Venture With Mo #010: Magnus Grimeland of Antler on Southeast Asia big tech successes, The importance of resilience, Rocket Internet, building Zalora, The Antler platform and founder selection

Episode Overview

In today's episode, we have Magnus Grimeland CEO and founder of Antler Global. Antler is a global early-stage venture capital firm that invests in technology companies. In the last 2 years, Antler has made over 200 portfolio company investments across 30 industries and has opened offices across six continents and most major entrepreneurial hubs.

In the show we discuss:

The United World Colleges and the start of an entrepreneurial journey

The Norwegian navy seals and the importance of grit

The early days at Zalora and building from scratch

Rocket Internet and the venture builder model

Democratizing access for founders and investors

The Antler platform and the process of applying

How Antler does founder selection

The characteristics of great founders

Personal improvement and how to improve on your strengths

The relationship between talent, hard work and luck

About Magnus Grimeland

Magnus Grimeland is the Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Antler (www.antler.co), a global VC enabling and investing in the world's most exceptional people. He leads a global team across 5 continents and 13 locations with the mission to fundamentally improve the world by supporting founders, who are building the defining companies of tomorrow. Antler has invested in, and helped build over 220+ portfolio companies worldwide and established the world’s largest early-stage investment platform, with an unparalleled global network of entrepreneurial leaders and advisors.

Prior to Antler, Magnus co-founded ZALORA.com, Asia’s largest fashion e-commerce company. He served as COO and Managing Director of Zalora after it was acquired by Global Fashion Group (GFG) and expanded it across 26 countries.

Magnus is an alumnus of Harvard University and McKinsey & Company. He was a Junior Partner at McKinsey & Co and worked in North America, Europe and Asia in the global telecommunications, media and tech industries. He served as a Navy Seal with the Royal Norwegian Navy Special Operations.

About Antler

Antler is a global early-stage venture capital firm that invests in the defining technology companies of tomorrow. In the last 2 years Antler has made over 200 portfolio company investments across 30 industries and has opened offices across six continents and most major entrepreneurial hubs

The founders from their portfolio represent over 70 nationalities and 40% of those startups are led by female entrepreneurs. Several of these early-stage startups have since secured follow-on investment by top-tier VCs.

Antler enables exceptional people to build impactful technology startups by building complementary co-founder teams, supporting the teams with deep business model validation and providing a global platform for scaling their startups.

Antler provides funding from day one to support founders building businesses that will positively impact local, national and global economies.

Resources
Antler Global: https://www.antler.co/

Connect With Magnus Grimeland
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/magnusgrimeland/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/magnusgrimeland

Connect With Mo
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mohammedjalil/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/yo_jalil

Email: [email protected]