Our mission is to help bring Vietnamese founders and startups to the global stage by showcasing the amazing talent, entrepreneurial spirit, and pure grit that is so abundant in Vietnam.
We’re looking for people eager to turn their ambitious ideas into a game-changing business. We work with founders regardless of background —from experienced business owners to technologists or entrepreneurs. Whether you’re an individual or a team; at day zero or have been building your business for years - we are here to help as a dedicated partner obsessed with your success.
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Antler Vietnam welcomes applications from individuals and teams at the very beginning of their startup journey—before the company is founded—and even pre-idea.
We collaborate with existing businesses who have formed teams and are looking for extra funding.
Antler is an intensive 10-week program with in-person residency that supports you as you build your own fast-growing business.
Form your co-founding team, and develop and validate your idea.
Start executing your idea, building your MVP, onboarding customers, and assembling your go-to-market strategy with the guidance of your personal mentor and industry experts.
It's show time! Pitch to our Investment Committee to secure your pre-seed funding.
You will join Antler in Vietnam's 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.
Antler is one of the most active investors in Vietnam backing global and game-changing startups.
Portfolio companies
Portfolio companies with at least one female founder
Different nationalities of founders
Valuation for 25+ Antler in Vietnam portfolio companies
The full application process takes about two-to-three weeks to complete. Once you apply, our scouting team will get in touch and guide you through the entire process.
The full application process takes about two-to-three weeks to complete. Once you apply, our scouting team will get in touch and guide you through the entire process.
Antler in Vietnam frequently runs events to give you more insight into what our program is like. Sign up to get notified about our latest events.
https://antler.us3.list-manage.com/subscribe/post?u=ca8e71dfc43df42e91b000beb&id=838e0165e0&v_id=3636&f_id=004325e1f0
The full application process takes about two-to-three weeks to complete. Once you apply, our scouting team will get in touch and guide you through the entire process.
Antler-funded founders go on to raise capital from other leading VCs.
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.
Hai Ho
Alternō
I think anyone who wants to make a difference should apply for Antler. You're experience please come back, you're not experienced, this is the place for you.
Hieu Vu
Neoloka
Finding the ideal co-founders is made easier with the aid of Antler, who also pushes us to always exceed our limits. The curriculum is really demanding yet highly beneficial.
Hanh Do
BUYO
Antler’s program has put us on a fast paced growth journey and opened up ample opportunities for us to learn, to connect and to realize our aspiration.
Jake Vu
Vucar
What separates Antler from from the rest is that they care about you from the first day and they continuously show that they care about your business. They care about your progress, and they put the time and effort to help you.
There has never been a better opportunity to build and grow a company that addresses a real problem. As societal challenges become increasingly complicated, founders are more needed than ever to address them.
Meet the people dedicated to our founders’ success.
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.
Erik Jonsson started his career in London's Square Mile as an investment banker after graduating with a degree in Investment and Financial Risk Management. After a month's trip to Vietnam in 2008, he fell in love with the country and decided to permanently move there in 2011-in fact, just crossing the decade-long milestone as a Vietnam resident a few months ago. He spent his first year in Vietnam with Vietnam Investments Group in the private equity space and subsequently ventured down the entrepreneurial path as Founder/Co-founder/CEO with five different ventures, including Zalora Vietnam. He was identified as one of Sweden's tech super talents by Dagens Industri in 2016. Erik is based in Ho Chi Minh City and is leading Antler's presence in Vietnam.
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.
Anh is a Manager at Antler Vietnam and before joining us, Anh was Co-founder & COO of Avian Solutions, a SaaS platform for business aviation. At Avian, his main focus was on building the product, business development, and partnerships.Before Avian, Anh was part of the core team at CoderSchool, Vietnam's top coding school, as well as Fram - a venture builder based in Vietnam.
Khanh joined Antler straight out of University as an intern and proved her worth from day 1. She has been an integral part of running recruitment, our program as well as portfolio management from our first cohort. Antler Vietnam has continuosly grown it's intake, and support of, female founders and Khanh's personal mission is to help uplift Vietnam's talented female entrepreneurs to a global stage.
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.
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 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.
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.
We are delighted to announce that we are expanding our investment activity. Our primary focus remains to invest at the pre-seed stage, but we now also have the ability to offer our portfolio companies follow-on capital as they grow and scale, up to Series C.
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?
Entrepreneurship runs deep in the Vietnamese culture and way of life. Couple that with the natural Vietnamese grit, resilience, and hustle and you'll have one of the most exciting formulae for a new wave of Vietnamese-grown startups with global applications. Antler brings a new VC model to Vietnam, one that looks for quality entrepreneurs instead of a blind focus on established tech companies. We believe that we can find the next wave of startup founders and give them the right access to mentorship, capital, and training to pave the way for their success. We support the founders at every step of the way, from seed funding to follow-up investments. What are you waiting for?
The program is divided into two phases. Phase 1 is dedicated to finding a co-founder, validating ideas, and developing your business. Phase 2 is an acceleration track where you will use Antler funding to execute your idea, onboard customers, and gain traction to eventually raise your seed round. Throughout the program we offer office space, a personal mentor, presentations with external speakers, and connections to our global mentor network.
You will have access to masterclasses and resources that will teach you everything you need to know to build your startup. The most valuable support you'll receive if from our network of advisors, venture partners, industry experts, our global community of founders, and the Antler team.
For founders who need to relocate to Ho Chi Minh City, we provide a grant of USD 500 paid in two monthly installments during phase 1. If your team secures funding during the Investment Committee, you get a USD 70K investment into your company. It's up to the founders to decide how to allocate this.
Yes, every company we fund is required to have at least two co-founders. In the unlikely case where you don't find the ideal partner in the cohort, we encourage our founders to find a co-founder outside of Antler.
Antler is not an accelerator, we come in before that. We are focused on selecting and helping build a strong co-founding team, rather than a specific industry or startup idea. We identify exceptional people and help them succeed in founding and scaling great companies. Helping entrepreneurs from day zero, even before the company is founded. In contrast, accelerator programs support companies that are already established. Even so, participants who join Antler’s cohorts have the opportunity to go onto join accelerator programs afterwards.
Being vertical agnostic, we look to invest in fast-growing companies with a strong regional or global potential, welcoming a wide range of companies across industries. Most companies we have invested in, include a tech component—e.g., using machine learning, blockchain, or IoT technology—in industries such as healthcare, fintech, property tech, and more.
Yes, we continue to support companies even after the program. We have an interest in creating successful companies with our innovators. We’ll continue to support companies through our advisory network, investor contacts, and company partnerships. In addition, all program alumni will have access to all our tech, admin, and recruiting resources at zero cost.
No, you don’t need an idea. Some founders have a clear idea of what they want to build in our program; however, most join us with areas of interest and expertise. The first part of the program is spent developing ideas and connecting with the right co-founders, so you'll have the opportunity to develop an idea then!
Yes, you can still join us even if you already have a team. You will have to apply individually and mention your team in the application. However, we encourage all founders to keep an open mind during the program and consider the opportunity to work with other innovators on other great ideas.
If your team secures funding for the second part of the program, you get investment into your company from Antler of US$70K for a 12% equity stake in the company. This includes access to our global network of entrepreneurs, investors, industry experts, venture partners, and advisors, as well as coaching by the Antler team. We also provide partner benefits to our portfolio companies and discounts/credits for services offered by companies such as Google, Amazon, Paypal, and more.
Unfortunately, we are not able to sponsor visa applications.
Yes, you can still apply. Most companies are founded during the program, but great founders with an existing business in the early stages can still apply to join Antler.
Get in touch with our team!
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