Founders at Antler are turning their visions into reality—tackling pressing problems, creating jobs, and unlocking their personal potential. As the world’s issues become more complex, founders are more needed than ever to solve them. What are you waiting for?
We’re looking for people committed to turning their ambitious ideas into game-changing businesses. We work with founders regardless of background or geography—from experienced business operators to technologists and entrepreneurs. Whether you've just started building, but haven't yet raised capital; you've got an idea and are thinking about getting started, but haven't quite made the leap; or you don't have an idea but are determined to be an entrepreneur, Antler is the right place for you to bring your idea to life.
Pre-idea and pre-team. Ambitious founders can join Antler before the inception of their company to find a co-founder(s) and receive their first cheque. We support these founders through team formation, idea validation, dedicated expert coaching, access to the world’s largest-growing community of like-minded entrepreneurs, and a clear pathway to capital.
Startups can now join Antler seeking support to scale their operations and secure early stage funding. These are typically incorporated companies with a product in market and growing customer base. We provide dedicated expert coaching, industry connections to secure subsequent funding rounds, support to scale operations, and a clear pathway to capital.
Antler's 10-week intensive program focuses on team formation, idea and product-market fit validation, and business building to maximize our founders’ chance of success.
Form your co-founding team, develop your idea, and get buy-in for your vision.
Start talking to customers, develop your MVP, refine your business model, and develop your go-to-market strategy with the support and guidance of expert coaches.
Pitch your company to Antler's Investment Committee. Approved teams will secure pre-seed investment.
We back you for the entire life cycle of your company—through follow-up funding (to Series C and beyond), tier-one VC access, and our truly global community that supports you forever.
Antler is dedicated to helping the portfolio companies scale.
It takes about 2-3 weeks to complete the entire application process. Once you apply, our scouting team will guide you through the full process and will be available to answer all your questions
It takes about 2-3 weeks to complete the entire application process. Once you apply, our scouting team will guide you through the full process and will be available to answer all your questions
It takes about 2-3 weeks to complete the entire application process. Once you apply, our scouting team will guide you through the full process and will be available to answer all your questions
There has never been a better time to innovate and build a company that solves meaningful problems. As the issues society faces become more complex, founders are more needed than ever to tackle them.
Meet the team supporting Korea's next wave of entrepreneurs
Jiho built his career working with South Korean tech giant SK Planet and ecommerce unicorn Coupang as lead product manager. Jiho is also well connected to Silicon Valley becoming the first Korean to be accepted into the 500 Startups accelerator program in 2010 and went on to co-found Soomgo, a Y-Combinator portfolio company(#153 of top YC portfolio companies) recently valued at over $200m. Jiho’s most recent venture was blockchain startup BxB which was acquired by the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange; Binance in 2020.
Gabriel was Head of Corporate Venture Capital at GS Retail, the retail subsidiary of Korean conglomerate GS Group. He has led many notable investments, including Moloco, Inc., currently valued at over USD $1.5 billion. He started his career as a consultant at Accenture Strategy, founded a WiseBros&Company, a B2B SaaS company to help universities restructure, worked at Rakuten CEO's Innovation Office helping the Japanese company expand into global markets, and led Bravestone Venture Partners where he made notable investments including seed investment in ImpriMed in the U.S.
JaeHee co-leads Antler Korea with Jiho and Gabriel. Prior to Antler, JaeHee was in 500 Global Korea Fund/Ecosystems and worked at early stage startups where she led marketing and business development. Prior to her startup experiences, she was in Cheil Worldwide, Naver, and Booz Allen Hamilton, where her work was focused on strategy and business development. With her multicultural background, she has a mission to help startups go global.
Roy previously worked at Accelerator, Corporate VC and startups. He started his career as a founding member of Chilling Kitchen, a foodtruck platform that combines content. Roy also worked at Vingle, an interest-based community platform. He served both as an investment manager and a director of co-working space, a new business area at Corporate VC after working as a Accelerator. Roy was a columnist for Korea Tourism Organisation and speaker at TEDx
Heechan worked as a network designer at Coupang, focusing on Logistics Data Analysis and Operations Excellence. He previously worked at a family business, an Asia-wide wholesale business and also served as a translator at various joint operations and occasions in ROK ARMY LOGCMD.
Min Joo (Amy) has previously worked as Product Manager at Fastcampus, where she was responsible for creating online education contents for adults and overseeing the product launch. Amy has also worked as consultant at Deloitte, where she participated in engagements such as internal control and internal audit.
Throughout our residencies, successful entrepreneurs have shared their insights and experiences with our founders, offering valuable mentorship !
Read our latest insights and stories about our phenomenal founders.
Day zero investing means backing founders from the very beginning—whether it’s before team formation or even before having an idea—and continuing to support them on their company’s journey to greatness. We are there when a founder is at the starting line, when everything is possible and nothing is certain. When the founders have made the life-changing decision to take the leap and build a company, leaving conventional career paths behind. When founder's belief, passion, and drive are often the only things fueling them. And we are still there after we make our first investment, as a long-term partner providing advice, introductions, resources, and follow-on funding—all the way to exit.
Antler Program is a intense 6-month long program, where 100 highly talented and passionate potential founders are recruited where they go through the process of finding a co-founder, building a founding team, and finally developing busines validation. During the first 10-week of Phase I, all founders receive various coaching session from partners along with funding for startup and business validation, during which founders can focus on developing their business idea. After 10 weeks, teams that have gone through business validation, are capable of receiving investment up to 200M KRW per team. Teams that have received investment can now proceed with intensive accleration during Phase II.
After weeks of buisiness idea development and validation, approximatly 30-50% of selected group of founders receive investment during the Phase I of the program.For more information about the program, founders can sign up for online information session (https://bit.ly/3RLdwZv) for more information.
Antler Program is a 10-week long full-day (9AM to 6PM) program. The program consists of sessions such as Masterclass, Bootcamp, Idea Sprint, and Shark Tank. Bootcamp and Idea sprint are hands-on discussion-based session that are conducted amongst the founders and can continue over-night. Specific itenerary and information about the sessions are shared only to accepted founders during beginning of the program.
Antler program requires founders to interact with other founders within the cohort for team building and we require founders to be fully engaged and participate in our program. Thus, we require our founders to be full-time committment to our Antler Program(No part-time job or academics).
Antler is an early-stage startup generator, in which rather than focusing on specific industry or start-up idea, we focus on the potential and the growth of individual founders. By recruiting individual talents, and assisting each potential founders throughout the program, We help potential founders to accelerate their business effectively.
Furthermore, compared to other accelerators that are only based in specific regions, Antler has offices in 27 different countries across the globe with Antler Global Fund that allows for follow on investment, allowing rapid expansion globally.
Due to hands-on nature of our Antler program, Antler Program Fee is deducted from the Antler Korea Fund, therefore, no expenses are required from the founders.
1. We provide 3M KRW worth of funding, Office space (Founder space), Mentoring, Networking, Investor coaching, and Demo day - all provided at no expense.
2. All teams (start-ups) that have passed investment and have established the company, are qualified of receiving up to 150M KRW of investment, 10% share from the Antler Korea Fund.
3. Antler provides additional 50M KRW funding (total up to 200M KRW) to teams that have received investment, providing 100% support for the founding team to compensate for the program fee.
4. In conclusion, Antler Program Fee is supported via Antler Korea Fund, therefore, no payment is owed from the founders.
5. Antler does not, in any way, request payment (participation fee, lecture fee) from the founders.
Due to hands-on nature of our Antler program, Antler Program Fee is deducted from the Antler Korea Fund, therefore, no expenses are required from the founders.
1. We provide 3M KRW worth of funding, Office space (Founder space), Mentoring, Networking, Investor coaching, and Demo day - all provided at no expense.
2. All teams (start-ups) that have passed investment and have established the company, are qualified of receiving up to 150M KRW of investment, 10% share from the Antler Korea Fund.
3. Antler provides additional 50M KRW funding (total up to 200M KRW) to teams that have received investment, providing 100% support for the founding team to compensate for the program fee.
4. In conclusion, Antler Program Fee is supported via Antler Korea Fund, therefore, no payment is owed from the founders.
5. Antler does not, in any way, request payment (participation fee, lecture fee) from the founders.
We require our founders to participate the program full time. Once accepted, please consider your current notice period. We also recommend taking leave of absence or any other form into consideration to fully commit to our program.
Yes. We require all teams to have at least 2 co-founders. If you are unable to find a co-founder within the cohort, We allow founders to find a co-founder outside Antler. We expect the team formation to be completed 3 months prior to end of Phase I of the program.
Here at Antler, we look for highly ambitious and passionate people who want to make a big impact on society. We look for people who are self-motivated and can handle challenges. For more information about the program, founders can sign up for online information session (https://bit.ly/3RLdwZv) for more information.
Yes - you can apply for the program even if you already have a startup team or a firm. Please describe your existing team / idea and business in your application. In addition, each co-founder must submit application individually. However, we expect all program founders to be open to connecting with others and collaborating with other founders to build greater ideas.
Our program application is always open. Program starting date will be announced on our offical homepage (apply.antler.co), and you many apply after selecting the KOR batch. Application review begins 3 months prior to the program start date.
Application review is conducted in 5 steps - Application review, Written Assignment, Screening intrview, 2+ sessions of partner review, and finally, Reference check.
1. Application Review : Applications (CV and portfolio) can be submitted through Antler official website. When applying as a team, all co-founding members are required to submit their applications individually. One person from the team should write team name and co-founding members name as a representative.
2. Written assignment : Those who have passed the application review stage, We ask for written assignment and short 30-second self-introduction video.
3. Screening interview : Based on the written assignment, you will be interviewed by our Antler team online. You will be asked your skillsets and passion.
4. Partner Interivew: Based on your background, we would like to know your potential, drive, problem solving skills, and knowledge. Partner interviews are conducted with different partners at least twice, and you may be asked to participate in additional partner interview if required.
5. Reference Check : Finally, after partner interview, we ask for reference check from at least 3 or more co-workers or reporting managers.Those who have passed 5-step interview will be able to participate in the Antler Program
You will hear from us within 7 days, and will be notified via email or text. We do not provide feedback regarding application result.If you did not hear from us, please check your spam or promotion mail box or please contact us at korea@anter.co.
Yes - you may re-apply.However, you cannot apply for the same cohort, and you should be able to show us how you have improved as an entrepreneur, compared to previous application.Some factors we look out for are - Drive, Execution ability, change in performance. vice versa.
Antler also invests beyond pre-seed stage. We provide recommendation for startups that have either received investment or recommendation from each regions to our Antler Elevate Fund. If interested, please send us your self-introduction video and deck at korea@antler.co
Antler in Korea supports around 100 founders every program, throughout initial investments to incorporations.
About 40+ founders have successfully received Pre-Seed investment of KRW 200 million in the 1st cohort.
Get in touch with our team!
