Bengaluru, Oct 21: Antler India, the early-stage investment firm, is launching Obsessed Outliers, a five-week campaign that explores a new generation of Indian founders building ambitious businesses across deep tech, science, aerospace, defence, biology and emerging sectors. The campaign will feature a series of videos and founder stories that demonstrate how Antler India has evolved its investment approach to back founders tackling difficult problems and creating new categories.
At the heart of Obsessed Outliers is the belief that exceptional founders can build businesses in areas that may appear unconventional or difficult to pursue. These include emerging technologies, gene editing, aerospace, mining, longevity and new-age commerce and finance. The campaign will feature founders working on complex problems with the ambition to build globally relevant companies from India.
“India has founders who are willing to take on problems that may not fit conventional investment playbooks. Our role is to recognise that conviction early and back people who have the ability to turn ambitious ideas into enduring businesses. With Obsessed Outliers, we want to show founders how Antler India has evolved and how we evaluate opportunities at the earliest stages, when the conventional indicators of success may not yet exist,” said Nitin Sharma, Partner, Antler India.
The series will also introduce audiences to Antler India’s proprietary founder evaluation framework, AGOATX, which stands for Audacity, Grit, Obsession, Agency, Thinking Clarity and X Factor. The framework helps the investment team assess founders at the pre-seed stage, when revenue, retention data and a fully developed product may not yet be available. It reflects the firm’s founder-first approach, which places significant weight on a founder’s conviction, ability to execute and understanding of the problem they want to solve.
The campaign will open with the story of BazaarNow, a quick-commerce startup is rethinking how consumers in smaller Indian towns shop for groceries and everyday essentials. Founded by former Zepto executives Priyanshu Jain, Arjun Harish and Tarithmay Mandal, the company is building a model that accounts for the differences between smaller-town markets and major urban centres.
Unlike conventional quick-commerce models designed for densely populated cities, serving smaller towns requires a different approach to population density, local consumer preferences, price points, product assortment and supply-chain operations. BazaarNow’s story will explore how founders can rethink established business models to address the needs of markets that require a different operating approach.
Obsessed Outliers also reflects Antler India’s evolution from a model centred on its residency programme to one that includes direct investments. According to the firm’s campaign data, more than 50% of its investments are now made directly, allowing founders to access capital without necessarily participating in a residency. The firm is also working towards a more streamlined investment process, with a target of providing a clear yes-or-no decision within 14 days.
Over five years in India, Antler has reviewed or discussed more than 100,000 companies and founder opportunities and made approximately 120 investments. Its portfolio includes companies working across deep tech, aviation, space, gene editing, minerals and autonomous systems, reflecting its willingness to back founders pursuing non-consensus ideas.
Through the five-week campaign, Antler India aims to give founders a clearer understanding of what it looks for at the earliest stages of company building: a strong point of view on a problem, the ability to move independently, rapid learning and the conviction to pursue an ambitious idea. BazaarNow will lead the series, with additional founder stories to follow.
Watch the ‘Obsessed Outliers’ series:
