Antler has released its Annual Report, A Window into Progress, revealing how the firm is investing record amounts of capital and seeing increasing applicants to its founder programs. It also captures the pace at which Antler consistently supports exceptional talents at an unprecedented scale as the most active investor globally and in Southeast Asia.
More than 9,000 founders have submitted their applications to the Antler founder program in this region last year, an increase from over 7,000 applications in 2021. This growth reflects Southeast Asia as a rapidly expanding digital market and a fertile ground for innovations, while also establishing Antler as a preferred destination for entrepreneurs to launch their startups.
Out of the applications, Antler funded 72 companies ranging from e-commerce, SaaS, fintech and logistics, among others across Singapore, Indonesia and Vietnam. These startups will gain a competitive edge to expand across Southeast Asia and beyond, leveraging Antler’s established global presence in 25 cities worldwide.
As a global platform for scaling and capital, Antler has been unlocking access to subsequent fundraising rounds by tier-one VC firms such as Sequoia, Target Global, Golden Gate Ventures, Y Combinator, 500 Global, East Ventures and more. As a result, Antler founders have continued to raise more than US$400 million after founding their startups with Antler.
Reebelo, a portfolio company of Antler and a leading global marketplace for refurbished tech devices & lifestyle products raised US$29 million in its recent Series A extension, bringing its total funding to US$42.3 million since its inception.
Also founded during an Antler program is Volopay, an AI-based real-time expense management software that raised a US$29 million Series A last year and recently granted an in-principle approval (IPA) for a major payment institution (MPI) license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).
Jussi Salovaara, co-founder and managing partner Asia of Antler, says: “As the investor backing the world’s most driven founders from day zero to greatness, we support founders to launch and scale the next generation of great companies that address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. In doing so, we move society forward and make progress inevitable.”
