Startup incubator Antler hits its biggest milestone with first unicorn
Global eSIM startup Airalo becomes first billion-dollar graduate right as Antler pushes US expansion
In a return to Asia Tech Review articles, today we look at the significance of a new funding round for Airalo and Antler, the incubator where the startup was founded. The recap email will return on Monday, as usual.
Antler, the incubator programme that matches co-founders to create startups, reached a significant milestone after one of its companies reached a billion-dollar valuation for the first time.
That’s Airalo, which sells virtual eSIMs for travelers. Airalo came out of Antler’s second cohort in Singapore—its global HQ—after graduating back in March 2019. This week, the startup announced it had closed a $220 million round led by Luxembourg-based CVC that valued its business at over $1 billion.
Antler launched in Singapore in 2018, and today it is present in 22 countries spread across all major continents with more than 1,200 investments to date. Unicorn valuations don’t equal exits, but Airalo’s massive valuation is the most notable success for an Antler graduate to date. It comes at an ideal time for the incubator programme, which opened its first office in Silicon Valley last month.
Antler was founded by former executives from Rocket Internet, the Germany-based ‘startup factory’ behind Lazada, Zalora and other tech ventures. It announced its second fund for Southeast Asia ($72 million) in August 2024.
From Covid to conquering
Airalo’s rise is quite the story.
Less than a year after leaving the Antler program, the startup ran into an existential crisis as the Covid 19 pandemic hit and global travel ground to a halt, severely limiting demand for the company’s virtual SIMs.
The company had just $36,000 in its bank account at its lowest point, CEO and co-founder Ahmet Bahadir Ozdemir recalled in a blog post with Antler. Its trajectory after leaving the pandemic has been only upwards, though.
Airalo raised $60 million in July 2023—following an earlier $5.4 million injection during the pandemic. That larger round was the start of a new journey, with telcos Orange, Deutsche, Bell and Telefonica all joining alongside other investors.
In 2023, it claimed just over five million customers, today it says the number has now crossed 20 million to make it the largest eSim provider in the world. That’s without India—where it has been banned for 18 months—and China.
That was very much the initial pitch for Ozdemir, who saw the potential to build an ‘Amazon for eSims’ when Apple introduced its virtual eSIM feature for iPhones in 2018. The idea was inspired through his previous work, providing supplies to the shipping industry before customer demand saw him add roaming SIM cards to the list.
Imprecise science of startup building
The Airalo story, while ongoing, may be the blueprint for programmes like Antler. The reality, though, is that not only is identifying billion-dollar ideas difficult, but these are global businesses.
Entrepreneur First, which first brought co-founder matchmaking to Singapore in 2016, left the Southeast Asia market in 2023. EF focuses on creating deep tech rather than general startups. It ultimately concluded there was greater potential elsewhere.
Airalo has limited links to Singapore these days.
Neither co-founder is based there, and its investor base and user base has expanded far outside of Asia. In press releases on its own website, Airalo refers to itself as a “U.S-based startup.”
That’s nothing out of the ordinary. It's common for companies to re-register in the US to make it easier for fundraising, future acquisition or IPO purposes, and also to enhance their appeal as a brand—but it underlines how tricky it is to catch these companies/future founders in a location outside of the US. And also how unrepeatable these patterns are.
That’s exactly why Antler is setting up shop across every major country in the world—and why it has a growth investment fund to double down on its winners. Antler Elevate, the fund, took part in the recent Airalo round—it was announced in 2023 with a final close of $285 million.
Antler’s most visible exit today is Fanfix, a service that helps creators monetise their brand, which was acquired in 2022 in an undisclosed deal that media reported to be worth $65 million.
Most Antler startups don’t actually receive investment when they finish the programme. When they do, Antler puts in $250,000 for a 9% stake, valuing companies at $2.7 million. There’s dilution with later rounds, of course, but even back-of-the-envelope math suggests Airalo could deliver a massive return when it eventually exits.
The big question for Antler is whether it can find and repeat unique success stories like Airalo on a regular basis. Certainly, this new round will vindicate the Antler vision as it pushes harder in the US.
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