Today, the global startup generator and early-stage VC Antler has announced an injection of €1.26 million into its first batch of European startups in Stockholm, Sweden.
Founded in 2017, Antler’s mission is to build thousands of tech companies globally by selecting the world’s most brilliant and determined people, helping them find the right co-founder, and connecting them to a top tier network of advisors and experts worldwide. Since lauching its first program in Singapore in 2018, Antler has generated 45 new tech companies in a variety of industries. It will be running additional programs in London, Amsterdam, Sydney, East Africa and New York City this year.
The startups being profiled span a broad range of sectors, from spacetech to drones to AI to babytech. Below are short summaries of the startups that have been selected by Antler – the majority based in Stockholm, and all of them founded within the past year:
- Bookself is a social freemium reading app for Gen Z. In China, 200 million people consume books on social reading apps, which allow them to discuss their reads and discover new books based on what friends, influencers and authors recommend. Just founded in 2019 and based in Stockholm, Bookself is bringing social reading to the West, targeting Gen Z readers with its social, freemium eBook and audiobook platform.
- ami Lab enables companies to make data-driven selections of professional models for use in marketing campaigns. It optimises conversions and click-through rate by leveraging data and machine learning on a global database of models. With computer vision, ami Lab unveils key facial features and matches companies with models based on campaign objectives and audiences.
- Astrid Wild is a digitally native, direct-to-consumer outdoor fashion company for women, by women. It fills the white space in the female outdoor clothing market, selling products via a unique “online outdoor platform” allowing for a data-driven approach to operations. The brand has already generated traction on social media and in press and currently has over 1,500 customers on its waitlist.
- SkyQraft has developed a drone-powered infrastructure inspection service to identify risks to power lines and prevent blackouts and fires. It was developed in Stockholm in reaction to climate change causing more forest fires in Sweden’s countryside. SkyQraft is cheaper and safer than current procedures – because it’s drones can be managed remotely, inspections can take place more frequently meaning that infrastructure inspection can prevent more accidents from taking place.
- Shamba enables precision distributed farming in Africa with a goal to optimise farming productivity. Shamba’s first application guides, tracks and coordinates the yields of poultry farmers, working to optimise productivity. It launched in Kenya with 5 poultry farmers, 5 feedmillers and a distribution agreement with Coopers Kenya. It has additional agreements with Sigma Feeds, and Bioproton Europe.
- Done is a mobile marketplace for home improvement and repair services, replacing inconvenient home visits with video calls for quotes. Vetted service providers and mutual ratings eliminates uncertainty for users and a built-in communication platform gathers all necessary information in one place.
- Pandeta combines non-traditional data, machine learning and GIS mapping to provide unparalleled insight into the world of real estate, allowing investors and developers to make faster decisions on market opportunities. The Pandeta Explore feature allows users to analyse the changing dynamics of any location at speed and its AI-enabled Spatial Recommender System churns through hundreds of hyperlocal features to quickly identify high-potential locations, generating better ROI.
- Grogro offers parents a fresh, organic and nutrient-dense alternative to today’s baby food, reshaping the future of the category. Grogro products contain premium organic ingredients packed together using innovative high-pressure technology, keeping nutrients and taste intact. Grogro is also gluten and milk free.
- EqualityCheck is a platform for crowdsourced employee review platform about organisations’ equality that seeks to create a better workplace for everyone through increased transparency and accountability. The platform gives job seekers insight into opportunities for advancement and growth regardless of gender, ethnicity, sexuality or age in individual companies. It enables people to help each other avoid pitfalls and showcases companies that are truly great places to work, regardless of background.
- Incito provides independent professionals and small businesses with digital, flexible and tailored insurance cover. Current insurance options for this group are difficult and admin heavy, but Incito has been built with digital native professionals in mind, allowing them to create a bespoke, online coverage that works for them.
- Salesbeat is an AI-powered marketplace that connects FMCG brands with high performing sales freelancers. It helps brands enter new markets and channels at low fixed costs and with a lower carbon footprint by connecting them with sales freelancers in local markets. Salesbeat already has registered 40 approved freelancers covering 60 markets, 25 brands and 12 ‘matches’ and sales.
- xNomad is a marketplace platform connecting brands and e-commerce stores with short-term physical space retail space in premium locations (like an Airbnb for pop-up stores). With xNomad, landlords can monetise underutilised short term space and brands can find short-term spaces with more flexibility and ease. xNomad also provides retailers and landlords with data on footfall, gender and propensity to spend.
- Spacept is a software platform which uses computer vision to process satellite images of infrastructure, enabling safer, more efficient and sustainable operations and maintenance. With Spacept, accidents can be prevented through preventive action saving lives and assets. It also lowers inspection costs for infrastructure-owners.