Antler raises $285 million in new fund for growth-stage startups

Representative image

Antler, a Netherlands-based venture capital (VC) firm, has raised $285 million in a new fund for investing in growth-stage companies across the world, adding to the billions of dollars of undeployed VC capital as startups witness a prolonged funding winter.

The VC firm, having invested in close to 750 companies globally, said in a statement on June 9 that the new fund, called Antler Elevate, would be managed from its offices in  London, Singapore and New York. M&G Catalyst, Schroders, Vaekstfonden, Korea Venture Investment Corp (KVIC), and a US pension fund are some of the investors in Antler's new fund.

“I am excited to announce the second generation of our Funds to support our founders beyond Series A and drive our mission to make progress inevitable. A better future will not happen automatically—the world needs talented, driven, and resilient people to build it,” said Magnus Grimeland, Antler founder and CEO.

Antler Elevate would be providing scale-up capital from Series A onwards for companies that show strong signs of product-market fit, and demonstrate compounding growth, the VC firm said. Through the fund, it will also invest in new as well as its existing portfolio startups, spread across 20 startup ecosystems globally, the VC said. Antler has already invested $70 million through Antler Elevate, the company said.

"By creating a lasting life-long partnership that is about more than capital, Antler is able to not only attract top-tier talent but propel the next generation of game-changing founders forward," said Fady Abdel-Nour, partner at Antler.

Founded in 2017, Antler has an office in 25 cities across the globe, including Bengaluru in India. Antler plans to back as many as 6,000 companies by end of 2030, the company said. In India, Antler has invested in 28 startups, according to data by Tracxn Technologies, but does not have even one unicorn or startup valued at over $1 billion yet.

Antler's new fund adds to an already big pile of VC capital across the globe. Some of the biggest and most-active VC firms like Sequoia Capital India (now Peak XV Partners), Accel, Elevation, Matrix Partners among others have raised large, multi-hundred million dollar funds. Most of these funds are for India's startup ecosystem, currently the world's third-largest.