GO FURTHER, FASTER WITH ANTLER IN THE UK
We back the UK’s most ambitious founders with up to £500,000 at inception and pre-seed. Eight weeks in London, surrounded by outliers, guided by partners who’ve built companies themselves. No hand-holding, no startup bootcamp — a path to capital, conviction, and a network that makes you move.
London
Build with Outliers
Work alongside exceptional founders who raise the bar. Find your co-founder, pressure-test your vision, and form teams ready to win.
Unfair Access
Tap into a global network of operators, advisors, and investors — with hands-on support from people who’ve built and scaled before you.
Raise with Confidence
We invest early and double down if you deliver. More than 80% of Antler companies raise further funding within nine months of our backing.
From Day Zero to Global
Start with £210k. Scale with up to £25M. With Antler, you’re plugged into six continents from day zero.
WHO IS ANTLER IN THE UK FOR?
Founders with resilience, pace, and ambition. Whether solo or in an early team, our London residency is an eight-week sprint designed to get you further, faster. If you’re here to explore, don’t apply.
The next Antler residency in the UK starts September 23, 2026.
Fewer than 1% make it in. You’ll meet our partners, demonstrate insights and prove you can execute fast, then show why you belong. All while having the support of Antler as an investor while we earn our equity. Apply early — places go fast.
Download the Founder Brief:
The Residency
Eight weeks. 80–100 outliers. Intense, full-time building. Once we invest in you at the end of the residency, we sprint with you for another 10–12 weeks while you build and raise.
Sign up below to learn about our weekly Ask-Me-Anything sessions with a partner:
Investment
£210k at inception (£125k for 8.5% equity + £85k convertible note, plus a £40k program fee). Access up to £330k more in your next round and up to £25M through Antler Elevate. Over 80% of our founders raise further within nine months.
Sign up below to access our documents, then join an Ask-Me-Anything session with a partner to learn more:
Coming to Antler as a former Barrister with a hunch and limited entrepreneurial experience, I was confident to take a leap and launch a new chapter in my career. Antler’s residency guided me through identifying my motivations, refining my ideas, and launching my first business. Their support, contact book for fundraising, and long-term accessibility have given Gladys an unrivalled advantage.
Starting your entrepreneurial journey involves solving multiple, fragmented challenges, ranging from finding your co-founder to securing early financial support. Antler integrates all these elements into one seamless journey.
Antler was instrumental in turning Capsa AI from an idea into reality. Their backing gave us the confidence, network, and capital to move fast—helping us refine our GTM, secure funding, and scale with private equity firms. For any founder looking to take the leap, Antler provides the right mix of support and challenge to make it happen.
Antler removes the fear of the unknown. They surround you with founders as ambitious as you are. They demystify the process around validating an idea, creating a company, working with venture capital and securing investment— they have accelerated my journey in a way I never could have done alone. Their continuous support has been crucial to our scaling and success so far.
The brilliant thing about Antler is that it gives you an unfair advantage from the very start of building your business. You can build deep and strong relationships with co-founders and benefit from the scaffolding of expertise, skills and credibility of the Antler network and eco-system.
Outliers backed by Antler in the UK are raising fast and building what’s next.
We’re one of the world’s most active inception-stage investors, part of a global platform that has backed thousands of exceptional founders from day zero. In the UK, over 80% of Antler companies raise further funding within nine months — proof that momentum here turns into outcomes.
120+
Investments in the UK
>50%
of founders raise further funds within 18 months of Antler’s backing
$113M+
raised by founders in Antler’s portfolio in the UK
$633M+
valuation of Antler’s portfolio of UK companies
FREQUENTLY —ASKED QUESTIONS
No. Antler is an inception-stage VC. You’ll get the earliest capital, hands-on guidance from partners who’ve built companies, and access to a global founder network — without the “school program” feel of accelerators or incubators.
We commit up to £500K at inception - and have the capital to back you all the way.
When you're accepted into the Antler residency, you qualify for an investment up to £500K in the first 9 months post incorporation into your company. The terms are committed on Day Zero. The decision to invest is made during the residency - if you're building something exceptional, we move fast.
Read about our investment terms here.
Antler is looking for outliers. Here’s what that means.
We back founders who are wired differently - the kind of people who must build, who don’t wait for permission, and who can turn nothing into something fast.
Some join with an MVP in motion. Others start from scratch and find a co-founder during the residency. Stage matters less than trajectory - how fast you move and how much you raise the bar.
Across backgrounds, we look for four things:
- Drive – A level of urgency and ownership most people simply don’t have
- Grit – Not the performative kind - the real kind, where you keep going long after it stops being fun
- Spike – You’re exceptional at something. Could be commercial instinct, storytelling, technical depth, leadership, or attracting top talent - but it’s visible, and it makes you dangerous
- Commitment – You’re all in. This isn’t a side project. No freelancing. No safety nets.
Our founders span a wide range. Many have 10+ years of experience and have built or led teams at scale. Some have started multiple companies before. Others are earlier in their careers but already moving like outliers - the kind of people who rally others, who ship fast, who learn faster.
We’re highly selective. Only <1% of applicants are invited to join the residency. It’s not for everyone - but if you’re serious about building something massive, this is the place to start.
We’re industry-agnostic. Our portfolio includes companies in AI, fintech, healthtech, climate, and deeptech. What matters is solving meaningful problems in big markets. We invest in founders first, not sectors.
Yes. You’ll get the most out of Antler when you’re all-in. Momentum compounds when you’re fully focused. Founders usually spend 4–6 days a week in person with their cohort during your residency.
Expect to move further, faster.
You'll increase the pace you're already building at, plus with more structure around you, and a room full of founders pushing just as hard. That combination is what makes things move faster.
You'll join a tightly selected cohort of outliers, fewer than 1% of everyone who applies, building full-time from Antler UK's offices in London.
There are two tracks, depending on your setup:
- Founders with complete teams typically join for 6 weeks with an immediate start, focused on building, tightening execution, and accelerating progress.
- Solo founders or incomplete teams join for up to 8 weeks with a set start date, using the early phase to shape direction and founder dynamics, while continuing to build hard.
We invest earlier and move straight into building together if the conviction is there. Whichever track you join, the expectation doesn't change: you're here to build something serious.
Founders can expect:
- Free office space — You're in the room, full-time, with other founders pushing just as hard.
- Full focus on building — No distractions. Support comes from partners who've built companies themselves, focused on keeping you on what matters — not on teaching. This is not a startup school.
- Potential co-founders — For those looking to strengthen their team, you'll meet a highly curated group of founders with diverse and complementary backgrounds.
- Resources — The same calibre of partner perks as a16z and YC, across infrastructure, tools, ops, legal advice, and more.
- Community & network — At day zero, warm intros are everything: first hires, early customers, pivotal investors. You'll tap into a network of exceptional peers and Antler's own global reach from day one.
- And the residency is only the beginning — We back the UK's most ambitious founders with up to £500,000 at inception and pre-seed, and the real work only starts once that happens.
You might arrive with a product live and a team in place, or solo and still shaping the idea. Either is fine, we're not selecting on where you start. We're selecting on what happens once you're here. Some founders in every cohort don't make it through to investment. That's deliberate.
We don’t invest in solo founders. Most people join Antler solo, but the goal of the residency is to form a complementary founding team. You’ll meet potential co-founders, test dynamics, and build your company together.
Our next UK residency starts September 22, 2026 in London. It runs for up to eight weeks, in person. If you’re invited to the Investment Committee, a build-and-raise phase will follow lasting up to 12 weeks.
We back outliers — founders with the resilience, energy, and ambition to build category-defining companies. We look for four traits:
• Velocity — You move fast and deliver results.
• Magnetism — You attract talent, customers, and investors.
• Relentlessness — You push through obstacles to reach ambitious goals.
• Spike — A rare skill, deep expertise, or unique insight that sets you apart.
Learn more about what we're looking for in the scouting process here.
Highly. We back fewer than 1% of applicants. That means you’ll be surrounded by exceptional peers.
Antler is the first investor. We back founders at inception — often pre-team, pre-product, or pre-revenue. If you’ve already raised a meaningful pre-seed round, you’re likely too far along for our residency.
That said, many successful Antler founders joined with elements already in place — an MVP, early customers, or a team. What matters is whether Antler can still be catalytic: helping you build momentum, form the right team, and raise your first significant round faster than you could alone.
Founders must either have the right to work in the UK or be actively working on a visa application by their first interview. If we make an offer and your visa isn’t secured yet, onboarding will be delayed until you obtain a visa or endorsement (such as a Global Talent Visa). If the visa isn’t secured by the end of Week Two, your offer will be deferred to the next residency if the issue is resolved.
If we invest, you’ll join the Antler portfolio with:
• A dedicated investor to meet with regularly and a partner once in a team
• Access to our global founder network and early-stage VC partners
• £3M+ in perks from AWS, Google, OpenAI and more
• Office space in Central London
• Tailored support to refine your roadmap and raise your next round
If we don’t invest, you’ll still be part of the Antler community for life — with events, perks, and chances to reapply or join portfolio companies.
Apply now for Antler in the uk
The best founders don’t wait. If you’re serious about creating a category-defining company, Antler gives you the capital, network, and accountability to go further, faster.
MEET OUR TEAM
Adam is a Partner at Antler, co-leading the UK fund. He is a Founding Partner and Chair of Houghton Street Ventures, a pre-seed and seed fund investing in alumni of the London School of Economics and a Non-Executive Director at Innovate Finance, the UK industry body for fintech. Previously, he was the Co-Founder and CEO of Scalable Capital, a fintech unicorn valued at $1.4 billion, backed by BlackRock, Tencent, and Hedosophia, as he recognized the opportunity to build a business to make investing more accessible, more convenient and more cost-effective by using technology. Earlier in his career, Adam served as an Executive Director of Trading at Goldman Sachs.
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Hannah brings over a decade of experience in the tech ecosystem, playing key roles in launching and scaling startups, developing products, and advising on fundraising strategy. Previously, she served as a Venture Partner at Antler UK and was a founding General Partner at Houghton Street Ventures, focusing on pre-seed and seed-stage investments globally. She is also a recognised leader in ESG within venture capital, having founded VentureESG and now serving as its Executive Chairwoman—a nonprofit supporting over 700 VCs and LPs with ESG integration. With a robust background as a founder, innovator, and investor, Hannah has built an extensive network that drives strategic growth for portfolio companies.
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Jed Rose is a Partner at Antler and brings operator, advisor, and investor experience from Seed to Series C rounds. He was the GM of EMEA with Airwallex, a B2B fintech payments unicorn that is backed by investors such as Sequoia and DST Global. Prior to Antler and Airwallex, Jed was CEO at Paymentsense, where he led the fintech startup through a period of rapid growth with EBITDA growing from breakeven to £24m in just three years and to an exit. Prior to Paymentsense, Jed did product management for Microsoft Windows for six years where he focused on B2C, international expansion, and product pilots. Jed received a B.Sc. with Honours in Symbolic Systems from Stanford University and an MBA from the University of Cambridge.
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Sarah is a Associate Partner at Antler. Having previously worked with Antler in Berlin, where she was a key part of Antler's operations in DACH and Eastern Europe, Sarah now leads supporting Antler's growing portfolio in the UK. Sarah brings experience from her previous roles in finance, early-stage technology companies, and venture capital, and she is an avid sports fan and world traveller.
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Darren is a Vice President of Founder Experience at Antler’s London office and oversees our scouting and residency. Darren has over eight years of experience working with tech startups, helping them go to market and secure investment. He previously worked as Head of Innovation at Unbound, connecting 100s of startups with global corporations at events such as Unbound London, FinTech Abu Dhabi and Innovfest Unbound in Singapore. Darren has also worked at the UK’s leading advanced digital technology innovation centre, Digital Catapult, where he helped establish their first accelerators.
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Richard is a Principal in the UK, leading the sourcing and evaluation of investment opportunities and supporting founders through the residency and in the portfolio. He previously built the UK's direct investment function from scratch to over 3k companies assessed and 20 investments closed in three years. Before joining Antler, Richard was helping Israeli startups raise early stage funding from UK and US investors. He also has experience in investment banking and as an actuarial consultant.
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Bazil has over 10 years of experience as a founder and operator in venture-backed companies, focusing on digital health. Bazil was the founder and CEO of Breakthrough Health, maker of Emilyn - the #1 Multiple sclerosis (MS) patient support app. Breakthrough was acquired by Mymee, a New York-based personalised care company, where Bazil served as VP of Business Development. He previously worked at ResearchGate, the world's largest professional network for scientists, and was an EIR at Atlantic Labs, an early-stage VC.
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Rakesh is Finance Manager at Antler, supporting investment and capital teams to drive investments, and founders during and after the investment process. He has previously worked as Finance manager for a PE backed multinational company, helping their European segment double its turnover to £50m in three years. Rakesh has an MBA from the City, University of London and an ACCA qualification.
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Antler portfolio companies raise capital from other leading VCs
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