Antler, a Singapore-based startup generator & early-stage VC that enables people to build global businesses from the ground up, has roped in Nitin Sharma as Partner and co-lead for India market.
To help accelerate the Indian tech ecosystem, Antler aims to invest over US$100M in India across funds in the next 4 years. These funds will support founders from the idea stage, all the way to Series A/B. Nitin will co-lead the India efforts with Rajiv Srivatsa, co-founder of Urban Ladder.
Nitin Sharma brings over a decade of experience in global venture capital, having invested in 50+ tech startups in multiple geographies.
Most recently, he was the founder of FirstPrinciples VC, a thesis-driven syndicate and portfolio of 35+ startups, including Fynd, (acq. by Reliance), OnJuno, Niki, Kutumb, SharesPost (acq. By Forge), XOKind and many others backed by marquee investors. Nitin’s investing journey has previously spanned US venture capital at NEA and being a founding team principal at Lightbox Ventures in India.
As an active seed and angel investor, Nitin has invested in startups like Fynd (acq. By Reliance), OnJuno, Niki, Kutumb, Klub, StayQrious, Gramophone, XOKind, Clinikk, Vyapar, Terra.do, Third Wave Coffee and SharesPost (acq. By Forge). In parallel, Nitin and his team founded a developer community called Incrypt, and have played an active role in fostering India’s emerging blockchain ecosystem via investing, education and national policy advisory.
Previously, Nitin was a founding team principal at Lightbox Ventures, one of India’s leading consumer-focused VCs (now $400M under management), where he supported the first two funds since inception. Earlier in his career, Nitin learnt the ropes of venture investing in the US while at NEA, one of the world’s preeminent venture funds, where he invested in multiple companies (Millennial Media, AddThis, OPower, EverFi, etc.), and also co-led the firm’s first edtech investment.
Nitin was also an early executive at EverFi, one of the world’s largest education networks, reaching 41 million learners, with $250M raised. He started his career as a technology investment banker at UBS in San Francisco.
Nitin holds an MBA from The Wharton School, and two degrees from the University of Southern California. He serves on the India Advisory Boards of AngelList, the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, and TheBetterIndia, and has advised the Indian central government’s policy think tank (NITI Aayog) on frontier tech policy making.
Arya has been a part of the Content & Research Team at Hrnxt.com. She is a keen observer of economic developments, emerging businesses, people in business and keeps a tab on latest happenings in the business environment.