first investment in 2018, we have invested in over 1,000+ companies. Our global footprint provides the unique ability for the businesses we invest in to access international startup ecosystems for quicker scaling, due diligence, and problem-solving. Our global community of founders, advisors, and experts moves our founders forward faster.  Antler helps you meet potential co-founder(s), form a team, or add to your existing team. Working with Antler will also help you to test and validate the problem you have identified, enable you to build a technology startup to solve it, and then invest in it. Additionally, Antler helps to de-risk common pinch points throughout the business building and scaling journey with dedicated coaching, practical workshops, and, of course, insightful and helpful resources.

What does Antler look for in founders? Are you looking for individuals or teams?

We're looking for individuals with drive and grit, who are at the beginning of their entrepreneurial journey to change the world. Maybe you've just started building, but haven't yet raised capital; or you've got an idea and are thinking about getting started, but haven't quite made the leap yet. Either way, Antler is the right place for you to bring your idea to life. We accept applications from individuals and teams. This includes solo founders, looking to find a co-founder and to validate your idea. You are at the stage where you’re ready to give everything you’ve got. You want to test a number of promising ideas, and be part of a supportive environment to iron out what to build and what market to go after. When you join Antler, you join a community of founders, get support from a global platform of experts and resources, and receive investments to scale your ideas and businesses. We invest from the pre-seed stage and we continue to be a long-term partner as your company grows. You may already have a team and have already started your business, but have not yet raised funding. Join forces with Antler to fast-track your startup by getting support tailored to your stage of the journey. You’ll join our fast-growing founder community and have the opportunity to receive an investment from Antler. If you want to positively impact the world by creating a company that solves real problems, join Antler and build a groundbreaking technology company by applying on Antler.co/apply.

What if I already have a product or I’ve already been working on my startup for a while?

We accept founders and teams who have already launched their product.

What sectors/industries qualify for Antler?

We are industry agnostic and invest across all technology sectors.

Is the program done remotely or in person?

Our program is held in person in Paris.

Is the program full time?

Yes. Building a new venture is a full-time job and we only want to work with founders who are fully committed to the process. If you already have a co-founder, we expect you to treat the program as a full-time commitment for everyone.

What if I already have a co-founder(s), do they also need to apply?

Yes. Even if we love your profile, we would need to process your co-founder first before deciding to make you an official offer.

Do I need a visa to join Antler France?

Yes. Antler France does not sponsor visas. Founders will need to have a work permit (i.e., not a tourist visa) for France in order to qualify.

Contact Antler in France

Get in touch with our team!

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