Every startup's story begins with remarkable people. Technologists, creators, thinkers and builders. At Antler India Residency, we are bringing exceptional builders together to meet, learn and co-create the companies of the future. Apply to be a part of India's most exclusive community of aspiring founders, where you can find a co-founder to kickstart your entrepreneurial journey. Applications are now closed.
Antler India Residency is India’s most exclusive community of aspiring founders, with a set of interventions and activities designed to forge meaningful connections and collaborations. Ultimately, the Residency’s goal is to help you find the ideal co-founder, a long-term and enduring partnership between builders. The Residency is a space for anyone who is actively ideating, tinkering, building, or taking the first steps in their entrepreneurial journey.
With a less than 3% acceptance rate, the Residency represents the top 1% of operators dedicated to kickstarting their entrepreneurial journey. The bottom line? Everyone will be highly committed to meeting the right co-founder and jumpstarting an incredible venture.
The interventions include three weeks of IRL building followed by work sprints, deep dive sessions with the Antler Team and idea validation workshops. After finding your co-founder and honing your idea, we will provide support with customer validation, building an MVP and go-to-market strategy.
With a less than 3% acceptance rate, the Residency represents the top 1% of operators dedicated to kickstarting their entrepreneurial journey. The bottom line? Everyone will be highly committed to meeting the right co-founder and jumpstarting an incredible venture.
The interventions include three weeks of IRL building followed by work sprints, deep dive sessions with the Antler Team and idea validation workshops. After finding your co-founder and honing your idea, we will provide support with customer validation, building an MVP and go-to-market strategy.
Meet and build with fellow hand-picked, world-class operators who are committed to starting up, spend a targeted 12 weeks at the Residency, and find a co-founder in someone whom you may not have crossed paths with otherwise.
Applications are now closed.
Residency start date: January 9, 2023
During Phase 1 at Antler India Residency, you will have the opportunity to meet 60 to 75 exceptional individuals from diverse backgrounds, all passionate about building a successful startup. The cohort will embark on an intense two months of activities designed to maximize their time with each other. The first three weeks will be held in person and involve getting to know fellow founders deeply.
Once you identify the right co-founder(s) to work with, you will start the building process. In Phase 2, you will spend time identifying and validating a problem to solve, as well as executing that idea. You will be part of a supportive environment to iron out what to build, and start transforming your idea into a startup.
For select teams that receive funding from Antler India, you will work extremely closely with our portfolio team and overall organization to build from zero to one. You will have access to all Antler India portfolio resources to help you scale your business, prepare for your next-round fundraise, and develop as a founder. Multiple Antler India portfolio companies have raised their next rounds from Tier 1 VCs.
Globally, Antler has conducted 65+ cohorts across 23 locations and developed a robust approach to forging deep, long-lasting connections between like-minded individuals with complementary skill sets. Below are some companies founded at Antler.
Co-founders matched globally
Portfolio companies, where co-founders met through Antler
Average co-founder matching success rate
Rate of raising follow-on capital
As investors, we have looked at over 25,000 startups in the last decade, and funded over 80 companies across various stages, sectors, and geographies. We have seen multiple companies go to IPO, delivered sizeable M&A outcomes and worked closely with nearly 55 startups in helping them raise further rounds of funding from some of the world’s marquee funds. Here are some companies we have been first believers in.
Don't just take it from us. Hear from phenomenal people who joined Antler in India to launch their company.
Neha Juneja
IndiaP2P
The Antler team feels like an extension of one’s own team. I have some experience raising money before, but this is unique to Antler. They don't see you as investors, you are like their own team.
Vistar Singh
Bookee
We constantly felt there were things we needed to understand, and Antler’s exposure helped with that. It is unlikely we would have made it to the next level without their guidance.
Prithvi Sankar
humit
Antler India has done a remarkable job of bringing together some of the best early-stage founders and providing a cohort-based approach towards company building. Through their experience in startups and investing, each member of the team brings diverse perspectives on product, hiring, and growth.
Antler India Residency is for the top 1% of builders and operators who are absolutely certain they want to dedicate their next chapter to entrepreneurship. Here is what that may look like:
* You are a senior leader in a high-growth startup who is certain that you want to build something of your own but have not had time to explore any concrete ideas or potential co-founders
* You are an engineer excited about emerging technologies and want to start building right away You have built engineering teams at large companies and now want to start out on your own
* You are a domain expert who has validated a few ideas and is looking for complementary co-founders to kickstart your venture
* You have already started up as an individual or small co-founding team but are looking for a critical co-founder with specific skill sets or knowledge
At Antler India Residency, we want to ensure that all participants are fully committed to the journey, and can reap the full benefits of the Residency. Thus, we require all applicants to be free from any formal jobs: you should have either quit or are actively serving notice, before the Residency starts on January 9, 2023.
For any queries, please write to us at india-residency@antler.co.
Rajiv is a Partner in the Antler Bangalore office, where he is leading the deployment of Antler in India. Rajiv co-founded Urban Ladder (UL), India's top omni-channel furniture brand. Over ~8 years, UL raised over $100Mn in venture capital from top Indian VCs and changed the way Indians shop for furniture online. Prior to Urban Ladder, he served as a Senior Product Manager with Yahoo. He has been featured on GQ Influential Young Indians and repeatedly on the Fortune 40 Under 40 India list. Rajiv loves working with early-stage entrepreneurs on product, culture and brand to build scalable companies.
Nitin brings over a decade of experience in global venture capital, having invested in 60+ tech startups in multiple geographies. As the founder of FirstPrinciples.VC, he built a thesis-driven syndicate and portfolio of 35+ startups backed by marquee investors, and also played a leading role in fostering India’s blockchain ecosystem. Previously, Nitin was a founding team principal at Lightbox Ventures, one of India’s leading consumer-focused VCs (now $400M under management), where he supported the first two funds since inception.
Lakshmikant is the Head of Finance & Legal at Antler India. Lakshmikant has more than 19 years of experience in PE & VC Fund Management, NBFC Operations, and Banking Operations. Prior to joining Antler, Lakshmikant was a Consultant to T-Hub, a Startup accelerator based in Hyderabad, and helped their startups raise capital from Angels and VC investors. Prior to his role as a Consultant, he was the Finance Controller at SRI Capital, a US-based tech VC Fund where he set up their India operations and represented the fund on the board of portfolio companies. Before that, Lakshmikant spent 10 years at Caspian Impact Investments where he was the Chief Financial Officer. Prior to Caspian, Lakshmikant worked with Cognizant Technology Solutions and Citigroup. Lakshmikant holds an MBA from Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai.
Susmit Patodia is the Capital Director at Antler India. Susmit has worked with Motilal Oswal across various roles. His last assignment was in Asset Management Company where he was a Portfolio Manager. His themes of “Anti-Fragile Investing in India”, “Don’t Bet Against India” and “Return to not normal but better” connected with investors. Prior to this, he headed the Institutional Equities Sales business of Motilal Oswal. He has also worked with Accenture Management Consulting where he was adjudged the best associate in the pool. Susmit holds a postgraduate degree from IIM Bangalore.
Nandini is the Program Director at Antler India. She was previously the founder of GIGI Benefits (YC’20). Prior to her founder stint, she architected and led customer experience for Urban Ladder, India’s leading Furniture e-commerce startup. She holds a Masters Degree in Linguistics from English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad, India and New Media Management from Syracuse University, NY.
Rahul is the Scouting Director at Antler India. At Antler, he leads the process of identifying the most driven founders looking to build iconic companies. He has been an early stage operator, founder and angel investor in the Indian startup ecosystem, and has backed the founders of Pixxel, FamPay and Homingos. Rahul is an alumnus of BITS Pilani & The Indian Military Academy.
Ishavasyam Dash is the Marketing Director at Antler India. Previously, Isha was a part of the leadership team at Unacademy, where she helped launch and grow a new skill-based course platform. She also led brand marketing for Urban Ladder, helping it become one of India's most loved brands. Prior, she was at Dulux (AkzoNobel), where she launched the specialist paints category in India. Isha holds a Master's Degree in Marketing from NMIMS, Mumbai.
Vineet Agarwal is an Investment Manager at Antler India. He executes investments at Antler India and helps raise capital for Antler India Fund. In his last stint, he was a core member of the Strategy division at Ola and was involved in multiple fundraises ($500m+) and M&A activity across Ola Group. Previously, he was at Goldman Sachs (Investment Banking) where he worked on deals worth $40bn+. Vineet is a 2x founder, and founded Motorhood (a vehicle maintenance startup) & BluGanesha Airwaves (a proximity marketing venture). He holds an MBA from NMIMS Mumbai and a Bachelors in Commerce from St. Xavier's College, Kolkata.
Rohan is a part of the Portfolio Management team at Antler India.Post his under-graduation from St. Xavier's College, Mumbai, he joined a 0-to-1 SaaS expert network startup Lynk Global as one of the founding members at their India office. Following the success of this office, Rohan moved to New York and Toronto to set up Lynk's North America business.His most recent stint involved leading growth and GTM initiatives at xto10x, a startup that supports other companies in their scaling journey.
Samiksha works as an Investment Associate with Antler India. She focuses on Founder Scouting, where she helps identify super passionate founders building for the future. Prior to this, she worked as an Analyst at 3one4 Capital and interned with EY in Zurich in the TAS department. She is an alumnus of The Shri Ram College of Commerce, University of St. Gallen, and IE Business School.
Karan is the Program Associate for the Antler India cohorts and plays an active role in enabling partnerships for our global portfolio. Prior to joining Antler, he worked across business development and community management across SaaS and cloud verticals. He holds a Bachelor’s degree from BMS College of Engineering.
Varun is a part of the Investments team at Antler India, focusing on early-stage consumer internet businesses, D2C brands & Web 3. He holds a Bachelors degree in Commerce from St. Xavier's College (Autonomous), Kolkata where he pursued Chartered Accountancy and dropped out as a finalist.
A country of over 1.4 billion people and something as crucial as the medical emergency response system still remains unsolved. The numbers quantify the magnitude and gravity of this problem - over 50% of the ambulances do not arrive even after 60 minutes, 90% of ambulances do not have the basic equipment and 97% have no trained personnel. But here is the most staggering number of them all - over 50% of all deaths in India are preventable. While ambulances are a part of the problem, they are not the solution. The missing piece in creating a robust medical emergency response system is a solid digital infrastructure layer.
We are thrilled to lead the pre-seed round of Motif, a team formed at Antler India Residency as they transform the way SaaS is sold.
A fitting pairing of Hitesh Bhuraria and Nishant Singh, one that was formed at the first-ever cohort of Antler India Residency, is set to build the future of how companies approach their decarbonization goals.
Help them explore the Residency
We prefer founders who are ideating on single or multiple problem statements in a particular theme/sector. We also accept exceptional founders without a concrete idea/problem statement.
If you are looking for a co-founder to continue building this product, you may consider the Residency. If you are an existing team with a product, we would love to still engage with you as part of our pre-seed investments. Do send us your application here: https://www.antler.co/apply/india
Yes. You can join the Residency with your current co-founder to find your future co-founder. However, the stipend is applicable to a team (even if the team is of 1 person or more). So, you will receive one stipend for your team.
We are industry agnostic and look to invest in visionary technology companies.
You can apply to the Residency through the application on our website here https://www.antler.co/location/india-residency. Select applicants will be invited to interview with our team.
Unfortunately, due to the large volume of applications, we are unable to provide personalised feedback to individuals.
Everyone in the Residency cohort is eligible for a stipend of INR 1,00,000 (inclusive of taxes) per month for the period of the Residency. If you do not progress to Phase 2, you will not be eligible for a stipend for that period.
Yes, Antler reserves the right but not the obligation to invest in your company once you have identified a co-founder.
Yes, USD 250K for 10% equity are our standard terms. When you decide to join Antler India Residency, you also agree to our investment terms.
No. If you have already raised funds, you are not eligible. However, we would love to still engage with you as part of our pre-seed investments. Do send us your application here: https://www.antler.co/apply/india
We are operating with a hybrid format for the Residency. We believe that forging deep cofounder relationships means that in-person interactions are non-negotiable. So the first 3 weeks of the Residency will be in-person in Bangalore. After this, you can choose to continue participating remotely, but we highly recommend you spend maximum face-to-face time with your fellow Residency participants in the city of your preference.
Yes, we strongly encourage our Residency participants to have quit their jobs or be on their notice period. In exceptional circumstances, we consider folks who have been granted a sabbatical.
The cohort will have a balanced mix of operators and builders. We will ensure that everyone has enough opportunities to find the right co-founder(s) for them. These potential founders are exceptionally smart and driven individuals, who have excelled in their roles and have committed to the path of entrepreneurship.
We encourage exploring both ideas with an open mind to pick the problem statement that's most compelling, has a large market size and can be iterated fast and experimented with. We've had several of our founders in other geographies drop the initial idea and pivot to their co-founder's idea. That said, if your idea is strong and you are keen on it, we are open to working with you to figure this out.
There is no obligation as such but an equal split is generally a good idea all around.
We only accept founders into the Residency if we believe that finding the right partner will exponentially improve your company’s odds of success. It is by exception that we will invest in solo founders. However, if we decide to invest, yes. The terms are valid for 6 months from the program start date. If you feel that you do not require a co-founder and would want to build by yourself, we encourage you to talk directly to us for a pre-seed investment here: https://apply.antler.co/signup
Get in touch with our team!
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