Antler, a startup generator & early-stage VC firm, has raised an additional $50 million (approx €45 million) into the company and its funds in Amsterdam, London, New York, Stockholm, Oslo, Sydney, Nairobi, and Singapore.
Amongst the new investors are Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin and Elaine Saverin; investor and philanthropist Christen Sveeas, through Kistefos; Canica International; and the innovative Japanese
financial services company, Credit Saison, amongst many other independent investors, entrepreneurs, and finance industry leaders.
Magnus Grimeland, CEO and Founder of Antler, comments,
The world is full of brilliant and determined people who have the potential to build a world-changing business but haven’t yet taken the leap into entrepreneurship. We are laser-focused on helping great people create groundbreaking businesses.
Raising funds across seven geographies means that we can spread our impact across the world. We are looking forward to seeing our existing portfolio of exciting startups expand; and launching further Antler programmes in 2020.
For the uninitiated, Antler is on a mission to turn exceptional individuals into great founders and aims to create hundreds of companies globally over the next five years. The VC firm provides pre-seed and later-stage capital to successful companies. In order to provide this funding, Antler has local funds in each geography.
Founded in 2017 in Singapore, by Magnus Grimeland, Antler runs programmes in eight global locations, will soon launch in Jakarta, and launch. Since its launch, Antler has invested in over 120 companies – many of which have already announced further funding from leading VCs such as Sequoia and Golden Gate Ventures.
Around 3% of all applicants globally get accepted, and Antler invests $100-200,000 into select teams. The portfolio has high diversity, with companies in 17 industries, founders from 36 nationalities, and 52% of companies having at least one female co-founder.
Magnus Grimeland, Antler founder and CEO, said:
Having investors like Elaine and Eduardo Saverin, Christen Sveeas, Canica International, and Credit Saison standing behind our mission means a lot to us. With their support, hundreds of new companies a year will emerge that otherwise would be stuck at the idea stage.
Main image credits: Antler
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