WELCOME TO ANTLER INSIGHTS

Antler’s new report, The Path to Series A in Germany, is one of the most comprehensive studies of German tech funding ever conducted.

Starting up has never been easier. Succeeding has never been harder. Here's what the data says separates the founders who raise from the ones who don't.

Antler's latest report is one of the largest studies of tech founders in Europe. We have analyzed 209 European unicorns, 551 unicorn founders, 4,129 Series A founders, and 81,055 individual funding rounds since 2000 to uncover a dramatic shift in the region's venture ecosystem.

Software encodes process. AI changes who can do the encoding but it doesn't change the need for someone to know what should be encoded.

If you are founding a startup in 2026, you are living in a paradox. It has never been easier to build a product, yet it has never been harder to build a thriving business.

The strongest founders in Europe don’t need a long runway to explore - they need a short, intense window to ship, prove signal, and move decisively toward scaling. Antler TRINITY is our new, highly selective 3-week sprint in Berlin built for exactly these.

Technical founders, AI-native teams, and relentless speed are reshaping how Europe builds billion-dollar companies.

How German founders are building globally competitive companies despite economic headwinds.

Many founders get the concept of traction wrong. The problem isn’t how much revenue you have - it’s whether the growth pattern is reliable. Yes, if and how much you can raise depends on many factors beyond traction such as team background, sector attractiveness, storytelling ability, etc… (See "Ability To Raise Cheat Sheet" for a broader picture). But, once first revenues start to come in, traction becomes invariably a big part of the equation. ‍So how much traction do you need to be able to raise?

Antler's latest report is one of the largest studies of tech founders in Europe. We’ve analysed more than 3,000 unicorn founders and 60,000 founders at the inception of their journey, uncovering Europe's rapid growth in an AI era of execution.

Antler ONE will bring together the most ambitious and committed inception-stage founders and teams from across Europe.

A Conversation with Maveen, an experienced software engineer and cofounder of 913.ai

At Antler, we're always on the lookout for founders building groundbreaking technologies that have the potential to reshape industries. Our latest investment in Agenta.ai—a trailblazing company founded in our Berlin residency in June 2023—embodies this vision, representing a significant leap forward in the development and deployment of large language model (LLM) applications.

There are tons of different frameworks on what makes a good business idea. However, there is one point in particular that is tough to crack: “What if [Google] does it?”—i.e., if the big incumbent that is playing in the same or an adjacent market uses their vast resources to copy you, what chance do you even have? This is what in German we call a Totschlagargument, which in our loving and peaceful language translates roughly into “the argument with which you can beat anything to death”. And it is easy to dismiss the question because in so many cases startups have prevailed against much larger incumbents. But I believe a more nuanced view is needed. In reality, these incumbents pose a legitimate threat in many cases and they have ended countless hopeful startups. I discuss this topic frequently—both with founders considering whether to dedicate a decade of their life to something, and with colleagues when we’re thinking about being the first investor—but haven't found a great framework. Here are the key questions that help me wrap my head around this:

What will innovation look like as we move deeper into 2024? What are the biggest industry trends that will define the coming year? We asked our global network of Antler Operators—founders, sector leaders, CxOs, and VPs from companies including Roblox, Airtable, Shopify, Spotify, Affirm, DoorDash, Uber, Hubspot, and more, who offer 1:1 advice to Antler portfolio companies, giving them extra firepower to help fast-track their growth.

What's the Antler journey like? Find out from the team at Cooper Pet Care as they share their behind-the-scenes story from applying to Antler to becoming a portfolio company.

12 MINUTES with Antler founders gives a closer look into the journey of founders toward successfully building their ventures. Every first Wednesday of the month Alan Poensgen, Antler Partner in Germany, sits down with a founder of an Antler portfolio company and talks about their time at Antler, the team formation, the ideation process, and more.

12 MINUTES with Antler founders gives a closer look into the journey of founders toward successfully building their ventures. Every first Wednesday of the month Alan Poensgen, Antler Partner in Germany, sits down with a founder of an Antler portfolio company and talks about their time at Antler, the team formation, the ideation process, and more.

What a day! On Wednesday 28th June all of Antler portfolio companies met up together with more than 150 investors, other founders, and executives. It was a day full of inspiration, insightful conversations, and a great opportunity to keep the spirits up when the times for start-ups are hard. After the panel discussion led by Christopher Klink, partner at Antler Germany, where Emilia Theye, co-founder of Clare&Me, Tore Myrholt, Chairman of the Board at Antler, and Emma Tracey, CEO at Scéal shared their insights and perspectives on the early-stage ecosystem in the region and beyond as well as gave advice to founders and investors. They also concluded that despite hard times, there is a lot of light and positive expectations for the years to come!

Through residencies in Lisbon and Madrid, Antler in Iberia works with founders from day zero of their startup growth journey. After investment from Antler, our portfolio companies work with the Antler team to unlock continued growth and scale. As partners from the earliest stage, we’re proud to reveal our first portfolio companies. ‍ You'll see a diverse group of founders. There's a software developer who previously worked for NASA, a second-time founder who has previously raised over 200 million USD, and others who are addressing a wide range of issues with their companies. Among them are builders of a goals-based social app and an all-in-one solution for car repair shop management. The founders are incredibly talented, and we're thrilled to support them.

12 MINUTES with Antler Founders gives a closer look into the journey of founders toward successfully building their ventures. Every first Wednesday of the month Alan Poensgen, Antler Partner in Germany, sits down with a founder of an Antler portfolio company and talks about their time at Antler, the team formation, the ideation process, and more.

Antler was founded on the belief that people innovating is the key to building a better future. In our content series—”It All Starts with People”—we spotlight the exceptional founders we have the privilege of partnering with around the world. Each story is a window into their passions, motivations, and vision—the reasons they are building and the positive dent they are aiming to make on the world. This time we sat down with Theo Chervinskii, an engineer who found his passion in robotics, to talk about his journey and why he decided to build his company with Antler in Berlin.

“How much can I realistically raise?” I hear this question a lot from our founders. The answer is especially tough for the very first funding rounds before a lot has been built. The spread in the pre-seed and seed rounds is massive. Some teams can raise millions with nothing but a pitch deck, while others struggle to close a hundred thousand euros from angel investors. Since we are usually the very first investors, we discuss this a lot with our founders. So, I have come up with a simplified framework to give some directional guidance. The framework is most certainly not scientific and you will find exceptions all over the place, but I believe it is directionally right for the Berlin Ecosystem in 2023. So let’s dig into it.

Antler was founded on the belief that people innovating is the key to building a better future. In our content series—”It All Starts with People”—we spotlight the exceptional founders we have the privilege of partnering with around the world. Each story is a window into their passions, motivations, and vision—the reasons they are building and the positive dent they are aiming to make on the world. This time we sat down with Daniel Nguyen, an engineer turned McKinsey consultant, to talk about his journey and why he decided to build his company with Antler in Berlin.

Spain and Portugal have implemented fresh laws aiming to foster the expansion of their respective startup ecosystems. These legislations introduce novel approaches toward stock options, provide tax deductions for investors, offer corporate tax incentives, acknowledge crowdfunding as a viable financing option, and grant income tax exemptions.

Antler was founded on the belief that people innovating is the key to building a better future. In our content series— "It All Starts with People"—we spotlight the exceptional founders we have the privilege of partnering with around the world. Each story is a window into their passions, motivations, and vision—the reasons they are building and the positive dent they are aiming to make in the world. ‍ This time we sat down with Charlotte Apperloo to talk about her journey and why she decided to build her company with Antler in Berlin.

Silvain joined Antler after four years as a CTO at Sayduck, a Finnish company providing services for e-commerce and enhancing interactive shopping experience through displaying 3D products on their websites. Silvain helped to shape the company strategy and played a pivotal role during the acquisition of Sayduck by the Swedish Goodbye Kansas Group. However, he was missing a deeper sense of purpose as the company was “not solving any pressing issue” as he explained in our interview. Therefore, he decided to leave the company and started making the first steps toward building his own company. A company with a significant positive impact on the climate, planet, and people. ‍ However, this was harder than expected, and even though he met many talented people, there was always something missing – not the right match, timing, or diverse expectations. Struggling to find the right co-founder he joined Antler. Now, he and his co-founder René are building NeoCarbon and are on a mission to tackle climate change using Direct Air Capture.

The Antler residency is a unique opportunity to get together with 60+ other founders eager to build life-changing ventures. No matter how well you prep, it is impossible to be completely prepared for what can be truly transformational. The important thing is to be ready to fully immerse yourself, and take in everything you can during the experience. In this article, I’m outlining how to get the most out of the rollercoaster ride that is an Antler residency. As Co-Global Head of Program, having worked with 450+ founders during our eight latest residencies in Amsterdam, I have a few tips to share.

Antler, the world's day zero investor, has launched its first program in Iberia to provide funding, mentorship, and ongoing support to the exceptional founders building companies that will shape the world of tomorrow. The first cohort of Antler’s Iberian residency, which started in January 2023, includes 60 founders from 27 different geographies with a range of backgrounds and experiences.

"The future is not some place we are going to, but one we are creating. The paths are not to be found, but made, and the activity of making them changes both the maker and the destination." —John H. Schaar

Antler was founded on the belief that people innovating is the key to building a better future. In our content series—”It All Starts with People”—we spotlight the exceptional founders we have the privilege of partnering with around the world. Each story is a window into their passions, motivations, and vision—the reasons they are building and the positive dent they are aiming to make on the world. This time we sat down with Stephen Scott to talk about why he decided to build his company with Antler in Berlin.

Our baby, UpMarket, is already two months old. It’s been an incredible experience from the point I joined Antler as a founder, only a few months ago, to now being ready to go live with our product and first customer. In this article I will share my experience on the rollercoaster that started with an idea I originally came up with during dinner.

We’re thrilled to bring day zero investing to Munich as we open the doors of our new office and host our first founder residency in September 2023. After having been in the DACH ecosystem since 2021, it was clear that adding an office in Munich would only be a question of "when"-not "if". Antler's new Munich office will plug right into this dynamic ecosystem and be well-positioned to support the next generation of entrepreneurs in Central Europe. We look forward to seeing what exciting new ventures emerge from this city!

Antler was founded on the belief that people innovating is the key to building a better future. In our content series—”It All Starts with People”—we spotlight the exceptional founders we have the privilege of partnering with around the world. Each story is a window into their passions, motivations, and vision—the reasons they are building and the positive dent they are aiming to make on the world. This time we sat down with Filippo Nigro to talk about his journey and why he decided to build his company with Antler in Berlin.

As humans, we are always pushed into communal environments. It starts when you are a toddler and your parents drop you off at a kindergarten and ends with you signing up to a retirement home to spend your slower days playing Bingo with fellow retirees. This constant change and development of the communities around us, end up forming our personalities more than we would like to admit. In the first couple decades of our life it’s mostly about being practical–age and location are the determining factors of the communities around us. As we progress through life, we get to make more independent decisions which feel absolutely fantastic at first. But very quickly, we grow accustomed to that sense of freedom and we lose that tingling, childish sensation of excitement whenever a big change is coming up.

Find out more into why we backed Novo, a Berlin-based company disrupting the energy renovation industry. NOVO automates analysis, planning, and financing of energy renovation for real estate, with the goal of decarbonizing homes and tackling climate change.

Exploring the link between entrepreneurship and emotional intelligence with Rafael Urdaneta, DACH Head of Finance at Antler.

A conversation with Samira Scheerer, ex-consultant who’s following her vision of founding her own business.

As everyone anticipates the next wave of ultra-successful companies in Benelux, what does it take to get there? What do the successful founders of Benelux unicorns look like? This report is an in-depth look at the Benelux startup ecosystem and its brightest stars. And above all, it is for anyone who is helping build the next 50 unicorns in Benelux.

A conversation with Raj Kukreja, software developer, engineering manager and now working on finding the right solution.

Sitting down with Viktoria Prantauer: digital marketing expert, breast cancer survivor, and now working on making her mark on the world.

Antler’s seventh Amsterdam residency has officially kicked off! Are you ready to meet them? Here is more about who we invited to join the residency and what you need to know about this group of exceptional people.

The Iberian ecosystem is attracting attention in the startup world with a staggering number of unicorns—startup companies with a value of more than $1 billion—and new funds in the past year. The combination of talent, capital, and startup-friendly governance has created a breeding ground for innovation.

For the second consecutive year, we took a systematic look at the founders behind unicorn and soonicorn companies in the DACH region (Germany, Austria, and Switzerland). Just like in our inaugural DACH Unicorn Founder Roadmap released last year, we focus on the founders of the most valuable startups to better understand what makes these entrepreneurs and the companies they built so successful.

Antler Netherlands’ sixth cohort has kicked off in Amsterdam. Here’s more about who they are and what you need to know about this group of exceptional people.

Amsterdam Dance Event and Antler announced that the five-day long electronic music conference and festival and the early-stage venture capital investor have teamed up for the 2022 ADE & Antler Startup Competition.

Teo Ortega is a contrarian builder who is not afraid of deviating from what is considered common knowledge. He likes to take things apart and understand how they work and put them back together in a new way as a way to understand their fundamentals — a form of reverse engineering if you will.

Global early-stage VC Antler kicked off Q2 2022 in Berlin with their Portfolio Reveal Day on April 7th. As part of the second Berlin cohort, 8 teams took to the stage to showcase their innovation. The founders behind these startups work on addressing big challenges across Medtech🏥, Mental Health/Psychedelics🍄, HR Tech👩‍💼, Cleantech 🌊, Clean Energy⚡, Cybersecurity🔐 and in the Creator Economy🖼.

Antler Netherlands’ fifth cohort has kicked off in Amsterdam. Here’s more about who they are and what you need to know about this group of exceptional people.

This article is part of an Antler Berlin content series called ‘Call for Founders’. In this series, we will outline several exciting spaces in the startup and VC ecosystem that we see as opportunities ripe for venture creation. For this article we focus on marketplaces. These opportunities may emerge from an industry need, a trend, or indeed a prediction that we have had. If you like this series and you, or someone you know, is ready to build their own startup, apply to Antler.

A conversation with Gina Xydias Charmanta, MBA, entrepreneur, and former consultant.

A conversation with Rafael Alain Rolli, bioengineer and entrepreneur.

A conversation with Annika (Kreil) Breu, founder of OH MY! Fantasy and former Bain Consultant.

A conversation with Mikhail (Misha) Bragin, founder of WireTrustee.

Have you ever wondered who the most successful entrepreneurs are? What career paths they pursued, what network they tapped into, and whether these stereotypical rules still apply today if you want to build the next billion-dollar business? Taking a systematic look at the most exceptional founders of the 21st century in the DACH region, we have observed similar patterns that led up to founding a unicorn.

This article is part of a new Antler Berlin content series called 'Call for Founders'. In this series, we will outline several exciting spaces in the local startup and VC ecosystem that we see as opportunities ripe for venture creation. These opportunities may emerge from an industry need, a trend, or indeed a prediction that we have had.

A conversation with Tudor Mihailescu and Valentin Kassarnig, co-founders of SpeechifAI, Antler Amsterdam portfolio company.

The founder’s series takes a deep dive into the journey of Antler portfolio company founders and sheds light on the space they are building in. This week, we spoke to Mira Gleisberg, CEO & co-founder of RespiQ.

A conversation with Aleks Orlic, former co-founder of Penta

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.

Antler opens its office in Berlin to strengthen the local start-up ecosystem, promising pre-seed investment at unprecedented scale.Partners of the fund covering Germany and Central Europe are Alan Poensgen and Dr. Christoph Klink.

These six Antler-backed companies are now ready to tackle some of society’s toughest challenges through innovations such as revenue-based financing for SaaS startups, autonomous robots that handle meticulous farming tasks and software that maximizes the returns of building sites.

Environmentally conscious, commitment phobic, or just indecisive? In a market research survey conducted by Lab42 published by Adweek, most millenials today aged 18-38 prefer renting over purchasing goods. Today, thanks to the rise of rental subscription services ranging from clothing to furniture, tools to technology, millennials can now pick from best in class offerings and incur minimum cost for maximum gain, all while saving the environment. How's that for a mission?

“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.

Whoever said Science was organized knowledge most likely had a point. What is less organized is the immense volume of research that is annually conducted. 2.3 trillion US Dollars are spent globally on Research and Development in 2019. More shockingly, it still takes pharmaceuticals approximately 15 years to bring a drug to the market - despite the given funds. What if we told you there was a way to reduce not just costs but also time by up to 25%?

Math, Physics, Chemistry... Chances are high, it is one of these subjects that embodies the source of all evil for many students. The vast majority of parents who want to help their children excel in school and connect them with a private tutor are financially unable to do so. Enlight Ed CEO Artur Lorincz and CCO Sartou Djibril are dedicated to put an end to students falling behind in the curriculum solely because of the lack of access to educational help. Antler Amsterdam's Yingzhao Zhu got to chat with Artur and Sartou about their leading-edge approach to ending this battle of frustration.

If you were told that something as elementary, yet complex, as data has pushed oil from its throne as the world's most valuable resource, would you believe it? Data has indeed become such an essential part of our everyday lives that it is impossible for many to envision a world without it. Self-driving cars, diagnostic in medicine, security systems - they all rely on labeling data so it can be interpreted and decisions can be made accordingly. But what does data labeling actually mean? Put simply, it means that a computer is able to tell a dog apart from a car in images. Applied to medicine, this could mean that the computer was previously told what cancerous cells look like. Later, it is able to detect similar cells in new patients without the time-consuming manual reviews. The greatest challenge with data labeling is the unfathomable volume that it comes in. But no need to despair, LabelFuse is coming to the rescue, so beware.

"You have 3 months to start your company from scratch. You have to find your co-founder, pick a problem, and validate your solution with customers. If all goes well, you'll get 3 more months to complete building your MVP and generate traction before you pitch to investors. Ready? Go!"

Here we are, 2020. New year, new decade, new you right? Your resolution this year is the same as every year, to eat healthier and have a better diet. You've got the brown rice, chicken and green veg meal prepped for the next month and you're feeling good that you're going to stick to it this year. Thing is...What if that brown rice, chicken and veg is actually not responding well with your body?

People join Antler for many different reasons, but all come in with a common goal, "I want to build". In an era powered by the internet when successes all look the same, the initial steps of early-stage startups are one of it's most inspiring parts. Podcaster, Alex Chisnall sat down with 5 Antler entrepreneurs from Amsterdam on their motivations and entrepreneurial journeys in the latest episode of his "Screw it, just do it" podcast.

As the medical field keeps evolving with new emerging technologies, the future of medical care is prepared for constant and rapid change with advancements poised to make the industry even more human-focused than it is currently. Better trained physicians, improved accuracy in disease targeting coupled with improving medical standards globally have rendered most diseases no longer life-threatening.

In the coming weeks, we will be introducing our first Amsterdam cohort's startups. Today we will hear from the founders of RespiQ, a startup that is building a cutting edge, patent-pending technology based on proven science.

On November 13th, Antler held its first Demo Day in Amsterdam. This day is the finale of the 6 month long Antler program. The big moment for an entrepreneur who's been building a company with their heart and soul. The first time your company is unveiled to the world.

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...

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?

A majority of people want to start their own company but only a fraction of them do. Amsterdam partner Kim Oreskovic shares her story on becoming part of the next wave of tech and how Antler is solving the issues hindering people from starting businesses.

Last week Fortify founder, Paul Musters gave a presentation to the Antler cohort in Amsterdam about what it takes to build a successful startup team. His presentation covered many aspects including the 5 reasons for dysfunctional teams, psychological safety and more. Here are some of the biggest takeaways we found.

On August 18, 2018, I had a realization. It was the realization that another life-changing opportunity had fallen onto my path. Earlier in life in similar situations, I didn’t realize the ripple effects that a decision has over time.

In honour of International Women's Day, we want to highlight the importance of female presence in the working space. Therefore, we sat down for a chat with Saskia Rademaker, our recruitment director in Amsterdam, and asked her all about her vision on the importance of diversity.

Navigating the complexities of a venture capital (VC) term sheet can be a daunting task for both founders and investors. The document is often filled with industry-specific jargon and intricate legal terms that are crucial in defining the future relationship between the startup and its investors. Understanding these terms is vital, as they dictate key aspects of the partnership, including control, financial returns, and the distribution of power.