Insights

Tim Fung is the co-founder and CEO of Airtasker, Australia's number one marketplace for local services.

Since its inception in 2012, Airtasker has gone on to enable more than $1 billion in working opportunities and acquired more than 4.3 million registered users. On top of that, in March 2021, Airtasker made its debut on the ASX and is now valued at $255 million.

During a virtual fireside chat, Antler Managing Partner Bede Moore spoke to Tim about his entrepreneurial experience thus far, Airtasker's growth to date, and advice he has for others looking to pursue a similar path.

220+ platforms that can help you turn your hobby into a paying profession

NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, have quickly become all the rage and a talking point around the remote water cooler lately. An NFT is a blockchain-based way of proving ownership, validity, and scarcity in unique digital assets. Although NFTs have been around for a while, they have recently entered the consumer mainstream as artists, creators and platforms are auctioning off everything from digital art, music, and NBA highlights. This could be a generational shift from physical to digital ownership.

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I've been an active angel investor for about ten years now. Since we started Antler back in 2018 I've been part of many of our investment committees (IC) around the world. Every IC member and angel investor is different and will have different views on what makes a good investment. For me, there are three specific things I focus on when a team pitches to Antler for investment: The people, the product, and, of course, the potential.

I recently had the pleasure of speaking to a group of aspiring angel investors in Australia. The theme of the presentation was about evaluating products. During the discussion, we explored the different ways to assess a startup, ways to evaluate ideas and products, and some resources that can help you along the way.

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Welcome to Antler's circles series, where we bring industry leaders, founders, and experts working in the same  sector together to problem solve, share emerging trends and technologies. Through this series, Antler will provide unparalleled access to closed room discussions around the challenges and opportunities experienced by those innovating at the forefront of the industry.

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Welcome to Antler's circles series, where we bring industry leaders,  founders, and experts working in the same sector together to problem solve,  share emerging trends and technologies. Through this series, Antler will  provide unparalleled access to closed room discussions around the challenges  and opportunities experienced by those innovating at the forefront of the  industry.

Our team of venture capitalists, domain experts and entrepreneurs at Antler are always on the lookout for exceptional talent with the potential to build the defining companies of tomorrow. Read on to find out what we look for in a successful founder and how you can kickstart your entrepreneurial journey.

Working in venture capital offers insights into the problems, challenges, and new markets today’s entrepreneurs are addressing at the very earliest opportunity, a window on disruption and innovation. Business models are being redefined at an ever-quickening pace, and this is particularly visible in FinTech. We recently sat down with the founders of all of our FinTech investments with the following key learnings and insights.

Since 2017, Antler has created a distinct culture in the way it operates based on nine guiding principles. Women represent 42% of Antler's leadership team (including Partners, Associate Partners, and Directors), and we have over 30 nationalities represented in our 12 locations globally. Every Antler team member has a clear and easily identifiable strength --- the synergy of these diverse mindsets works really well together. Read about how we are striving to build this unique culture and how we apply it to thinking of diversity as a layered and multi-dimensional concept.

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Venture capital (VC) financing to startups founded by women exceeded $20 billion for the first time in 2019. This is up from $2 billion 10 years ago. Despite that, in Germany, just 16% of founders are female, while this number is steadily increasing, there is still much work to be done.

We invest in the defining companies of tomorrow. But we know it all starts with you. We help exceptional people build startups from the earliest stages. When you join Antler, you join a community of founders, get support from a global platform of experts, resources, and receive investments to scale your ideas.

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When the pandemic swept through the world in early 2020, many people were made redundant and forced to look for alternative revenue streams. Others had more time on their hands due to lockdowns and the radical shift in working from home. Born from a chaotic and deeply transformative event, these trends have resulted in people turning to their passions and interests in a career, and a boom for the Creator Economy.

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In this article, we discuss the things that you should not be doing while dealing with investors.

Starting a company is a big deal. At Antler, we believe in empowering entrepreneurial talent with the right tools to make an impact on the world. Here's a snapshot of what we look for in prospective founders.

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A typical pre-seed to seed fundraising process consists of the following steps: defining fundraising targets & timing, mapping target investors & fundraising materials, having first intros and coffee meetings, pitching to multiple investors, and finally, negotiating and signing.

After interviewing hundreds of founders and working with dozens of teams to build and grow their startups from scratch, Antler Partner Winnie Khoo shares some insights on her experiences and doles out some advice to aspiring founders.

Due to the growing interest in responsible investment and therefore from VCs, the industry will need to become familiar with the concept of ESG. ESG stands for environmental, social, and governance which are a set of criteria used to measure an investment’s sustainability and societal impact.

Here at Antler, we are on a mission to fundamentally improve the world by enabling the world's most exceptional people to build the sector-defining companies of tomorrow. Here is our take on ESG from the VC perspective.

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When it comes to choosing investors, it depends on the stage of growth you are in, and on how much you want to raise. Find out what are the key considerations and benefits of reaching out to each type of investor.

This article is a 4th part of the "Startup fundraising 101" series - a  resource that has been created in order to help all founders in their fundraising journey. To learn more, read our previous pieces which are linked at the end of this article.

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If you are an entrepreneur looking for investment for your early-stage startup, you may wonder “What is my company worth?”. The answer to this question can be quite difficult to formulate. Most valuations are a negotiation; a balance of setting a price that is acceptable to the founders but also agreeable to the investors. There is no general rule of putting a price on a startup, however, we have some tips that will make your valuation process easier.

Raising money is critical to fuel growth, build credibility, and stay afloat. Without external funding, the vast majority of startups won't survive or have very slow growth. The amount of money needed to take a startup to the next stage of growth is usually beyond the ability of founders and their friends and family to finance. Here is why, when, and how much to raise in order to succeed.

This article is a second part of the series "Startup fundraising 101" - a resource that has been created in order to help all founders in their fundraising journey. Read the first article "Fundraising: What to expect  from the journey? Stages of startup funding" here.

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In an unprecedented year filled with uncertainty, we take a look at what lies ahead for entrepreneurship and venture investing in one of the most exciting yet competitive markets today. Antler had the pleasure of hosting a fireside conversation featuring Yu Wang, angel investor and the founder of Tantan, the leading dating app in China with over 15 billion matches to date, and moderated by Robyn Tan, Managing Director of KRAsia, the international arm of Chinese digital media company 36Kr.

Also in the chat were Antler China's Partner, Guan Wang, founder of Mandarin and English language learning apps Amanda and Seed (backed by Dr Lee Kai-fu's Sinovation Ventures) and founder of SayABC, one of the largest business units of leading US$4+B-valued edtech company VIPKid; and Andrea Hajdu-Howe, Head of Capital for Antler Global and former Executive Director at Goldman Sachs with over 20 years of investment management experience.

Here are some key takeaways and insights from the session. Quotes have been edited for flow, length and clarity.

What does it take to start a business during a pandemic and how do you adapt? Some of the founders from our new companies in the fourth Singapore cohort share their experiences ahead of Antler Southeast Asia’s first virtual Demo Day on July 16 at 5pm SGT.

Fundraising is not an easy walk in the park, it will be challenging. It always  takes longer than you think and has more ups and downs than you'd expect. Go into the process with an attitude that "you'll be successful". You need to commit to this process, even though it can be unpredictable and messy.

This fireside chat with Rajesh Lingappa, former CTO and co-founder of RedMart was conducted by Bjorn Lindfors, Technology Partner of Antler Southeast Asia during the Antler Entrepreneurship Hour in June.

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We invited four experienced CTOs to discuss how to build a successful tech platform, the process behind establishing a startup and some of the key things to consider when you are just starting to build the tech behind your product/service. They discuss key questions such as why is speed important and what to prioritise between your product vision and customer validation.

Now that the majority of the companies have seen that there is a way to work remotely, it looks like remote working is here to stay for a while longer at least and that more and more companies are going down this path even after the pandemic. We have listed some tools and services that startups and VCs we know recommended.

Antler Sydney Venture Partner Christian Wanner explores what is Demo Day and why it is important for founders, investors and the wider community.

Launching your own business can be daunting. Launching your own business during a pandemic can seem downright impossible.

But with the help of Antler Australia, 26 entrepreneurs launched 12 startups spanning FinTech to Saas, HealthTech, DeepTech and more, and are flourishing in their early stages of growth.

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“Out of every crisis, voices emerge from unlikely places to help us understand how we can build a better future” - Scott Galloway. In this opinion piece, Antti Rantanen, Venture Partner at Antler, draws inspiration from this quote and reflects on how tech collaboration between startups and giants will breed new innovative models of operation in the near future.

Having a strong co-founding team is an important success factor for startups. In fact having the wrong founding team is amongst the top reasons why companies fail. Read more about how to build a strong team.

Without a strong team, the idea will just stay as that, an idea. However, finding the right co-founder can seem like a long and complicated process. There are many things that entrepreneurs need to take into consideration when making the decision of who to start a company with; starting with what to look for in terms of skillsets, compatibility and personality, followed by where to meet available co-founders, to making sure it will last in the long run. Based on our experience, there are 5 important elements that make a strong co-founding team. But before you start searching for someone, you need to ask yourself some key questions.

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Driven by a new wave of demand for better health tech solutions on both the consumer and medical professional fronts, Health tech has become a topic of renewed interest for investors looking to expand their portfolios. In this series, we discuss the future with Antler partner Kim Oreskovic and two healthcare CEOs on trends and how COVID-19 will affect the space in years to come.

At Antler, we often get asked how we invest in startups. We believe that  startups belong in five different "archetypes" and we try to help our  founders frame their companies and ideas around these archetypes. This, in  turn, shall help them create a strong, compelling Go-To-Market (GTM) strategy  that will help them win in their respective spaces and selected  industries.So what are the five archetypes and how do they differ?

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We spoke to 12 Australian angel investors - here's what they had to say.

What founders should be considering with the added complexity of the Covid-19 outbreak.

Antler Global Partner Andreas Birnik shares his tips for navigating through a turbulent time to successfully innovate.

The Covid-19 epidemic is now a Global issue and everyone is affected one way or the other. As most of us are remote working and in-person events are on hold, we want to continue to share some of the insights and sessions that we usually do for our founders with the wider startup ecosystem so that we can help and support entrepreneurs around the world.

Being a startup founder can be difficult at the best of times. Adding the stress and impact of a pandemic, crisis or recession, especially now, with the human tragedy of the Covid-19 doesn’t make it easier.

Some straightforward ways founders can help each other during turbulent times

There has never been a better time to start a technology-enabled business, given how much low-cost and high-quality existing tech infrastructure can be used, the digital business opportunity in Southeast Asia with exponential growth in smartphone usage and most importantly, localised problems that need to be solved in many parts of this region on a large scale.

Liz Kaelin is an entrepreneur in the second Sydney program. Here's her advice for others who are about to join.

Adam Ross is an entrepreneur participating in Antler's second Sydney program. Here's what he learned from participating in Design Sprints.

Sydney entrepreneur and PhD candidate Snow Li discusses what it was like to form new bonds in Week 1 of the Antler program

Many of us struggle to maintain boundaries from our work and our personal life. We discussed this with mindfulness expert Johanna Dahlman about how you can make sure you stick to your boundaries as 2020 get's underway.

Antler’s inaugural Demo Day in Sydney will take place on Thursday, November 7 at the iconic Sydney Town Hall.

Adeline Lee is a growth hacker, product marketer extraordinaire, and new mother. She's grown multiple applications and companies from thousands of users to millions. Here's how she grew these products to new heights...

With Antler's presence in 8 offices, 4 continents and counting, the team at Antler has been able to gain deep insights about startup ecosystems across the globe applying them through our partners and coaches to make our founders succeed everywhere.

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Chris Brooke, CTO at Hopster and Advisor at Antler in London, shared his insights about becoming a CTO during an event we organised in London. Having gone through these stages himself, he explains how the role of the CTO evolves from finding the idea to building a product for the global market.

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Currently, only ~2% of all Dutch Venture Capital is invested in female-founded or female co-founded companies. Simply put, there is a huge population with phenomenal ideas but they are largely being ignored, misunderstood or brushed to the side. Now, what can we do to solve this problem?

According to Forbes, around 90% of startups fail. We don’t know about you, but that sounds like a large proportion of unsuccessful business ventures to us. We sat down with Antoine Poirson, one of our partners at our London office, to discuss his thoughts on becoming an entrepreneur in today’s Globally competitive market.