Mumbai, India, September 22, 2023 – Early-stage investment platform Antler India is on the verge of concluding its debut ₹600 crore (approximately $75 million) pre-seed fund. The firm has already secured ₹500 crore of its maiden fund and anticipates wrapping up the remaining capital infusion within this quarter.
With its ₹600 crore commitment, Antler India is positioned to establish one of the most substantial venture capital pools in India dedicated to nurturing startups in their formative stages. Co-founders and General Partners at Antler India, Nitin Sharma, and Rajiv Srivatsa, expressed their gratitude for the support received thus far, saying, “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.”
Antler India to double down on emerging themes
In outlining their future plans, Sharma and Srivatsa added, “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.”
Antler India, founded in 2017, is a global early-stage venture capital firm with a presence in 27 locations worldwide, providing access to a robust network of over 900 startups. The company’s global advisory board boasts prominent figures such as 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, earmarked to support growth-stage startups from Series A onwards.
The Antler India fund has garnered support from a roster of marquee investors, including six institutional and sovereign wealth investors, among them SIDBI. Additionally, more than 125 limited partners, including over a dozen unicorn founders, have contributed to the fund’s backing. Antler has already allocated investments to 45 Indian startups, ranging from $200,000 to $400,000 per investment, across sectors such as SaaS, Fintech, consumer tech, and new themes like Open Network Digital Commerce (ONDC), AI from India, Climate, Web3 infrastructure, Vertical SaaS, and Spacetech.
