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HO CHI MINH, Vietnam, Jan. 21, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Antler, the global early-stage venture capital firm, today announced its continued commitment to backing exceptional founders, after closing 96 deals totaling over $12.5 million across Southeast Asia in 2024 despite challenging market conditions, maintaining a steady investment pace comparable to 104 deals in 2023, worth over $12.6 million. Over the past two years, Antler has completed 200 deals across the region, deploying a total of $25 million.
In Vietnam specifically, Antler deployed $2.2 million across 21 early-stage investments in 2024, maintaining consistent investment momentum following 19 investments in 2023 totalling $1.9 million. This brings the firm’s cumulative investments in Vietnam over the past two years to 40 deals, with a total of $4.1 million deployed.
The firm’s Southeast Asian portfolio companies have demonstrated remarkable resilience since Antler’s inception, collectively securing more than $350 million in follow-on funding, underlining the strength of its investment thesis and founder selection.
The firm’s sustained investment activity comes amid a significant contraction in Southeast Asia’s funding landscape. According to Tracxn’s latest report, the region’s tech funding plunged 59 percent year-on-year to $2.84 billion in 2024, marking an 80 percent decline from $14.2 billion in 2022. Despite this challenging environment, Antler has maintained its commitment to early-stage investing as identifying and backing founders who demonstrate strong fundamentals early in their journey has proven more critical than ever.
Building on this momentum, Antler will aim to deploy $20 million across Southeast Asia, including Vietnam, in the first half of 2025, reinforcing its position as a key catalyst in the startup ecosystem. As the earliest institutional investors in the region, Antler’s initial capital, global platform, and network of advisors and investors have been instrumental in helping founders build companies that now form a significant part of Southeast Asia’s technology landscape.
To accelerate funding and provide tailored support for Vietnam’s early-stage startups, Antler has launched a new initiative offering teams with at least two co-founders a unique four-to-eight-week residency program. Startups in the early stages of building can gain access to a global network of advisors, connect with potential customers, validate their business models using proven frameworks, and pitch for institutional funding.
To further strengthen its support for founders from inception through growth, Antler continues to offer its recently introduced ARC (Agreement for Rolling Capital) initiative. This funding structure enables early-stage founders to secure up to $600,000, including initial investment, pro-rata follow-on, and ARC, within the first six to nine months of a company’s lifecycle.
Crunchbase has previously indicated a notable shift in investor focus toward early-stage opportunities, with deal volumes showing greater resilience compared to later stages. This trend has been particularly pronounced in Southeast Asia, where digital adoption continues to accelerate across key markets.
Antler’s portfolio has shown strong traction across various sectors, from enterprise software to fintech, sustainability, and next-gen consumer technology. As AI in particular continues to reshape the technology landscape, Antler has observed a surge in founders leveraging it across various industries.
Erik Jonsson, Partner of Antler Vietnam, commented, "In today’s market, the ability to focus on building strong, sustainable foundations has never been more critical. Despite the challenging market environment, we’ve seen founders tackling some of the region’s most pressing problems with innovative, capital-efficient solutions from Vietnam. With the latest capability of AI, we are excited to partner with founders who are using creativity and deep domain expertise to build businesses with strong, defensible moats. These founders aren’t just building companies—they’re laying the foundation for a more innovative and competitive Vietnam that can thrive on a global stage."
According to CB Insights, early-stage investments in AI-enabled startups have shown particular resilience, with deal volumes remaining steady despite broader market fluctuations. Antler’s portfolio reflects this trend, with an increasing number of founders integrating AI capabilities into their core solutions.
Founded on the belief that people innovating is key to building a better future, Antler has invested in more than 1,400 startups across six continents, with notable Southeast Asian investments including global e-SIM marketplace Airalo, platform for refurbished electronic devices Reebelo, smart point-of-sale system provider Qashier, AI-driven financial data automation platform fileAI, and modern expense management solution Volopay.
With offices in this region including Singapore, Jakarta, Ho Chi Minh, and Kuala Lumpur, Antler is actively seeking exceptional individuals and early-stage startups to support from day zero through every stage of their growth journey.
About Antler
Antler is the investor backing the world’s most driven founders from day zero to greatness. Founded on the belief that people innovating is the key to building a better future, we partner with people across six continents to launch and scale high-potential startups that address meaningful opportunities and challenges. Knowing that exceptional founders can come from anywhere with any background, we have offices in more than 30 cities around the world, including Singapore, Jakarta, Ho Chi Minh, Kuala Lumpur, New York, London, Berlin, Stockholm, Bangalore, Seoul, Tokyo, Sydney, and more. Our global community backs people from the beginning with co-founder matching, deep business model validation, initial capital, expansion support, and follow-on funding. Fueled by a personal passion that goes beyond traditional investing, we have helped create and invest in more than 1,400 startups across a wide range of industries and technologies, with the goal of backing more than 6,000 by 2030.
For more information, please visit https://www.antler.co/
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