Founder
Antler
About the job
This is not an employment opportunity. It is an opportunity to build your startup as a founder, with an early-stage venture capital firm backing you from day zero. You will join a global community as part of a cohort of 70+ UK-based entrepreneurs, technologists and Go-To-Market (GTM) leaders to build a team, validate an idea, and pitch for pre-seed investment. To gain an unfair advantage in building your next business, apply today!
We are looking for entrepreneurs, technologists, and GTM leaders ready to commit fully to building a fast-growing, venture-backed startup. If you can build or sell products from zero to one, we would like to hear from you. You will have unique insight into specific technologies or industries, strong problem-solving abilities, and experience creating innovative products or disruptive tech with outsized impact.
Who are we?
Antler is a global early-stage VC enabling and investing in exceptional entrepreneurs. In London and beyond, we bring together entrepreneurs with diverse and complementary backgrounds to build the defining companies of tomorrow. From commercial leaders to the strongest technologists and serial entrepreneurs, we work with skilled founders regardless of background or geography. We are present in 30 locations worldwide, have supported 10,000+ founders through our residency, invested in 1,400+ startups, and received over 200,000+ applications.
Details of the residency
→The residency runs for ten weeks, full-time and in-person, in London, starting April 2025! During this, you will find your co-founder(s) from a cohort of 80-100 founders and receive coaching to develop your venture-backable startup.
→ You will present your team and business idea to the Antler Investment Committee. You will receive a pre-seed investment of £120k for 10% equity if backed.
→We will provide regular check-ins to support your progress in team development, product growth, customer engagement, and investor relations.
→When the time is right, you can access a capital pathway and ongoing support that extends to follow-up funding, Series C, and beyond. In addition, you will have access to a global community that supports you.
Antler will provide you
→Access to a workspace in Central London and a community of 80+ commercial leaders, technical builders, and serial entrepreneurs.
→Help to find your co-founder(s) to navigate the matching journey.
→A complete program of sessions, talks and workshops to prepare you.
→Personalised coaching sessions with business experts and investors.
→Access to a global network of start-up advisors and experts in their field.
→Potential investment at the pre-seed stage.
We look for people with:
🚄 Velocity: You demonstrate a strong bias for execution and a propensity to take action and make things happen. You possess strong communication skills, a proactive mindset, and strategic thinking skills to achieve goals quickly.
🧲 Magnetism: You have a proven ability to attract investors, customers, or top talent to your cause, as evidenced by the most impactful projects and teams you've led.
🔗 Relentlessness: You set ambitious goals and are obsessed with achieving them, demonstrating tenacity to overcome the most challenging obstacles. You rely on internal motivation and know when to pivot or persevere.
⛰ Spike: You stand out from your peers. You bring a track record of impactful contributions, deep industry insights, or expertise in a specific technology that creates a competitive advantage.
Antler Highlights:
We back people from the start of their founder journey—pre-team or pre-idea. Since 2018, we have helped 1000s of individuals internationally find their cofounders, provided access to early-stage capital and connected them with a global community of founders and investors.
To date, Antler has proudly backed over 1,400+ companies globally. Notable successes include Airalo, the trailblazing eSIM subscription service that recently secured $70 million in total funding during its Series B round, and Vamstar, the data-driven B2B healthcare marketplace that successfully raised $9.8 million in funding and recently completed its Series A round.
The founders we back are visionary, determined, and diverse—they represent 145+ nationalities, and 35% of companies have at least one woman founder!⭐️
A better future will not happen automatically—the world needs determined, ambitious, and resilient founders to build it. If you’re one of them, apply now and join our next cohort.