ANTLER RAISES $285M VC FUND TO PROVIDE CONTINUED SUPPORT FOR FOUNDERS ACROSS INTERNATIONAL FOOTPRINT

London/New York City/Singapore - June 7 2023 - Antler has closed an emerging growth fund, raising $285 million to support founders across its global footprint.

The fund, Antler Elevate, managed from offices in London, Singapore, and New York, underpins Antler’s continued commitment to backing the world’s most driven founders from day zero to greatness.

Antler Elevate provides scale-up capital from Series A onwards for companies that have ambitious  mindsets, show strong signs of product-market fit, and demonstrate compounding growth. Some of these companies were supported in Antler’s early-stage funds, which cover 20 ecosystems. Others are startups new to the portfolio, having raised seed investments outside Antler’s early-stage funds.

Antler compiles deep insights about founders and business models that inform investment decisions through a proprietary, disciplined evaluation process. Learn more about Antler’s unique process here.

The Antler Elevate fund has thus far already invested over $70 million in companies, including:

• Airalo, the world’s first and largest eSim marketplace;
• Earlytrade, a liquidity marketplace for the construction sector; and
• Two, a purchase financing solution for B2B e-commerce.

A full list of publicly-announced investments is below. Investors in the fund include M&G Catalyst, Schroders, Vaekstfonden, Korea Venture Investment Corp (KVIC), Laerdal, Wahl Eiendom, and a US pension fund.

The fund’s dedicated venture growth team is led by:

• Martell Hardenberg, who has co-founded Southeast Asia unicorn Lazada
• Teddy Himler, previously VP at SoftBank and Principal at Comcast Ventures
• Fady Abdel-Nour, previously Global Head M&A and Investment at Prosus Fintech (PayU)

Magnus Grimeland, Antler founder and CEO: “I am excited to announce the second generation of our Funds to support our founders beyond Series A and drive our mission to make progress inevitable. A better future will not happen automatically—the world needs talented, driven, and resilient people to build it. 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.”

Martell Hardenberg, partner at Antler: “Venture capital has become a global discipline, and I am enthusiastic about leveraging Antler’s 25-office localized footprint and data-driven knowledge base to source investment opportunities at scale. We are excited to work with our global network of Partners and their teams to seek investment opportunities. Our unrivaled data insights fuel global benchmarking by sector and geography, leading to more informed investment decisions.”

Teddy Himler, partner at Antler, says: “Amidst rapid changes in venture capital and entrepreneurship globally, Antler has developed a global magnet for the next generation of technology talent. Pairing our proprietary day zero residency model with unique investing and operating insights, we believe the introduction of our multi-stage platform gives our portfolio companies further advantage across major technology ecosystems.”

Fady Abdel-Nour, partner at Antler, says, “The closing of Antler Elevate strengthens our ability to support incredible entrepreneurs starting from day zero and continuing through every step of their journey. By creating a lasting life-long partnership that is about more than capital, Antler is able to not only attract top-tier talent but propel the next generation of game-changing founders forward. Together, we will foster innovation, empower visionaries, and shape the future of industries worldwide.”

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Antler is one of the most active early-stage investors globally.

The firm leads in ‘Day Zero’ investing, an approach to venture capital focused on partnering with founders pre-launch. Antler systematically removes capital and network constraints for early-stage technology entrepreneurs by providing co-founder matching, deep business model validation, initial capital, expansion support, and follow-on funding.

The firm is present in 30 cities across most leading technology ecosystems globally and has made over 1,000 investments into early-stage startups, with the goal of backing more than 6,000 by 2030.

Antler has been repeatedly recognized by Pitchbook as the world’s most active angel and seed-stage investor.

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Contact

Rike Döpp Bergérus

VP, PR and Communications
rike at antler.co

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