Venture capital platform Antler has launched India’s first open network for digital commerce (ONDC) focused venture platform. It has collaborated with Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani, FIDE (Beckn Protocol), and ONDC to bring together capital, content and community to help entrepreneurs create businesses and succeed on the open protocol.
Singapore-based VC platform said that it will offer pre-seed capital of $300K, along with an additional investment of up to $200K from key partners that have workable proposals.
The platform is also designed to support pre-team and pre-idea founders with a curated community to help them supercharge their early journey, by building alongside experts, operators, and top network participants such as Namma Yatri, Plotch.ai, SellerApp, and Magicpin, among others. In addition, Antler India Residency will help a select number of aspiring founders build on ONDC.
Speaking on the ONDC opportunity, Nitin Sharma, partner at Antler in India, said, “India has digitized identity and payments, and we believe it is time to set our sights on the next major unlock - digitizing commerce. Only 6 per cent of MSMEs are active sellers on digital platforms. With ONDC, we believe this has the potential to grow to 30-40 per cent over the next decade; boosting massive growth for India. As the first VCs to launch a platform to increase talent density and enable opportunities on ONDC, we are excited to partner with Nilekani and the FIDE, ONDC leadership.”
“We are going to democratize e-commerce in India. It won’t be limited to a few players. Every supplier including Kirana stores, grocery retailers, electronics retailers, small vendors, and restaurants should participate in the digital marketplace on an open platform,” said Infosys chairman Nilekani.
Founded in 2017, Antler is a global early-stage venture capital firm that invests in the defining technology companies of tomorrow. The firm has offices globally across most major entrepreneurial hubs, including London, Berlin, Stockholm, New York, Singapore, and Sydney. To date, Antler has invested in over 850 companies globally.
