Launch, build, and scale your startup with —Antler in Malaysia
Get funded by a global VC that empowers the most exceptional founders with capital, mentorship, and the network to turn world-changing ideas into reality.
Launch, build, and scale your startup with —Antler in Malaysia
Get funded by a global VC that empowers the most exceptional founders with capital, mentorship, and the network to turn world-changing ideas into reality.
Get early backing with Pre-Seed investment and ongoing support through follow-on funding up to Series C.
Get hands-on mentorship from experienced founders and operators who’ve built and scaled successful startups.
Leverage Antler's global presence to access international markets, customers, and investors.
Join a curated community of ambitious founders with complementary skills and shared values. Find the perfect co-founder match in a proven environment.
How Antler works
Whether you’re at pre-launch, pre-product, or pre-revenue stage, Antler will back you from day zero to greatness. We connect individuals with other driven founders to co-create and build from scratch, while startups with established teams can fast-track their growth with funding, mentorship, and a global network.
Smart capital for exceptional founders
We maximize your chances of success throughout your company's entire journey. As your earliest backer, we provide:
- Initial pre-seed and seed funding of up to $600,000 for early-stage startups
- 50% matching of additional institutional investment
- Follow-on funding up to $10 million through Series C
- Direct access to top global VCs in our network
Get our investment info pack to learn more:
Our investment approach is founder-friendly and designed to help you scale fast while managing dilution effectively.
World-class support ecosystem
Join our immersive 5-10 week residency in the vibrant startup hub of Kuala Lumpur. You'll get:
- Direct mentorship from successful founders and operators
- Dedicated support in product, technology, and go-to-market strategies
- Access to Antler's global network of industry experts and investors
- Regular coaching sessions to refine your idea and business model
- Collaborative workspace located in Bangsar
Whether you're starting from scratch or scaling an existing venture, the residency is your launchpad to accelerate growth at breakneck speed.
Three steps to getting funded
- Apply: Submit your application and share your vision with us
- Connect: Meet our team for an in-depth discussion about your startup ambitions
- Build: Get accepted and start building with Antler's full support
Next cohort starting soon - limited spots available. Apply now to secure your place.
Meet an Antler partner Thursday at 1PM CET
Join us for an open session with one of our partners to discuss how we work with founders and what to expect
FAQs
By helping thousands of founders launch and scale the next generation of great companies that address some of the most pressing challenges of our time, we move society forward and make progress a certainty.
We believe that it all starts with people. By focusing on founder talent, rather than a specific industry or start-up idea, we identify talent and help them succeed in founding and scaling great companies.We back entrepreneurs from day zero—even before they have fully formed ideas or products.
Additionally, Antler doesn’t just provide funding—we offer hands-on mentorship and give you an unfair advantage through our global network of founders, advisors, and investors, helping you get from zero to one in the shortest time possible.
We welcome both individuals and co-founding teams with a strong drive to build high-growth tech startups, as well as, the skills relevant to early stage business building. Some examples of founder profiles that we have backed:
- Returning Founders: Experienced founders who have learned from past ventures—whether through success or failure—and are ready to build their next venture with valuable insights.
- Business Leaders: Commercial professionals skilled in go-to-market strategy, business model development, customer acquisition, and capital raising.
- Technology and Product Leaders: Builders with expertise in software engineering, system architecture, or product vision, who are eager to design and build innovative solutions.
- Functional and Domain Experts: Specialists with deep expertise—gained through either professional or academic experience—who’ve identified a unique, unmet need in their field, hold intellectual property, or see untapped potential in technology that can be commercialized.
- Zero to One Operators: Seasoned professionals and early employees with experience in taking startups from early-stage to hypergrowth, having played defining roles in building and scaling companies through critical phases.
No, you don’t need to have a fully formed idea to apply. That said, we especially value those who have a strong sense of their founder-market fit—a deep understanding of sectors or industries where they want to make an impact.
More important than having a solution is having a few problem statements you’re passionate about solving. If you have the curiosity and drive to build, Antler will help you refine these ideas, explore opportunities, and turn them into a scalable business.
Yes, even if you have an existing team or have already raised some funding, Antler can help accelerate your growth. We provide additional capital, strategic mentorship, and access to our global network of investors and industry experts to help you scale faster and reach your next milestones more efficiently.
Yes, we require founders to join our residency in Kuala Lumpur for a period of 5 to 10 weeks. It provides invaluable in-person access to mentorship, networking, and collaborative sessions with other founders. Being physically present also ensures you can fully engage with Antler’s resources and community.
We back ambitious founders building scalable tech solutions across all sectors. While we're sector-agnostic, we're particularly excited about AI/ML, SaaS, fintech, sustainability, and emerging technologies. We look for founders addressing significant market opportunities with innovative solutions that can scale globally.
Antler’s portfolio companies have collectively raised hundreds of millions in follow-on funding, with over 80% of them raising external capital within 12 months. Select portfolio companies making strong headway include Airalo, Reebelo, fileAI, Boxo, Volopay, and Qashier.
Ready to build something extraordinary?
Join Antler and instantly 10x your network: connect with industry leaders, validate your idea and scale your business with a global network of entrepreneurs.
We’ve helped put hundreds of founders on a pathway to —global success
Fuelled by a passion that goes beyond traditional investing, we exist to increase our founders’ speed and maximise their success rate in solving important problems.
Pathzero
Antler portfolio companies raise capital from other leading VCs
Meet our team
Mike is a Partner at Antler Australia and co-leads the Australia operations. He's a seasoned operator and investor who kickstarted his career in equity capital markets and mergers and acquisitions.Mike's journey with Uber began as the second employee in Asia and the 121st globally. As the Head of Operations for Australia and New Zealand, he played a pivotal role in building a thriving multi-billion-dollar business locally. Over the course of six years, he witnessed the local team's remarkable growth, scaling it from just three members to a formidable team of over 500. This experience gave him invaluable insights into scaling businesses and driving growth in challenging markets.Following his time at Uber, Mike co-founded and led Kaddy, a B2B marketplace. Under his leadership as CEO, Kaddy was acquired for $34 million within three years. Mike also brings over 20 years of investment experience, including numerous direct and indirect angel investments. His diverse background and extensive experience have made him a sought-after advisor and mentor, offering valuable insights to early stage businesses.
As Co-founder and Managing Partner Asia, Jussi works with a global team dedicated to building the most defining technology companies of tomorrow. Jussi leads Antler’s investments in the APAC region and supports founders in building and scaling their businesses, especially with growth and fundraising. He has over a decade of experience across different industries at Nokia, McKinsey, Deloitte and Morgan Stanley.
Frank is a seasoned serial entrepreneur with 17 years of experience. As Country Head for Malaysia, he leads investment strategy and operations for the region. He founded a social networking service at 23 and established one of the largest Twitter directories in Korea. He also founded LivingSocial and Althea in Malaysia. With Frank's proven track record of building scalable businesses in Asia, his vast experiences will help Malaysians to think globally from Day Zero and expand Malaysia's entrepreneurial impact across borders.
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Najla is a Senior Manager leading Founder Scouting at Antler Malaysia. Prior to Antler, she held roles as a senior consultant at HSBC under their Digital Transformation Centre and McKinsey & Co as a generalist working on business strategy, and digital transformation projects across the region. Najla has also been in the startup ecosystem where she held the VP of Enterprise role at a Malaysian edtech company and co-founded a fintech startup. She started her career as a capital markets regulator, with Securities Commission, working on policies and regulations across investor protection, equity crowdfunding and fundraising frameworks. Najla graduated with a LLB from Queen Mary, University of London.
Sean is the Manager running our Residency at Antler Malaysia. Prior to this, Sean headed B2B Partnerships at Lumos, a consumer electronics startup in the micromobility space & Solve Education, an edtech non-profit. In the earlier part of his career, Sean was Portfolio Manager at Endeavor, a global organisation supporting the growth of fast-growing startups. Sean was also a co-founder of Bubble Sports, a sports & team building company in Malaysia.
Jin Ee supports founder scouting and program at Antler. With prior experience in marketing and a deep interest in Web3, he brings key insights to his role, helping drive the growth of innovative startups. Jin Ee holds an MBA from Xiamen University, Malaysia, and a degree in International Economics and Trade from Fuzhou University, China.
Eugene is an Investment & Portfolio Associate at Antler Southeast Asia, where he focuses on pre-seed and seed investments across AI/ML, developer tools, and vertical SaaS. He brings a unique operator-investor lens from his time as Product Lead at Wagely, where he scaled the user base, product, and established the company's growth function to Series A. Prior to this, Eugene built and launched BCG's global fintech intelligence platform and incubated corporate ventures at FutureLabs Ventures and Wright Partners, including dealcierge.io which was recently acquired.
Ryan Thoo is the marketing lead for Antler in Southeast Asia. He manages the firm's brand and marketing performance in the region as well as coach founders in early-stage growth and marketing. Former Marketing Director at PropertyGuru, the leading Proptech company in Southeast Asia, where he was part of the core team to drive the organization from Series B to market leadership and IPO. During that journey, Ryan contributed towards scaling up their Marketplaces business across SEA, building up their FinTech arm, and driving Web3 innovation for PropTech.
Audrey supports the financial operations of South East Asia as a financial Associate. She has an understanding of financial systems that stem further than the basics, previously working first hand on finances in Singapore’s hospitality industry. Audrey is also currently pursuing her ACCA studies to gain her Chartered Certified Accountant qualification. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Accountancy and Financial Management.
Keith heads the Finance function in Antler Southeast Asia and is in charge of the financial and tax reporting and compliance of the SEA fund and the local Antler entity. He has more than 20 years of working experience in both the public and private sectors covering industries from real estate, sports, defence and research. Prior to joining Antler, he spent 13 years with a multi-national real estate company which specializes in fund and asset management, real estate development and resort operations.