Earlier this year, Antler, a startup generator & early-stage VC firm entered new markets including Amsterdam, London and Sydney, in an attempt to build and fund tech companies from scratch. For the uninitiated, Antler builds companies from the ground by identifying ambitious professionals and assisting them in launching businesses.
The company selects the most passionate aspiring entrepreneurs, helps them find the right co-founder and connects them to a network of fitting business and academic domain experts worldwide.
Received 13,000 applications!
Founded by Fridtjof Berge, Jussi Salovaara, Magnus Grimeland, and Vegard Medbo, Antler announced that it has invested €5M into launching 44 global startups operating out of Europe and Asia. Out of 13,000 applications received, the company has selected over 450 exceptional individuals into its program to become startup founders since it launched in 2018.
Since the launch of its first program in Singapore in 2018, Antler has expanded to eight locations so far– Stockholm, New York, London, Amsterdam, Oslo, Sydney and East Africa (Nairobi and Addis Ababa). Two programs take place annually in each city, where after the first phase of the program successful startups receive €100,000 to €150,000 of investment (depending on the region) in funding from Antler for a minority equity stake.
Operating across 15 different industries
Antler’s successful startups are now operating across 15 different industries including FinTech, SpaceTech, Robotics, and HealthTech. Some exciting examples are:
- SkyQraft, a system providing affordable and safe infrastructure inspections using drones and AI to detect risks to power lines. These risks are increasing because of the impact of global warming which has resulted in more forest fires and power cuts around the world.
- Sampingan, a task-based workforce platform connecting organisations with freelance employees in Indonesia. The startup recently secured $USD500,000 from Golden Gate Ventures. Since it was founded, the company has on-boarded 20,000 agents across 140,000 projects. As well, in 7 months, the company’s value has gone up ten times.
- Soma Sketch, a health tech app that allows patients to communicate mental and physical health symptoms by writing and drawing how their body feels. The app will help identify risks, educate users on their health and generate anonymous data for research.
Diverse range of people from 50 nationalities
With programs operating across 5 continents, Antler has already attracted an incredibly diverse range of people, with founding teams comprising of over 50 nationalities. The recruitment process has also generated strong female representation, particularly in the first European program where 64% of the entrepreneurs presenting at the local demo day in June 2019 were women.
Magnus Grimeland, Founder and CEO of Antler:
In just six months, Antler has enabled hundreds of entrepreneurs from diverse backgrounds to create outstanding companies that are already positively impacting global and local economies with the next wave of technology. What can take a young startup months and years to accomplish in a new market we can accelerate significantly with our experienced team and advisors. We are well on our way to becoming the number one platform for entrepreneurs globally by becoming a truly global company ourselves, however, our journey is only just beginning.
We are very proud of all the companies and the innovative solutions that they bring to social problems. Following the success stories of Antler programs worldwide, the founders of the first program in Amsterdam are eager to present their startups at the Demo Day on 31 October. The program has been up and running for 9 weeks and see promising teams and business concepts in areas such as health tech, e-mobility, 3D printing and the edutech sectors.
You can now sign up for Antlers program in Amsterdam that starts in January 2020 here. Interested parties in the investment opportunities that Antler offers through its fund and startups can get in touch with Antler here.
Stay tuned to Silicon Canals for more updates in the tech startup world.
