WE BACK THE UK’S MOST DRIVEN FOUNDERS FROM day zero to greatness

Antler backs the world’s most driven founders from day zero to greatness. As the world’s issues become more complex, founders are more needed than ever to solve them. Gain an unfair advantage from the outset in three essential ways:

  • Access the best place on the planet to find exceptional co-founders.
  • Scale faster, backed by our global community of founders, advisors, and investors.
  • Get support for your entire journey—from day zero through the full life cycle of your company.

Who is Antler in the UK for?

Antler gives experienced business operators, technologists, and serial entrepreneurs an unfair advantage in achieving greatness. Through unrivalled access to exceptional co-founders, a robust ecosystem, and in-house, hands-on experts, we help driven people address meaningful problems that move the world forward. With a successful track record of investing in hundreds of companies and supporting thousands of entrepreneurs, we deliver the essential ingredients to build a high-growth business from day zero. 

Residency

Individuals, Founders, and Teams

The next Antler Cohort in the UK will kick off in September, 2024. Applications are open and the formal interview process is already underway. You must be ready to commit full-time and in-person to starting your next venture, including the ten-week residency in Central London. 

Teams

Already have a 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.

What to expect once you join Antler in the UK

Antler brings together exceptional entrepreneurs in a three-month cohort dedicated to helping you find a co-founder and developing and testing a startup hypothesis. At the end of this stage, your team may pitch to our Investment Committee. Successful teams will then enter the Antler portfolio and benefit from Launch, where support focuses on helping you build your product before raising further funds. Mobilising entrepreneurship in Europe’s largest tech hub.

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Find Your Co-founder

You will be surrounded with everything you need to build at lightning speed: a community of diverse founders so you can find the right co-founder, coaching from our team of seasoned founders and advisors, a global network of talent and resources, plus perks from industry-leading partners. To extend your runway and ensure you commit fully while avoiding financial hardship, you can apply for a grant of £4,000, paid in two installments.

Build Your Company

Once you find your co-founder, you will interact with customers, develop your MVP, refine your business model, and create a go-to-market strategy with the help of experienced coaches. This hands-on approach will prepare you well for presenting your startup to Antler's Investment Committee, a straightforward process involving a single pitch and complete transparency. If your startup is selected, we will invest £120,000 in exchange for 10% equity, further boosting your entrepreneurial journey. If your pitch is unsuccessful, we will offer detailed feedback so you can learn and improve.

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Scaling and Fundraising

At Antler, we are dedicated to helping you succeed from day zero to greatness. You will identify the ideal product-market fit, assemble your dream team, and secure pre-seed funding. After being backed by Antler, founders are provided with regular check-ins to support progress in team development, product growth, customer engagement, and investor introductions. In addition, founders will have access to a global community that helps you.

Founders in the UK that Antler backs are moving the world forward.

Antler is one of the most active early-stage investors in the UK—and globally—backing exceptional founders.

95+

investments in the UK

>80%

of founders raise further funds within 18 months of Antler’s backing

$60M+

raised by founders in Antler’s portfolio in the UK

$350M+

valuation of Antler’s portfolio of UK companies

Application process

The selection process takes about 2-3 weeks. Our scouting team will guide you through each step.

Read answers to the most frequently asked questions we receive.

Apply and Screening

Start your Antler journey by applying online. Share your unique insights and the drive behind your venture. We'll review your application and may request additional information through a video interview or a short call.

Drive Interview

During your first interview with a team member, you'll have the opportunity to showcase your unique background, experience, motivation, and leadership skills.

Spike Interview

In your final interview, we will focus on self-definition, differentiation from peers, and problem-solving. This is an opportunity to impress Antler with your unfair advantage as an entrepreneur. If successful in your spike interview, we'll also do a Reference Check.

Offer and References

After we offer you a spot on our cohort, you'll sign the Antler Founder Agreement. Then, we'll send you a cohort guide to help you prepare for your first day and get to know the other founders in your cohort.

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Application process

The selection process takes about 2-3 weeks. Our scouting team will guide you through each step.

Read answers to the most frequently asked questions we receive.

Apply and Screening

Start your Antler journey by applying online. Share your unique insights and the drive behind your venture. We'll review your application and may request additional information through a video interview or a short call.

Drive Interview

During your first interview with a team member, you'll have the opportunity to showcase your unique background, experience, motivation, and leadership skills.

Spike Interview

In your final interview, we will focus on self-definition, differentiation from peers, and problem-solving. This is an opportunity to impress Antler with your unfair advantage as an entrepreneur. If successful in your spike interview, we'll also do a Reference Check.

Offer and References

After we offer you a spot on our cohort, you'll sign the Antler Founder Agreement. Then, we'll send you a cohort guide to help you prepare for your first day and get to know the other founders in your cohort.

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Application process

The selection process takes about 2-3 weeks. Our scouting team will guide you through each step.

Read answers to the most frequently asked questions we receive.

Apply and Screening

Start your Antler journey by applying online. Share your unique insights and the drive behind your venture. We'll review your application and may request additional information through a video interview or a short call.

Drive Interview

During your first interview with a team member, you'll have the opportunity to showcase your unique background, experience, motivation, and leadership skills.

Spike Interview

In your final interview, we will focus on self-definition, differentiation from peers, and problem-solving. This is an opportunity to impress Antler with your unfair advantage as an entrepreneur. If successful in your spike interview, we'll also do a Reference Check.

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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. Hear from phenomenal people who joined Antler in the UK to launch their company.

Maria Wlosinska

Unlock

It’s a great time to become an entrepreneur, especially with programs like Antler. They put the whole infrastructure in place, whether it’s capital, co-founders or mentors. It really helps you to de-risk.

Darshak Bhatt

Unlock

What I love about the philosophy of Antler is finding the right team first. I completely believe that if a team has the same motivations, they can eventually find great solutions together.

Charlotte Zhao

AVID

The biggest realization I had at Antler is how important people are, especially one’s co-founder. With our shared vision, I believe we can collaborate, brainstorm, and evolve together.

James Waterhouse

Neighbourhood

At Antler, we’ve really learned to pivot, adapt and take feedback on board. Antler selects incredibly talented people to join the program so get to know the cohort and leverage the skill sets around you.

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 society's issues become more complex, founders are more needed than ever to tackle them.

Entrepass Partner

Meet our team

Ollie Purdue
General Partner

Ollie is a partner in Antler’s London office, where he shares the overall responsibility for Antler’s operations in London. Prior to Antler, Ollie was the CPO of Bó, RBS’ Digital bank. Before joining Bó, Ollie founded Loot, a VC backed digital banking service which helped over 200,000 customers do more with their money.

Jed Rose
General Partner

Jed Rose is a Partner at Antler and brings operator, advisor, and investor experience from Seed to Series C rounds. He was the GM of EMEA with Airwallex, a B2B fintech payments unicorn that is backed by investors such as Sequoia and DST Global. Prior to Antler and Airwallex, Jed was CEO at Paymentsense, where he led the fintech startup through a period of rapid growth with EBITDA growing from breakeven to £24m in just three years and to an exit. Prior to Paymentsense, Jed did product management for Microsoft Windows for six years where he focused on B2C, international expansion, and product pilots. Jed received a B.Sc. with Honours in Symbolic Systems from Stanford University and an MBA from the University of Cambridge.

Darren Murphy
Director, Origination

Darren is Program Director in Antler’s London office and Head of Program for EMEA and Americas. Darren has over seven years of experience working with tech startups, helping them go to market and secure investment. He previously worked as Head of Innovation at Unbound, connecting 100s of startups with global corporations at events such as Unbound London, FinTech Abu Dhabi and Innovfest Unbound in Singapore. Darren has also worked at the UK’s leading advanced digital technology innovation centre, Digital Catapult, where he helped establish their first accelerators.

Pedro Stuart
Senior Associate, Residency

Pedro is an Industrial engineer from Lima, Peru. He has more than three years of experience working for the LatAm startup ecosystem, structuring a public fund of funds at COFIDE, Peru’s Development Bank, and supporting a 30 startup portfolio at UTEC Ventures - the biggest accelerator in Lima.

Maria Schipa
Manager, Head of Scouting

Maria is our Founder Scout Manager in the UK. Prior to joining Antler, Maria worked as a recruitment consultant for early-stage SaaS startups in the Netherlands. She is a graduate in Clinical & Forensic Psychology and holds and MSc in Organisational Psychology.

Will Pearce
Associate, Founder Scout

Will is the Founder and Talent Scout in the UK, mainly focusing on bringing technological co-founders into the cohorts. Before joining Antler, Will gained technology recruitment experience from his time at global recruiter, Hays, predominantly in the early-stage startup space. He is a BA (Hons) Business and Management graduate from the University of Kent, and has also worked across retail in a leadership capacity.

Sarah Finegan
Portfolio Director

Sarah is an investor and Portfolio Director at Antler. She recently moved to London from Berlin, where she was a key part of Antler’s operations in DACH & Eastern Europe. Sarah brings experience from her previous roles in finance, early-stage technology companies, and venture capital, and is an avid sports fan and world traveller.

Richard Baillie
Head of Direct Investments

Richard is the investment manager in the UK, leading on sourcing and evaluating direct investment opportunities. Prior to joining Antler, Richard was helping Israeli startups raise Series A funding from UK and US investors. He has also spent time at an investment bank and five years as an actuarial consultant. Richard has an MBA from Cass Business School and an MSci in Mathematics from the University of Glasgow.

Rakesh Sah
Finance Manager

Rakesh is Finance Manager at Antler, supporting investment and capital teams to drive investments, and founders during and after the investment process. He has previously worked as Finance manager for a PE backed multinational company, helping their European segment double its turnover to £50m in three years. Rakesh has an MBA from the City, University of London and an ACCA qualification.

Mia Sinobad
Portfolio Associate

Mia is the Visiting Analyst in Antler’s London office. Prior to joining Antler, she worked as a full-time Junior Consultant at EY’s Valuation department. Mia started her career as an intern at EY’s Transaction Support team. She has recently completed MSc in Management at London Business School.

Sungwook Eun
Program - Analyst

Sungwook, originally from South Korea, has lived, studied, and worked across Europe and Asia. As an Analyst in the Program team, he aids in running the London residency programme. He has previously been part of the Antler Korea team and brings diverse work experience in consulting, startups, and the military. Sungwook holds an MSc from the London Business School.

Sarah Mee
Visiting Analyst

Sarah is a visiting analyst in the London office. Prior to joining Antler, Sarah worked as a product manager in Silverfin, a cloud automation and insights platform for accountants, where she helped to build the UK product offering. Sarah is also a chartered accountant and holds a Masters in Finance from London Business School.

Antler in the UK
Antler in the UK

London was one of Antler's first European locations. Since its opening, Antler has become one of the most active early-stage investors in the UK, backing more than 30 startups a year.

Rakesh Sah
Finance Manager

Rakesh is Finance Manager at Antler, supporting investment and capital teams to drive investments, and founders during and after the investment process. He has previously worked as Finance manager for a PE backed multinational company, helping their European segment double its turnover to £50m in three years. Rakesh has an MBA from the City, University of London and an ACCA qualification.

Zina Alfa
Marketing & Investment Events, Lead

Zina Alfa, leads the the vibrant ecosystem at Antler through events, communications, partnerships, PR and marketing. This masterfully blends her robust experience in the creative and tech industry encompassing roles in production, editorial, and marketing across international news, entertainment and technology. Prior to Antler, Zina founded 'ub hair,' a pioneering b2b2c beauty tech & e-commerce platform. At Antler, she orchestrates compelling events and strategic communications, ensuring our ventures and partners enjoy a thriving, interconnected environment where ideas and businesses blossom.

Veronika Patkai
Associate Partner

Veronika is an Associate Partner, based in our London office and responsible for the end-to-end design and execution of our Antler UK platform. Prior to joining Antler, Veronika worked as an early-stage advisor, dedicated start-up coach and angel investor. She has an MBA from INSEAD and focused on Private Equity advisory / M&A in the the earlier stages of her career.

Tabitha Luxmoore-Styles
Head of Partnership

Tabitha is Head of Partnerships at Antler UK, where she engages with corporate partners, government and large institutions to help build the success of Antler & portfolio companies in the UK and globally. Prior to Antler, Tabitha has worked in 3 start-ups in (foodtech & fintech) and a tech accelerator. More recently she has moved from Tilney Smith & Williamson, a financial services firm, where she worked in the Entrepreneurial Services team and ran the Female Founder & Investor program. She currently sits on the board of CONCAT Tech (refugee & women developers from countries of conflict) and is supporting work from the Dept of International Trade with under represented founders.

Richard Baillie
Head of Direct Investments

Richard is the investment manager in the UK, leading on sourcing and evaluating direct investment opportunities. Prior to joining Antler, Richard was helping Israeli startups raise Series A funding from UK and US investors. He has also spent time at an investment bank and five years as an actuarial consultant. Richard has an MBA from Cass Business School and an MSci in Mathematics from the University of Glasgow.

Pedro Stuart
Senior Associate, Residency

Pedro is an Industrial engineer from Lima, Peru. He has more than three years of experience working for the LatAm startup ecosystem, structuring a public fund of funds at COFIDE, Peru’s Development Bank, and supporting a 30 startup portfolio at UTEC Ventures - the biggest accelerator in Lima.

Ollie Purdue
General Partner

Ollie is a partner in Antler’s London office, where he shares the overall responsibility for Antler’s operations in London. Prior to Antler, Ollie was the CPO of Bó, RBS’ Digital bank. Before joining Bó, Ollie founded Loot, a VC backed digital banking service which helped over 200,000 customers do more with their money.

Mehdi Doghri
Venture Partner

Mehdi is an experienced tech entrepreneur who started his career as solution architect for blue chip companies before joining a mobile agency as CTO, delivering 20+ apps. For the last 4 years, he has been leading a digital innovation team at Barclays driving new digital products for the SME market. He’s now the Co-Founder & CTO of Save your wardrobe, a Fashion Tech start-up changing the way we manage our clothes post-purchase.

Maria Schipa
Manager, Head of Scouting

Maria is our Founder Scout Manager in the UK. Prior to joining Antler, Maria worked as a recruitment consultant for early-stage SaaS startups in the Netherlands. She is a graduate in Clinical & Forensic Psychology and holds and MSc in Organisational Psychology.

Lars Kvaalen
Venture Partner

Lars is one of Antler UK's Venture Partners. Lars spent more than 6 years in McKinsey & Company, supporting some of the largest telecoms and banks. At McKinsey, Lars implemented advanced analytics to drive data driven decision making in marketing and sales. Further Lars has been focusing on technology, M&A and corporate finance.

Jed Rose
General Partner

Jed Rose is a Partner at Antler and brings operator, advisor, and investor experience from Seed to Series C rounds. He was the GM of EMEA with Airwallex, a B2B fintech payments unicorn that is backed by investors such as Sequoia and DST Global. Prior to Antler and Airwallex, Jed was CEO at Paymentsense, where he led the fintech startup through a period of rapid growth with EBITDA growing from breakeven to £24m in just three years and to an exit. Prior to Paymentsense, Jed did product management for Microsoft Windows for six years where he focused on B2C, international expansion, and product pilots. Jed received a B.Sc. with Honours in Symbolic Systems from Stanford University and an MBA from the University of Cambridge.

Gary Dolman
Venture Partner

Gary is Venture Partner at Antler London. Gary is the co-founder and CFO of Monzo, one of UK's largest challenger banks, and he has recently established his own consulting business to the start up industry. He is a qualified chartered accountant who has had a long career in banking having worked as a CFO and COO at Starling Bank, ABN AMRO and Mizuho Securities.

Darren Murphy
Director, Origination

Darren is Program Director in Antler’s London office and Head of Program for EMEA and Americas. Darren has over seven years of experience working with tech startups, helping them go to market and secure investment. He previously worked as Head of Innovation at Unbound, connecting 100s of startups with global corporations at events such as Unbound London, FinTech Abu Dhabi and Innovfest Unbound in Singapore. Darren has also worked at the UK’s leading advanced digital technology innovation centre, Digital Catapult, where he helped establish their first accelerators.

Charlotte Mason
Venture Partner

Charlotte has helped 1000s of companies raise seed capital and grown her own portfolio of 30 investments. She has >10-years of start-up experience, holds many start-up advisor/board positions, and is INSEAD’s Start-up Bootcamp Director, delivering world-leading start-up training. She is an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at INSEAD and also designs, leads, and supports Corporate Innovation Programmes for Fortune, FTSE, and SME clients. Charlotte is Co-Chair of INSEAD Alumni UK Business Angels and Entrepreneurship Group and holds an MBA from INSEAD.

Andy Hunt
Venture Partner

Andy is a Venture Partner at Antler. He is an experienced business coach frequently hired by founders and senior business leaders to support them through periods of sustained growth and transformation. Previously, Andy had a career in banking with NatWest and spent 12 years at VMware establishing the US enterprise software company in EMEA and shepherding it from start-up through to $2bn+ in revenue. Andy has a passion for driving success through people

Altan Tutar
Entrepreneur-in-residence

Altan is an entrepreneur-in-residence at Antler, one of the fastest-growing global early-stage venture capital firms. He's also an active participant and leader of Antler's web3 initiatives. Before Antler, he was a mMaster's student at Imperial College London, specializing in computing and it's applications in robotics via deep learning methods. Prior to Imperial College London, Altan was an undergraduate at Davidson College, where he double-majored in computer science (honors) and mathematics, published award-winning research in virtual reality and mathematics and worked at early-stage startups such as Lucid Drone Technologies (YC S'19).

Beatrice Zatorska
Co-founder and CEO
Karolina Szweda
Head of Growth Marketing
Ollie Forsyth
Head of Operators and Advisors Network

Ollie leads our advisors and operators network with a focus on making Antler the best ecosystem for founders building from day zero. He was previously at Molten Ventures (formerly known as Draper Esprit). In his spare time, he loves traveling and meeting new people. Contact him at ollie.forsyth@antler.co.

Josie Stoker
Assistant Manager
Chris Brooke
Advisor
Katie Thorpe
Marketing and Social Media Intern

News and views from Antler

Read our latest insights and stories about our phenomenal founders.

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With household energy bills increasing by 81% since October 2022 and 70% of UK homeowners unable to afford the cost of installing a solar energy system, home energy continues to be a bleak landscape for homeowners to navigate.

Enter GRYD Energy, the team who is changing the game by overturning the traditional solar deployment model—with no upfront costs to homeowners. Read why GRYD is poised to scale an untapped part of the solar market, and why Antler is proud to be their day zero investor.

The UK’s early-stage growth opportunity: How leading VCs see the future

What are the trends and who are the people defining the future of UK tech? Antler in the UK and Google hosted The UK’s Early-Stage Growth Opportunity, a dynamic event exploring the trends and growth opportunities in UK and European early-stage investing over the next 10 years.

Antler backs eight new UK tech startups

New portfolio companies represent teams building in fast growth tech verticals such as fintech, femtech, healthtech and AI

Latest investments come after Antler was recognised as the most active private early stage investor in Europe in H1 2023

Am I right for Antler?

Elísabet Ýr Sigurðardóttir, co-founder of Anda, shares her experience working with Antler - from finding the right co-founder to building her business.

Antler's next UK cohort: Meet the entrepreneurs shaping the future

Serial entrepreneurs. Tech leaders from household name brands. Investment bankers. PhD students. Meet some of the diverse and remarkably driven founders joining our next Antler residency in the UK.

Building a startup is your best opportunity to positively impact the world

Antler founders are using their skills and experience to build startups that will have a positive impact on the world. They're solving the most pressing problems, creating jobs, and amplifying their personal trajectory. What are you waiting for?

FAQs

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