LaunchVic throws its support behind Antler as the early-stage VC kicks off growth plans for Melbourne

Victoria’s leading startup agency, LaunchVic will invest $360K into Antler Australia to support the VC firm’s aim to help founders to scale their startups post-investment.

“They will also grow their headcount by employing a Community Manager who will co-lead initiatives that will enable Victorian startups to thrive and activate the broader Victorian startup ecosystem,” the Victorian organisation announced via its grants page.

Antler has been supporting Melbourne founders since its inception in 2019, then doubling down on the city by setting up a local office in 2021 and employing an on-the-ground operations team.

The funding from LaunchVic will help grow Antler’s local presence, as well as ensure full delivery capabilities from the city.

This follows two Melbourne-based hires already made this year, including Capital Director Michael Kron, who joined Antler from a clean energy startup and Investments Director Akhil Sharma, who previously was at a ClimateTech accelerator.

Since starting, Antler has funded 25 startups with a Melbourne-based founder.

One of these companies is Sapyen, an at-home male fertility diagnostic company, which in just a year of operating has built a waitlist of over 40,000 customers, secured TGA approval and is about to put a patent to their name.

In total, Antler has invested >$3m into these local startups via Pre-Seed investment and follow-on funding.

With the addition of external investors, these companies have collectively raised >$11m to date.

Notably, One Key Access, a last mile delivery technology company, co-founded by Chanel Costabir secured funding from the Alice Anderson Fund this year.

On top of that, these companies have created 46 jobs to boost the Melbourne ecosystem.

Antler’s impact on the local ecosystem has been significant, with the number of startups funded each year increasing from two in 2019 to seven in 2021. That number for 2022 currently sits at 13 and will increase before year close.

The early-stage VC has also secured a number of key partnerships with Melbourne-based companies with a focus on fostering innovation and startup development such Carsales.com.au, BDO and CreativeCubes.

Antler is confident that securing the support of LaunchVic will further fuel its growth in the state. Victoria has been the birthplace of and continues to be home for many of Australia’s top startups including Airwallex, Culture Amp and A Cloud Guru. Antler is able to harness the talent from these organisations, those who have played crucial roles in scaling successful startups, and enabling them to co-found a company of their own. This has the effect of multiplying the impact of successful startups in the ecosystem.

If you would like to join Antler’s growing Melbourne operations you can read and apply for the Community Manager position which is currently open.

If you would like to build a business with Antler you can apply to do so here.