Antler backs the world’s most driven founders, from day zero to greatness. In our vibrant tech hubs we bring together exceptional founders from all backgrounds to build companies that move the world forward.
We’re looking for experienced business operators, technologists, or serial entrepreneurs who can motivate themselves and others to join their mission to build a game-changing business. Whether you’re an individual or a team at the early stages of a startup journey, we are here to help as a partner obsessed with your success. Become part of the top 2% of selected entrepreneurs in your region and elevate your entrepreneurial journey with us.
Antler welcomes applications from founders at the very beginning of their startup journey — this can range from pre-idea to a running company with initial traction.
Residency for individual founders extends over 11 weeks. We support individual founders through a network of hand-selected peers (and potential co-founders), idea validation, dedicated expert sparring sessions, access to the world’s largest-growing community of like-minded entrepreneurs, and a clear pathway to a first cheque (€300k investment commitment at Day Zero in two tranches of €100k for 10% without dilution protection and €200k converting at the valuation of your next round).
Completed teams with an idea at hand are also welcome to join Antler residency. Teams are generally at the stage of validating their idea, building the early product, or having gained initial traction. Here we also stay very close to the team and provide for example dedicated expert sparring sessions, industry connections, and a strong global network of VCs and angels to access funding at the right time. This residency runs in parallel to the one with individual founders but is a bit shorter with a potential Investment Committee meeting already in Week 7 (€300k investment commitment at Day Zero in two tranches of €100k for 10% without dilution protection and €200k converting at the valuation of your next round).
6 Weeks Pre-Residency
As one of the most active investors globally, Antler is backing game-changing companies.
Average work experience of founders working with Antler
Combined portfolio value across Antler
Startups founded around the world
Startups with at least one woman co-founder
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.
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.
Interested in joining our vibrant community? Subscribe with your email to receive exclusive updates, news, events, and information sessions directly to your inbox.
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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.
Don't just take it from us. Hear from phenomenal people who joined Antler in France to launch their company.
Amel Mechalikh
Forelight.ai (Ween.ai)
At Antler, we entered a continuous feedback loop that elevated our skills in refining our vision and how we pitch it. Finding our CSO, Achraf, was a game changer for Ween.ai bringing onboard a PhD in AI with an entrepreneurial mindset that truly transformed our approach.
Ahmet
Joining Antler was a transformative experience for me. I had the opportunity to meet incredible co-founders, which I believe is the most vital aspect of launching a successful project. The connections and insights gained through Antler have been invaluable in setting the foundation for my company. I am truly grateful for the experience and highly recommend it to anyone looking to build a strong co-founder team.
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Léa and Fah Yik
Tango
Antler's support was valued during the program and remains so today. Their guidance was not only crucial in the early stages of our venture, but it continues to be a strong support in our ongoing development.
Shahtaj
Krispy
We are very grateful to Antler for expanding our network and propelling us toward success. We wouldn't be where we are today without their unwavering support and encouragement.
Raphael
Muchbetter.ai
Antler provided me with a unique opportunity to meet a co-founder whom I would have never encountered otherwise. Our differences in age and expertise have become our greatest strength. Additionally, through Antler, I have connected with a network of entrepreneurs, many of whom have become very close friends. This community has been invaluable, offering a circle of peers I can turn to when I need advice or just someone who truly understands the journey I'm on.
Meet the people dedicated to our founders’ success here in France
As Partner in Central Europe, Christoph supports exceptional entrepreneurs along their journey - from entering into a cohort to building and scaling their ventures successfully. He draws on his background as Business Angel and Partner with McKinsey & Company. Before joining Antler he served a range of leading technology organizations, amongst others from the mobility and transportation space, on disruptive strategy and building innovative business models. Building and nurturing top talent organizations is one of his key passions and a great source of inspiration for Christoph.
Alan Poensgen, now Partner at Antler, formerly co-founder at Westwing, a pan-European home & living e-commerce business, where he spent seven years as part of the executive team and saw the company go public in 2018. He also led a Southeast Asian e-commerce venture backed by Rocket Internet, NEA and others and was part of the early Rocket Internet core team based out of Berlin building out their global product development teams.
Ronald Jan is an experienced operator, entrepreneur and investor, with expertise in a.o. e-commerce, fintech and healthtech. He has spent over a decade with various C-level roles in tech startups including Rocket Internet and Delivery Hero. Previously he has been a strategy consultant at Booz & Co and an investment banker at ABN Amro. INSEAD educated.
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.
Saskia started her career at BCG in Recruitment, and Egon Zehnder (Executive Search), after which she joined UBER and helped scale their Eats & Rides businesses in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Her most recent role has been with OYO, a Softbank-backed hospitality company, where she helped launch their European business from scratch. At Antler, Saskia has an integral role in scouting founders both for the Amsterdam team but also supporting teams throughout Europe.
Frederik kickstarted his career at the BCG and later worked as an operator and investor in the venture space. Having studied Philosophy and Management in Hamburg, London & Barcelona and working in a big variety of different fields - from football clubs to FemTech - he’s a generalist at heart and incredibly eager to support founding teams from day 0.
Dr. Saskia Appelhoffis a global marketer, entrepreneur and growth leader with 15 years of experience covering all areas of marketing. Saskia has worked internationally across Europe and USA focusing on growing teams and efficiently scaling businesses. Passionate about building purpose-driven brands and companies. Advising start-up focusing on Food & Health Tech and sustainability. Previous brands that she has worked for include Zalando, raisin, SmileDirectClub, Outfittery, Wooga, navabi, blablacar among others.
Niko was previously a partner at McKinsey, where he was a core member of the Retail & Consumer Goods Practice and led the store ops practice in EMEA. He left McKinsey in 2019 to build his own business, eagle lsp, a legal service provider focusing on tech-enabled, scalable solution in mass litigation and e-Discovery. His first Angel investments include successful Y-Combinator applications.
As Capital Director Fabian is responsible for securing capital and manages investor relations in the DACH-region. Previously he spent significant time within the media company Bertelsmann´s German advertising sales business. In his last role he led operations for a number of industry sectors as well as brands. Fabian graduated from University of St. Gallen with a Masters in International Affairs and Governance.
Matteo is a former entrepreneur and an experienced professional in consultancy and recruitment. After a BSc in Economics and Management from Bocconi University and an MSc in Finance from VU Amsterdam, Matteo started his career in Huxley as a Recruitment Consultant for tech and financial roles within banking and fintech organizations mostly in the Netherlands and Italy. His passion for startups and innovations led him to create his own AI startup in the hr-tech domain, bynd.ai, and to start working alongside founders to support them on their journey.
Sophie is the Operations & Outreach Associate at Antler in France, responsible for increasing visibility and sourcing top founders. Previously, she was a Digital Transformation consultant at McKinsey and developed her marketing strategy expertise at Société Générale and EY. She holds a degree in Digital Strategy and Business from ESSEC and ESCP Business School.
With a degree from WU Vienna and a strong foundation in the startup ecosystem, she has previously played pivotal roles in driving strategic growth and expansion. Through her positions at N26, Trade Republic, and FORMEL Skin, she has gained extensive exposure to various verticals, allowing her to develop a comprehensive understanding of the complexities involved in driving startup success. Now she will leverage her skills and collaborate with the exceptional founders who are joining us at Antler.
Jacky is currently pursuing her Master's degree in Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Copenhagen Business School. She started her career by leveraging her marketing knowledge as a working student at Procter and Gamble. Afterward, she worked in Venture Building at Commerzbank's Corporate Venture Capital and discovered her passion for start-ups and sustainable innovation.
Job’s career unfolded through internships at ASML, Kempen, and Torqx Capital Partners. He holds a double Master’s degree in Applied Physics and Management Engineering (cum laude) from TU Delft, with an honours term in Artificial Intelligence at Stanford. During this term, he played a pivotal role in the inception of an AI startup in Silicon Valley. In addition to giving several guest lectures on AI, his curiosity regularly leads him digging into all sorts of domains, from deep tech to B2B SaaS to consumer.
We are expanding our team of passionate people backing the most driven founders in France. Check out our open positions at Antler in France.
Throughout our residencies, successful entrepreneurs have shared their insights and experiences with our founders, offering valuable mentorship !
Read our latest insights and stories about our phenomenal founders.
Harvard Business School (HBS) recently published a case study about Antler’s fresh approach to early-stage venture capital. Antler Co-Founder Fridtjof Berge shares thoughts on how the case sparks discussion about the best ways to identify and support great people anywhere on earth.
Today we are sharing our new brand that reflects that commitment and the reason Antler exists: to stand behind our founders from day zero and to keep backing them on their paths to greatness.
Welcome to the inaugural edition of the Antler Quarterly. This report explores the impact, risk, sustainability, and opportunity within the global VC industry.
The Early Days podcast launched in June, unwrapping how world-class founders built today’s most influential companies. Antler’s Tyler Norwood, creator and host of the podcast, talks about what inspired it, why the early days are so crucial, and why it’s important to humanize startups.
Antler was founded on the belief that people innovating is the key to building a better future. To honor them, we are launching a new content series—”It All Starts with People”—spotlighting the exceptional founders we have the privilege of partnering with around the world. Each story is a window into their passions, motivations, and vision—the reasons they are building and the positive dent they are aiming to make on the world.
In our first spotlight, we sat down with Emilia Theye, the co-founder of clare&me—a mental health app that uses language-based AI to develop an innovative approach to virtual self-help.
We are living two simultaneous realities: the uncertainty of the current downturn and the unstoppable wave of innovation disrupting every industry. Against this backdrop, Antler's Kevin Brennan shares perspectives on assessing your position in venture capital for the rest of 2022 and into 2023. Might 2023 be the best vintage for the coming decade?
We are neither an accelerator nor an incubator, we’re a day-zero investor. We help founders brainstorm, develop and validate ideas and start scaling their start-ups with us. Additionally, we continue to support our founders throughout their whole start-up journey.
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. 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.
We are industry agnostic. We invest in exceptional people building scalable companies. However, we do not invest in alcohol, tobacco or gambling.
Our industry partners may provide problem statements they would like to solve, and the Antler team and mentors will help find the right area and business model to work in, but we don’t believe in providing ready-made ideas for you to work on. Ultimately this will be up to you and your co-founder(s)!
Yes. Please consider your current notice period, plus the personal and financial investment starting a business requires.
Yes. We fully believe in meeting each other in person to develop meaningful relationships. You can incorporate your company anywhere.
No, you don't. Some founders have a clear idea of what they want to build, however, most join us with areas of interest and expertise they then start to explore.
Our terms are non-negotiable. Any further investment would be distinct from Antler’s investment and subject to new terms.
Depending on the kind of residency you are opting for, we have different requirements. During the main 7/11-week program, we require your physical presence in our Amsterdam, Berlin, or Munich offices.
Every cohort member in Berlin and Munich receives a EUR 1,000 grant.
Yes, we even encourage this. However, we require you to work from the same location for a significant amount of time.
We will facilitate virtual meet-ups with additional optional meetings in person. You will also work in the same virtual workspaces and be in one community Slack channel.
Besides working alongside like-minded founders, you’ll spend your time developing and iterating on your ideas, conducting customer discovery and research, beta testing as quickly as possible, and building your product roadmap and go-to-market strategy The Antler team will provide guidance and sparring sessions, organize challenges, social sessions, and speaker series with industry experts, coaches, and successful founders. At the end of the program, teams present to our Investment Committee.
Most Antler teams consist of two to three co-founders.
Antler has more than 1,000+ companies in its portfolio.
Antler specialises in bringing the most exceptional people together and enabling them to build a great startup. Our cohort members are often pre-team, pre-idea and pre-funding. Furthermore, we promote diversity at every level: background, career stage and skills.
Yes, but only one location at a time will consider your application.
Antler commits €300K into startups at Day Zero. The first €100K is in return for 10% of the business. The other €200K is a binding commitment (signed at Day Zero) to the startup’s pre-seed funding round within the following months at the round’s terms.
The binding commitment of €200K is referred to as ARC (Agreement for Rolling Capital). To avoid excess dilution in small funding rounds, Antler will match every Euro raised from professional investors with 50 Cents, up until a total investment of €200K.
This means that we will invest €100K at Day Zero for 10% (subject to dilution in next round) and €200K committed at Day Zero as part of your following round within the coming 9 months at the round’s valuation, e.g. at €10 mn post money valuation.
Further, Antler has the capital to continue backing its portfolio companies from day zero through to Series C.
We select between 50 to 70 exceptional founders from over 4,000 candidates on average per residency. We select the top 2% of applicants, which allows us to maintain a high-standard residency with outstanding individuals.
Get in touch with our team!
Interested in joining our vibrant community? Subscribe with your email to receive exclusive updates, news, events, and information sessions directly to your inbox.
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