Singapore's Antler opens Korea office

Operations in India and Vietnam were launched in June with plans to raise a $50 million India fund. This built on a global footprint that now spans the US, UK, Germany, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands, and Kenya. An Australia presence was established in Sydney in 2019 and expanded to Melbourne earlier this year with the raising of a A$46 million ($34 million) Australia fund.

The Korean unit will be led by Jiho Kang, co-founder of service marketplace Soomgo, who is joining Antler as a partner with plans to invest in 100 companies in the first four years. Kang’s experience includes roles at internet conglomerate SK Planet and e-commerce platform Coupang. His blockchain start-up BxB was acquired last year by crypto exchange Binance.

“I’ve founded five start-ups during my career, and I understand how difficult it is in the very early days of getting an idea off the ground,” Kang said in a statement.

“I feel that many talented and high potential founders lack the network or the support they require to survive this early part of the journey and drop off because of pure circumstances. With Antler, we can make sure that such talented entrepreneurs don’t go unnoticed and get the chance to launch disruptive start-ups.”

Antler’s inaugural Korean cohort will launch in early 2022, running for six months with an initial focus on building teams and proving product-market fit. The firm said it expects to tap a number of company-building advantages in the market, including a deep culture of technological innovation, and potential for rapid scaling created by the concentration of around half the national population in the greater Seoul area.

“It is an extremely dense country, where you are able to physically go anywhere in the nation within four hours by high-speed rail, therefore people are used to doing business in person,” Kang added.

“The pandemic has prevented this - which is leading to many exciting things happening in the SaaS [software-as-a-service], remote work, remote health, delivery related sectors. We’re also seeing continuing disruption in more traditional businesses like legal services, finance, energy, in the South Korean market.”

Antler has invested in more than 300 companies globally. Every year, the firm holds a six-month program across its various offices to help prospective founders work together on concepts for start-ups. The best candidates qualify for a second round where they can get access to funding.

Antler recently formed a network-sharing partnership with US and Singapore-based B Capital Group, which is also pursuing an Asian expansion of its own. Eduardo Saverin, a co-founder of Facebook who set up B Capital in 2015, joined a $50 million investment in Antler last year. That followed closely on a commitment of undisclosed size from Schroders.

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