Build your company with Antler in Malaysia

Antler backs the world’s most driven founders, from day zero to greatness. We're bringing together the most exceptional entrepreneurs to build the defining companies of tomorrow in Kuala Lumpur.

Who is Antler in Malaysia for?

We believe in founders from the earliest stage — pre-idea, pre-team, or existing teams looking for pre-seed funding. More importantly, we’re looking for people eager to turn their ambitious ideas into a game-changing business. Whether you're a serial founder, product builder, business leader, or tenacious individual with unwavering drive, we are here to help as a dedicated partner obsessed with your success.

Pre-Seed

Startups

Early-stage startups can now join Antler seeking support to scale their operations and secure pre-seed funding. These are typically incorporated companies with a product in market and growing customer base. We provide dedicated expert coaching, industry connections to secure subsequent funding rounds, and support to scale operations.

Pre-Launch

Individual Founders and Teams

Pre-idea and pre-team. Ambitious founders can join Antler before the inception of their company to find a co-founder(s) and receive their first cheque. We support these founders through team formation, idea validation, dedicated expert coaching, access to the world’s largest-growing community of like-minded entrepreneurs, and a clear pathway to capital.

What to expect once you join Antler in Malaysia

The Antler Founder Residency is a transformative 10-week program designed to back aspiring entrepreneurs to build and launch startups at breakneck speed. Held in Kuala Lumpur - this intensive, in-person program surrounds you with industry-leading mentors and like-minded innovators, empowering you to turn your vision into a VC-backable startup.

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Formation and validation

We start with venture development and testing your startup hypotheses. You will be surrounded with everything you need to build at lightning speed - a community of diverse founders so that you can find the right co-founder, coaching from our team of proven founders and mentors, perks from hundreds of partners, and a global network of advisors and investors. Founders who need to relocate to Kuala Lumpur will receive a grant of RM3,500 gross, paid in two monthly installments.

Pitch your company

You will get the opportunity to pitch your startup to Antler's Investment Committee. If successful, Antler will invest US$110,000 for a 12% equity stake. Following the investment, successful companies are required to pay a program fee of US$40,000 to cover the cost of the program. This helps to sustain the quality resources, mentorship, and support services integral for founders like yourselves. If you do not get an investment, you do not have to pay any program fee to Antler - this underlines our risk-sharing and founder-first approach.

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Scaling and fundraising

You will join our portfolio and receive continued support and access to a global capital pathway. When you are ready to raise your seed round, Antler will host a Demo Day where you will showcase your startup to top investors in the region.

Application Process

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

Submitting your application

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

Screening call

If shortlisted, we will do an introductory call for us to get to know more about you, your overall drive, passion, and background to see if our program is a good fit for you.

Partner interview

If qualified, you will do an interview with one of our partners, where we will dive deeper into your experiences and expertise, and assess your drive, problem-solving skills, and spike.

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Application Process

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

Submitting your application

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

Screening call

If shortlisted, we will do an introductory call for us to get to know more about you, your overall drive, passion, and background to see if our program is a good fit for you.

Partner interview

If qualified, you will do an interview with one of our partners, where we will dive deeper into your experiences and expertise, and assess your drive, problem-solving skills, and spike.

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Want to find out more?

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Application Process

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

Submitting your application

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

Screening call

If shortlisted, we will do an introductory call for us to get to know more about you, your overall drive, passion, and background to see if our program is a good fit for you.

Partner interview

If qualified, you will do an interview with one of our partners, where we will dive deeper into your experiences and expertise, and assess your drive, problem-solving skills, and spike.

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Antler-funded founders go on to raise capital from other leading VCs.

Founder testimonials

Don't just take it from us. Find out what founders who have built and launched their companies with Antler have to say about us below and here.

Bahadir Özdemir

Airalo

What an amazing journey this has been. I have learned so much and met such amazing people. I would do it all over again if I could.

Yaumi Fauziah Sugiharta

Base

The dedicated coaches at Antler and the deep expertise they have in their industries really brought additional value to our team. They helped us pin-point areas we've missed, in the process of building our company.

Wisnu Nugrahadi

Sampingan

The constant coaching and feedback allowed us to iterate our ideas quickly and get best practices from the people in the industry.

It’s the best time in history to build a business

There has never been a better time to innovate and build a company that solves a meaningful problem. As the issues society faces become more complex, founders are more needed than ever to tackle them.

Entrepass Partner

Our team

Meet the people dedicated to our founders' success.

Jussi Salovaara
Co-founder and Managing Partner

As co-founder and Managing Partner Asia for Antler, Jussi works with a global team dedicated to developing the next generation of world-changing companies and creating a global pipeline for top talents to pursue a career in entrepreneurship and innovation. Before joining the startup ecosystem, Jussi headed the Global Services Commercial Management sector of Nokia. He works closely with the founders to coach them and helps connect them with the right advisors to build their businesses.

Frank Kang
Associate Partner

Frank is a seasoned serial entrepreneur with 17 years of experience. As Country Head for Malaysia, he leads investment strategy and operations for the region. He founded a social networking service at 23 and established one of the largest Twitter directories in Korea. He also founded LivingSocial and Althea in Malaysia. With Frank's proven track record of building scalable businesses in Asia, his vast experiences will help Malaysians to think globally from Day Zero and expand Malaysia's entrepreneurial impact across borders.

Markus Bruderer
Partner

Markus is a Partner at Antler sharing the overall responsibility for Antler’s operations in Southeast Asia. Markus has worked with technology ventures in SEA for nearly a decade. Prior to Antler, Markus was in Venture Development Roles at Zalora and Global Fashion Group (GFG) based in Indonesia, Philippines and Singapore. He holds a Master’s degree in Banking and Finance from the University of St.Gallen, Switzerland.

Winnie Khoo
Partner

Winnie has more than 25 years of experience in managing tech and media startups cross-functionally across Asia. She has spent the last 15 years in leadership positions with tech giants like Alibaba, PropertyGuru and Carousell, helping these companies grow from early stage to market leadership positions. Winnie is a partner in the Antler Singapore office, where she shares the overall responsibility for Antler’s operations in Southeast Asia.

Rufus Sorsa
Associate Partner

Rufus joined Antler's SEA team in 2018, where he helps build, launch and invest in new startups out of Singapore. Previously, he was an innovation manager at Metro Group’s digital strategy & CVC arm. At Metro, he led various projects across the European retail and hospitality startup ecosystem. He holds an MSc degree in business management from the National University of Singapore where he graduated with the highest distinction.

Ryan Thoo
Vice President

Ryan Thoo is the marketing lead for Southeast Asia. He manages Antler's brand and marketing performance in the region as well as coach founders in early-stage growth and marketing. Former Marketing Director at PropertyGuru, the leading Proptech company in Southeast Asia, where he was part of the core team to drive the organization from Series B to market leadership and IPO. During that journey, Ryan contributed towards scaling up their Marketplaces business across SEA, starting up their FinTech arm, and driving Web3 innovation for PropTech.

Felix Frenzel
Investment Manager

Felix works on portfolio management and investment topics for Antler's Southeast Asia portfolio. He provides coaching and fundraising support, manages select external investments, helps build relationships with investment firms, and enables performance reporting. Felix previously worked as a consultant at Bain & Company, advising global clients across sectors on strategic topics. He holds an MBA from INSEAD and an MSc in International Finance from HEC Paris.

Keith Lim
Finance Director

Keith heads the Finance function in Antler Southeast Asia and is in charge of the financial and tax reporting and compliance of the SEA fund and the local Antler entity. He has more than 20 years of working experience in both the public and private sectors covering industries from real estate, sports, defence and research. Prior to joining Antler, he spent 13 years with a multi-national real estate company which specializes in fund and asset management, real estate development and resort operations.

Audrey Gunawan
Finance Associate

Audrey supports the financial operations of South East Asia as a financial Associate. She has an understanding of financial systems that stem further than the basics, previously working first hand on finances in Singapore’s hospitality industry. Audrey is also currently pursuing her ACCA studies to gain her Chartered Certified Accountant qualification. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Accountancy and Financial Management.

Antler Malaysia

News and views from Antler

Read our latest insights and stories about our phenomenal founders.

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Startup Series: How Airalo will change connectivity forever with digital sims

Alright, let's say you're going on a trip to Asia and plan on hitting 5 different countries. You know you're gonna need to sort out a mobile connection to the local company in each new place.

Chore.

But, imagine if you could simply get your local SIMs before you even start your trip? So that once you land you are automatically connected. Before you've even finished breakfast in your New York apartment, in 5 minutes you've sorted out mobile connectivity for your adventure to the East.

This is the aim of Airalo co-founder and Antler alumni, Bahadir Özdemir. He plans to turn the traditional roaming market completely on its head through new eSIM technology.

Bahadir stopped by the Antler Amsterdam office for a quick chat with our marketing manager Hayden on the state of eSIM technology and the challenges in being the trailblazer for this emerging space:

Yaumi Sugiharta: The brand builder revolutionizing skincare through tech and sustainability

Our new content series—"It All Starts with People"—delves into the passions, motivations, and vision of the exceptional founders we have the privilege of partnering with around the world. In our latest spotlight, we sat down with Yaumi Fauziah Sugiharta, a brand builder and growth marketeer on a mission to make people more comfortable in their own skin through Base, a digitally native personalized skincare company based in Indonesia.

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Malaysia