[Exclusive] After closing its first fund in the Benelux, Antler backs these 3 Amsterdam startups

Singapore-based Antler, a global early-stage venture capital firm, on Monday announced that it is investing €300K into three new Amsterdam-based tech startups. 

Antler supported 63 founders in Amsterdam’s latest residency, resulting in three €100k investments for initial capital as founders build their businesses and approach pre-seed funding rounds.

Out of the 63 founders who participated, half of them had previously built startups and 16 per cent had already achieved successful exits from their previous startups. Nearly a quarter (23 per cent) were women, claims Antler. 

The announcement came as Antler’s recent research shows tech founders are increasingly coming from big tech and startups compared to previous generations coming from consultancies and banks. 

Explaining this trend to Silicon Canals, RJ Schuurs, Partner at Antler says, “As tech ecosystems grow in maturity, they start to create self-sustaining pipelines of founder talent. This has been happening for years in Silicon Valley, but in Europe, we have historically seen unicorn founders coming from consulting or corporate backgrounds. This is starting to change, and in Europe, we’re seeing former employees of the likes of Klarna, Spotify, and Revolut building their startups.”

“However, the tech downturn is accelerating this trend and we are now seeing record numbers of aspiring founders enter the market from Big Tech firms or tech unicorns. The result is a wave of highly skilled founders with direct experience building technology at scale. They are uniquely placed to create highly successful startups of their own,” adds RJ Schuurs.

Earlier this year, Antler closed its first fund in the Benelux at €20M in an oversubscribed fund to invest in 50 new tech startups over the next three years.

Consequently, Antler backed founders from some of the most successful tech companies in the Netherlands, including Philips, Uber, and Dawn Aerospace. 

Addressing pressing industry and market demands

Three startups are currently working on developing technologies in various sectors, with the common goal of addressing pressing industry and market demands. 

These startups are focused on building sustainable supply chain solutions for food and beverage companies, utilizing AI to empower creatives, and manufacturing new semiconductors specifically for satellites. 

The three pre-seed startups joining Antler’s Benelux portfolio are: 

• Shai: The creative SaaS company is building a collaborative tool for creatives based on generative AI. SHAI was founded by Leonardo Piumi, a former creative producer at Philips, and Jeroen van Gorsel, an AI expert and theoretical physicist
• Peckish: It is a collaborative planning platform for restaurants and suppliers designed to reduce waste and improve supply chain efficiency. Peckish was founded by two former Uber executives, Harpreet Singh and Sebastien Pradier
• Spherical: It is building the world’s best satellite systems, powered by vertically integrated semiconductor design. Founded by Thomas Parry and Bastiaan Bom, who previously worked at two of the most respected space tech scale-ups in Europe, Clyde Space and Dawn Aerospace.

With this, Antler has currently invested in 35 startups in Benelux, making it one of the most active early-stage investors in the region. 

Sharing about Antler’s success in Benelux region, RJ Schuurs explains, “We believe that talent is everywhere, but that opportunity is not. And our commitment to address that challenge and provide an alternative route to pre-seed investment for founders is clearly resonating with the local ecosystem.”

“With 26 locations globally, we have experience working with thousands of aspiring founders around the world. That has allowed us to develop a residency programme for founders and an investment strategy that unlocks the potential of world-class founder talent,” he adds.

These investments include Sprinque, the B2B payments platform that recently raised $20M. 

Antler: What you need to know

Founded in 2017 by Magnus Grimeland and a team of entrepreneurs, investors, and company builders, Antler is a seed investment firm that supports founders from the pre-idea stage with coaching and the opportunity to meet co-founders during a residency programme. It can invest up to Series C. 

The VC firm provides founders with a platform to build their co-founding teams, get better access to venture capital funding and scale their businesses faster.

With its day-zero approach to support early-stage founders, Antler claims it is fueling the creation of many scalable technology businesses across industries like fintech/payments, health tech, climate tech, and edtech. 

Antler has invested in and helped build over 800 companies across a wide range of industries and technologies, and plans to back over 6,000 by 2030.

The firm has offices globally across most major entrepreneurial hubs, including London, Berlin, Stockholm, New York, Singapore, and Sydney.