Berlin—Today, Antler announced its participation in Wolves Summit, the most active tech and innovation conference in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), held in Wrocław between the 23rd and 25th of May 2023.
Antler is to judge the marquee pitch contest of the event, offering the winning seats in Antler's September cohort in Berlin or Munich, receiving a cash grant, various perks, hands-on coaching throughout validation and beyond, and the possibility of securing €100k in initial funding as well as follow-on funding in subsequent rounds.
Dr. Christoph Klink, General Partner at Antler, said:
“Despite the dominating headlines about a limited seed capital supply, Antler is investing record amounts of capital and seeing increasing applicants to its founder programs. Here’s the most important thing: the seed needs to spread globally and not in the narrow startup hub mentality that long dominated VC strategies. Today, we’re as likely to find the next unicorn in CEE as we are to find it in America.
This generation is more diverse, more international, and comes with a very different professional background from their predecessors. The founders born in the tech downturn have all the attributes to create the most successful tech startups Europe has seen. We have made it a priority to identify and work with the best founders across the entire region.”
The Great Pitch Contest at Wolves Summit has consistently attracted over 1,500 applications with each edition, showcasing the remarkable growth in the quality of startups emerging from the CEE region. Between 2016 and 2021, our finalists have raised an impressive €232 million in funding from investors attending the festival, including notable names such as SpeedInvest, FundingBox, Antler, and Startup Wise Guys, among others. Partnerships such as the one with Antler are instrumental in fostering the growth of the CEE startup ecosystem by providing a platform for these innovative startups to connect with investors, exchange ideas, and secure funding, adds Michael Chaffe, CEO at Wolves Summit.
In Europe, Antler backed 268 startups to date. At a rate of nearly two investments a week, Antler has been recognized as one of the most active early-stage investors in Europe (source: Sifted).
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 25 cities, including Austin, New York, London, Berlin, Stockholm, Bangalore, Jakarta, Singapore, Seoul, Tokyo, and Sydney. 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 invested in more than 750 startups across a wide range of industries and technologies, with the goal of backing more than 6,000 by 2030.
About Wolves Summit
Wolves Summit is an integrated dealflow and events platform for investors and tech companies offering year-round engagement through digital events, corporate innovation challenges and startup scaling activities. Every edition attracts a diverse audience of 2000+ investors, startups and industry leaders. Since 2015, Wolves Summit events facilitated over 35,000 meetings between 19,000+ participants. The summit has a network of 170+ community partners globally which includes accelerators and startup operators. In 2021 the company spun-out a new startup division called WolvesX supporting large organisations such as LG Electronics, PwC, Garage+, Economic Development Board in Singapore, among others, addressing a wide range of corporate and government innovation challenges. For more information please visit wolvessummit.com.