Early-stage Investment Platform Antler India Nears Final Close of $75 Million Maiden Fund
Early-stage Investment: Antler India, the early-stage investment platform, has announced that it is on the brink of completing the final close of its maiden pre-seed fund, amounting to a substantial $75 million (approximately Rs 600 crore). Having already secured Rs 500 crore of its Rs 600 crore target, Antler India is poised to finalize the remaining funds in the current quarter. This landmark achievement is expected to greatly impact India’s startup ecosystem, as the fund is supported by a prestigious group of investors.
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Early-stage Investment: whats the Hook?
Antler’s maiden fund has garnered support from an impressive array of investors, including six institutional and sovereign wealth investors, among them the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI). Additionally, over 125 limited partners have backed the fund, which boasts an impressive lineup of more than a dozen unicorn founders among its supporters.
Since its inception, Antler India has committed to 45 investments in India, ranging from $200,000 to $400,000 per investment. These investments span various sectors, including Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), FinTech, and consumer technology. Furthermore, Antler India has diversified its portfolio with investments in emerging themes such as Open Network Digital Commerce (ONDC), AI originating from India, Climate, Web3 infrastructure, Vertical SaaS, and Spacetech.
Early-stage Investment: fund represent
Notably, Antler India’s maiden fund represents a significant infusion of capital into the company formation and pre-seed stage in India, making it one of the largest pools of venture capital dedicated to this critical phase of startup development.
“We are extremely grateful to our early believers who have backed our vision of creating an institutional platform focused on the company formation stage, with the leverage of the world’s fastest growing early-stage network. We are equally grateful to the founders who we have partnered with,” said Nitin Sharma and Rajiv Srivatsa, Co-founders and General Partners at Antler India.
Statement
“In the next 18 months, besides establishing a physical presence in additional ecosystems like Delhi NCR and Mumbai, we aim to double down on emerging themes and bring a range of capabilities for founders beyond just capital, like we have done for ONDC-Beckn with Nandan Nilekani and team. We are thrilled to be closing the greenshoe portion of the fund soon and aim to deliver exceptional returns to our LPs in the years to come via a Day Zero investing focus,” they added.
Early-stage Investment: Conclusion
Founded in 2017, Antler is a global early-stage venture capital firm which is present in 27 locations worldwide, enabling access to a powerful network of 900+ startups. Antler’s global advisory board includes Larry Summers (former US Treasury Secretary), David Fischer (ex-Chief Revenue Officer, Facebook), Todd Ruppert (Retired CEO, T Rowe Price) and Sheila Patel (Former Chairman, Goldman Sachs Asset Management). In June 2023, Antler announced the final close of its $285 million Antler Elevate fund to support growth-stage startups from Series A onwards.
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