Build your company with Antler at our European Hub in Amsterdam, Netherlands
Basing yourself in Amsterdam in The Netherlands, our Continental Europe residency runs twice a year for 6-10 weeks - in March and September - designed to promote early stage formation and enable founders to secure pre-seed funding. You also have the option to base yourself in Germany, in either Berlin or Munich as part of the same residency.
Whether you are a solo founder or already in a team apply to our next residency on the 31st of March.
Build your company with Antler at our European Hub in Amsterdam, Netherlands
Basing yourself in Amsterdam in The Netherlands, our Continental Europe residency runs twice a year for 6-10 weeks - in March and September - designed to promote early stage formation and enable founders to secure pre-seed funding. You also have the option to base yourself in Germany, in either Berlin or Munich as part of the same residency.
Whether you are a solo founder or already in a team apply to our next residency on the 31st of March.
Join an exceptional community : Surround yourself with like-minded peers to share insights, find co-founders, hold each other accountable, and build a support network.
This is not a startup school. We work with you on what matters most to move as fast as possible. We don’t fill your calendar with generic content sessions.
We provide access to hundreds of thousands of dollars of cloud credits, access to a world-class global network, and 1on1 coaching from people who have built major companies.
We invest pre-seed and provide follow-on funding up to Series C
What to expect when joining Antler
In Continental Europe we run a 6-10 weeks residency twice a year - in March and September - designed to promote early stage formation and enable founders to secure pre-seed funding in either Munich, Berlin and Amsterdam
Form and Validate
We start with venture development and testing your startup hypotheses. You will be surrounded with everything you need to build at lightning speed: a community of diverse founders so that you can find the right co-founder, coaching from our team of proven founders and advisors, and perks from partners and a global network.
Build and pitch your company
Talk to customers, develop your MVP, refine your business model, and develop your go-to-market strategy. You will get the opportunity to pitch your startup to Antler’s Investment Committee. If successful, Antler will commit €300,000 at Day Zero and we will continue to invest in follow-on rounds up to €20M.
Scale and fundraise
You will join the Antler portfolio and receive continued support and access to a global capital pathway as well as other services (ex. Global advisor network) and perks (OpenAI credit, Google Cloud, AWS credits, Airtable, Wework discounts & more).
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 are neither an accelerator nor an incubator, we’re a day-zero investor. We help founders brainstorm, develop and validate ideas and start scaling their start-ups with us. Additionally, we continue to support our founders throughout their whole start-up journey.
Day zero investing means backing founders from the very beginning—whether it’s pre-team or even pre-idea—and continuing to support them on their company’s journey. We are there when a founder is at the starting line, when everything is possible and nothing is certain. When they have made the life-changing decision to take the leap and build a company, leaving conventional career paths behind. When their belief, passion, and drive are often the only things fueling them. And we are still there after we make our first investment, as a long-term partner providing advice, introductions, resources, and follow-on funding—all the way to their exit.
We are industry agnostic. We invest in exceptional people building scalable companies. However, we do not invest in alcohol, tobacco or gambling.
Our industry partners may provide problem statements they would like to solve, and the Antler team and mentors will help find the right area and business model to work in, but we don’t believe in providing ready-made ideas for you to work on. Ultimately this will be up to you and your co-founder(s)!
Yes. Please consider your current notice period, plus the personal and financial investment starting a business requires.
Yes. We fully believe in meeting each other in person to develop meaningful relationships. You can incorporate your company anywhere.
No, you don't. Some founders have a clear idea of what they want to build, however, most join us with areas of interest and expertise they then start to explore.
Our terms are non-negotiable. Any further investment would be distinct from Antler’s investment and subject to new terms.
Every cohort member in Berlin and Munich receives a EUR 1,000 grant.
Depending on the kind of residency you are opting for, we have different requirements. During the main 7/11-week program, we require your physical presence in our Amsterdam, Berlin, or Munich offices.
Yes, we even encourage this. However, we require you to work from the same location for a significant amount of time.
We will facilitate virtual meet-ups with additional optional meetings in person. You will also work in the same virtual workspaces and be in one community Slack channel.
Besides working alongside like-minded founders, you’ll spend your time developing and iterating on your ideas, conducting customer discovery and research, beta testing as quickly as possible, and building your product roadmap and go-to-market strategy The Antler team will provide guidance and sparring sessions, organize challenges, social sessions, and speaker series with industry experts, coaches, and successful founders. At the end of the program, teams present to our Investment Committee.
Most Antler teams consist of two to three co-founders.
Antler has more than 1,000+ companies in its portfolio.
Antler specialises in bringing the most exceptional people together and enabling them to build a great startup. Our cohort members are often pre-team, pre-idea and pre-funding. Furthermore, we promote diversity at every level: background, career stage and skills.
Yes, but only one location at a time will consider your application.
Antler commits €300K into startups at Day Zero. The first €100K is in return for 10% of the business. The other €200K is a binding commitment (signed at Day Zero) to the startup’s pre-seed funding round within the following months at the round’s terms.
The binding commitment of €200K is referred to as ARC (Agreement for Rolling Capital). To avoid excess dilution in small funding rounds, Antler will match every Euro raised from professional investors with 50 Cents, up until a total investment of €200K.
This means that we will invest €100K at Day Zero for 10% (subject to dilution in next round) and €200K committed at Day Zero as part of your following round within the coming 9 months at the round’s valuation, e.g. at €10 mn post money valuation.
Further, Antler has the capital to continue backing its portfolio companies from day zero through to Series C.
While our program does not provide direct assistance in finding an apartment, we offer valuable insights and tips to help you find suitable accommodation. Our goal is to make your transition as smooth as possible by sharing resources and guidance based on our experience and local knowledge.
Apply to Antler in Continental Europe
By founders for founders, our team is made up of entrepreneurs and early-stage experts
Take a look at the exceptional companies we have supported
Antler is the most active day-zero in the world with a strong European footprint
Pathzero
clare&me
Antler portfolio companies raise capital from other leading VCs
Antler Europe 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.
Ronald Jan is an experienced operator, entrepreneur and investor, with expertise in a.o. e-commerce, fintech and healthtech. He has spent over a decade with various C-level roles in tech startups including Rocket Internet and Delivery Hero. Previously he has been a strategy consultant at Booz & Co and an investment banker at ABN Amro. INSEAD educated.
Alan Poensgen, now Partner at Antler, formerly co-founder at Westwing, a pan-European home & living e-commerce business, where he spent seven years as part of the executive team and saw the company go public in 2018. He also led a Southeast Asian e-commerce venture backed by Rocket Internet, NEA and others and was part of the early Rocket Internet core team based out of Berlin building out their global product development teams.
As Partner in Central Europe, Christoph supports exceptional entrepreneurs along their journey - from entering into a cohort to building and scaling their ventures successfully. He draws on his background as Business Angel and Partner with McKinsey & Company. Before joining Antler he served a range of leading technology organizations, amongst others from the mobility and transportation space, on disruptive strategy and building innovative business models. Building and nurturing top talent organizations is one of his key passions and a great source of inspiration for Christoph.
Dr. Saskia Appelhoffis a global marketer, entrepreneur and growth leader with 15 years of experience covering all areas of marketing. Saskia has worked internationally across Europe and USA focusing on growing teams and efficiently scaling businesses. Passionate about building purpose-driven brands and companies. Advising start-up focusing on Food & Health Tech and sustainability. Previous brands that she has worked for include Zalando, raisin, SmileDirectClub, Outfittery, Wooga, navabi, blablacar among others.
Niko was previously a partner at McKinsey, where he was a core member of the Retail & Consumer Goods Practice and led the store ops practice in EMEA. He left McKinsey in 2019 to build his own business, eagle lsp, a legal service provider focusing on tech-enabled, scalable solution in mass litigation and e-Discovery. His first Angel investments include successful Y-Combinator applications.
Frederik kickstarted his career at the BCG and later worked as an operator and investor in the venture space. Having studied Philosophy and Management in Hamburg, London & Barcelona and working in a big variety of different fields - from football clubs to FemTech - he’s a generalist at heart and incredibly eager to support founding teams from day 0.
Matteo is a former entrepreneur and an experienced professional in consultancy and recruitment. After a BSc in Economics and Management from Bocconi University and an MSc in Finance from VU Amsterdam, Matteo started his career in Huxley as a Recruitment Consultant for tech and financial roles within banking and fintech organizations mostly in the Netherlands and Italy. His passion for startups and innovations led him to create his own AI startup in the hr-tech domain, bynd.ai, and to start working alongside founders to support them on their journey.
With a degree from WU Vienna and a strong foundation in the startup ecosystem, she has previously played pivotal roles in driving strategic growth and expansion. Through her positions at N26, Trade Republic, and FORMEL Skin, she has gained extensive exposure to various verticals, allowing her to develop a comprehensive understanding of the complexities involved in driving startup success. Now she will leverage her skills and collaborate with the exceptional founders who are joining us at Antler.
Job’s career unfolded through internships at ASML, Kempen, and Torqx Capital Partners. He holds a double Master’s degree in Applied Physics and Management Engineering (cum laude) from TU Delft, with an honours term in Artificial Intelligence at Stanford. During this term, he played a pivotal role in the inception of an AI startup in Silicon Valley. In addition to giving several guest lectures on AI, his curiosity regularly leads him digging into all sorts of domains, from deep tech to B2B SaaS to consumer.
Sophie is the Operations & Outreach Associate at Antler in France, responsible for increasing visibility and sourcing top founders. Previously, she was a Digital Transformation consultant at McKinsey and developed her marketing strategy expertise at Société Générale and EY. She holds a degree in Digital Strategy and Business from ESSEC and ESCP Business School.
As Capital Director Fabian is responsible for securing capital and manages investor relations in the DACH-region. Previously he spent significant time within the media company Bertelsmann´s German advertising sales business. In his last role he led operations for a number of industry sectors as well as brands. Fabian graduated from University of St. Gallen with a Masters in International Affairs and Governance.
