On Monday, the global early-stage venture capital firm Antler had made an announcement of launching itself in India to empower more entrepreneurs to establish startups through their platform, support, and global reach. Antler aims to invest in up to 40 startups within its first year in India and to build more than 150 startups in the next four years.
Initially, the plan will begin with Bangalore and, further will expand to other major cities in the next 3 to 5 years. Rajiv Srivatsa, co-founder of Urban Ladder, is joining Antler as Partner and will lead the Indian operations.
In the second half of 2020, the inaugural India program will commence in Bangalore. The Antler Program will be in two 2 phases and it will be covered within 6 months. The first phase will be of ten weeks which is about forming a right team with adept co-founders. After this, Antler will invest in the strongest teams in order to move in the Second stage basically to build and scale the startup.
Founder and CEO of Antler, Magnus Grimeland, stated, “We believe the Indian entrepreneurial ecosystem has massive potential. We want to lower the barriers for exceptional people to start a technology company, regardless of their background or geography. Over the next 5 years, India is expected to be the third largest market and grow into a 5 trillion-dollar economy, fuelling a much higher growth for the digital economy. In addition, we want to provide India originating startups with Antler’s global platform to ensure startups from India can expand, scale, succeed and tap into expertise on a global level.”
Additionally, Rajiv said, “Antler will collaborate with VCs, angels and work closely with corporate partners and functional specialists as mentors, to power the Indian startup ecosystem.” Antler is a Singapore-based firm which has presence in 11 locations worldwide. Antler has become one of the world’s largest early-stage investment platform by investing in over 160 technology-firms.