Launch your startup and get funded in 6 weeks with Antler in Vietnam
Get funded by a global VC that empowers the most exceptional founders with capital, mentorship, and the network to turn world-changing ideas into reality.
Launch your startup and get funded in 6 weeks with Antler in Vietnam
Get funded by a global VC that empowers the most exceptional founders with capital, mentorship, and the network to turn world-changing ideas into reality.
Get early backing with Pre-Seed investment and ongoing support through follow-on funding up to Series C
Get hands-on mentorship from experienced founders and operators who’ve built and scaled successful startups.
Scale your startup with a global partner that offers expertise and connections in over 30 locations worldwide
Join a curated network to find co-founders who complement your skills and vision
How Antler works
We attract top teams at an early stage, and invest in validated business models while providing hands-on and tailored support from the heart of South East Asia.
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How we invest
Maximizing your success–from being your earliest backer to a long-term capital partner who provides follow-on funding and access to top VCs.
1. Initial Investment
If your startup passes our investment committee, we will invest $120,000 for 12% of your company via a SAFE agreement. This initial capital empowers you to build your product, attract early customers, and prepare for your next funding round.
2. Follow-on Funding (Next 9 Months)
As you raise capital from external institutional investors, we will match 50% of the amount raised, up to $250,000, at the latest valuation.
Example: If you raise $500,000 externally, we’ll invest an additional $250,000, bringing your total early-stage funding to $870,000 ($120,000 initial + $500,000 external + $250,000 matching).
This matching mechanism accelerates your growth while keeping terms founder-friendly.
3. Growth-stage Funding (Series A to C)
• Access our global network of investors through Antler’s Portfolio Showcase.
• Potential investment of up to $10 million to fuel your growth through Series C.
• Ongoing support to refine your strategy and prepare for future fundraising.
The Residency
Once onboarded, you will have access to the Antler office in Ho Chi Minh city for an immersive 6 week residency. During this time, you’ll collaborate with experienced mentors, refine your business model, and build alongside other driven founders. Whether you’re starting from just an idea or scaling your existing venture, our residency equips you with the resources, network, and guidance to accelerate your growth.
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How to apply
Apply anytime throughout the year and discuss your startup ambitions. We’ll guide you through our simple and transparent application process. Our goal is to understand your vision, explore how we can help, and determine the best path forward for your startup.
Meet an Antler partner Thursday at 1PM CET
Join us for an open session with one of our partners to discuss how we work with founders and what to expect
How Antler in MENAP Works
Explore what to expect in our application process and our 10-week residencies across MENAP, held twice a year in spring and fall.
FAQs
By helping thousands of founders launch and scale the next generation of great companies that address some of the most pressing challenges of our time, we move society forward and make progress a certainty.
We back entrepreneurs from day zero—even before they have a product or any paying customers. We believe that it all starts with people. By focusing on the founder and the team, rather than a specific industry or an idea, we identify talent and help them succeed in founding and scaling great companies.
Additionally, Antler doesn’t just provide funding—we offer hands-on mentorship and give you an unfair advantage through our global network of founders, advisors, and investors, helping you get from zero to one in the shortest time possible.
Teams: We welcome teams with at least two co-founders with a startup idea, or a pre-revenue product. Go from launch to being a VC-backed startup in as little as 4 weeks. Starting from the stage of your startup, you can get bespoke hands-on mentorship from experienced founders and operators who’ve built and scaled successful startups before receiving investment directly from us.
Solo founders: Looking for a co-founder to launch your startup idea? We bring together an exclusive group of ambitious people to explore ideas together. Meet, learn, and co-create with exceptional builders. Join us to turn your vision into reality. You just need to have a strong drive to build high-growth tech startups, as well as, the skills relevant to early stage business building.
No, you don’t need to have a fully formed idea to apply. We work with teams and founders from ideation, validation and inception stage in our residency. That said, we especially value those who have a strong sense of their founder-market fit—a deep understanding of sectors or industries where they want to make an impact. More important than having a solution is having a few problem statements you’re passionate about solving. If you have the curiosity and drive to build, Antler will help you refine these ideas, explore opportunities, and turn them into a scalable business.
Yes, even if you have an existing team or have already raised some funding, Antler can help accelerate your growth. We provide additional capital, strategic mentorship, and access to our global network of investors and industry experts to help you scale faster and reach your next milestones more efficiently.
Yes, we encourage founders to join our residency program in Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam for a period of 4 to 8 weeks. It provides invaluable in-person access to mentorship, networking, and collaborative sessions with other founders. Being physically present also ensures you can fully engage with Antler’s resources and community.
Upon a successful application, you will receive a confirmation email and our Scouting team will review and reach out regarding your application within 2 days to guide you through the next steps. The screening process will take about two weeks after your initial application.
Differing from other Antler locations, we are accepting teams on a rolling basis to the residency in Vietnam. This means teams are welcomed to join us in Ho Chi Minh city anytime throughout the year once they are ready to commit full-time to building a startup.
Antler invests in a wide range of sectors, including fintech, healthcare, SaaS, e-commerce, and more. Globally, we’ve backed over 1,000 companies across diverse industries, with a focus on those leveraging technology to scale and build innovative solutions. More importantly, we look for founders addressing pressing problems with scalable, high-impact ideas that can succeed on a global stage.
Antler’s portfolio companies have collectively raised hundreds of millions in follow-on funding, with over 80% of them raising external capital within 12 months. Select portfolio companies making strong headway include Airalo, Reebelo, bluesheets, Volopay, and Staffinc.
Ready to build and launch your startup? Apply now
Join Antler and instantly 10x your network: connect with industry leaders, validate your idea and scale your business with a global network of entrepreneurs.
We’ve helped put hundreds of founders on a pathway to global success
Fuelled by a passion that goes beyond traditional investing, we exist to increase our founders’ speed and maximise their success rate in solving important problems.
Pathzero
Superhedge
Tribee
Buyo
Neoloka
Dizim
Mole
flaex
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Pullse
ChatCut
Antler portfolio companies raise capital from other leading VCs
Our Team
Meet the people dedicated to our founders’ success.
Mike is a Partner at Antler Australia and co-leads the Australia operations. He's a seasoned operator and investor who kickstarted his career in equity capital markets and mergers and acquisitions.Mike's journey with Uber began as the second employee in Asia and the 121st globally. As the Head of Operations for Australia and New Zealand, he played a pivotal role in building a thriving multi-billion-dollar business locally. Over the course of six years, he witnessed the local team's remarkable growth, scaling it from just three members to a formidable team of over 500. This experience gave him invaluable insights into scaling businesses and driving growth in challenging markets.Following his time at Uber, Mike co-founded and led Kaddy, a B2B marketplace. Under his leadership as CEO, Kaddy was acquired for $34 million within three years. Mike also brings over 20 years of investment experience, including numerous direct and indirect angel investments. His diverse background and extensive experience have made him a sought-after advisor and mentor, offering valuable insights to early stage businesses.
As Co-founder and Managing Partner Asia, Jussi works with a global team dedicated to building the most defining technology companies of tomorrow. Jussi leads Antler’s investments in the APAC region and supports founders in building and scaling their businesses, especially with growth and fundraising. He has over a decade of experience across different industries at Nokia, McKinsey, Deloitte and Morgan Stanley.
Originally from Sweden, Erik is a seasoned entrepreneur who has founded five ventures, including Zalora in Vietnam. Currently Partner at Antler, he leads the firm's investments and operations in Vietnam. Also known as 'Shark Erik', he is a judge and investor on Shark Tank Vietnam. Prior to this, he was an investment banker at London's Square Mile and Vietnam Investments Group. His entrepreneurial journey has earned him recognition as one of Sweden's tech super talents, as recognised by Dagens Industri. Based in Ho Chi Minh City, Erik is also fluent in Vietnamese.
Ha is responsible for Antler’s branding and communications while identifying passionate founders and nurturing promising startups in Vietnam. Before joining Antler, she was the Marketing Manager for Vincere.io, a B2B SaaS solution for recruitment agencies of all sizes. Ha played a vital role in developing Vincere's brand presence and driving revenue, which helped Vincere to be successfully acquired by The Access Group UK.
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.
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.
Ryan Thoo is the marketing lead for Antler in Southeast Asia. He manages the firm'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, building 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.
Eugene is an Investment & Portfolio Manager at Antler Southeast Asia, where he focuses on pre-seed and seed investments across AI/ML, developer tools, and vertical SaaS. He brings a unique operator-investor lens from his time as Product Lead at Wagely, where he scaled the user base, product, and established the company's growth function to Series A. Prior to this, Eugene built and launched BCG's global fintech intelligence platform and incubated corporate ventures at FutureLabs Ventures and Wright Partners, including dealcierge.io which was recently acquired.
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 in MENAP partners
Mike is a Partner at Antler Australia and co-leads the Australia operations. He's a seasoned operator and investor who kickstarted his career in equity capital markets and mergers and acquisitions.Mike's journey with Uber began as the second employee in Asia and the 121st globally. As the Head of Operations for Australia and New Zealand, he played a pivotal role in building a thriving multi-billion-dollar business locally. Over the course of six years, he witnessed the local team's remarkable growth, scaling it from just three members to a formidable team of over 500. This experience gave him invaluable insights into scaling businesses and driving growth in challenging markets.Following his time at Uber, Mike co-founded and led Kaddy, a B2B marketplace. Under his leadership as CEO, Kaddy was acquired for $34 million within three years. Mike also brings over 20 years of investment experience, including numerous direct and indirect angel investments. His diverse background and extensive experience have made him a sought-after advisor and mentor, offering valuable insights to early stage businesses.
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Next Residency
October 7, 2025
