Former Goldman Sachs executive Sheila Patel has joined the board of Antler, according to a statement by the company.
Patel said she was attracted to Antler by its unique model – particularly its global approach to investment and focus on fostering diversity.
“Where entrepreneurs innovate, and when the value-capture happens, is changing fast, and Antler is in a very promising position with its unique size and scale of its operations across key entrepreneurial hubs globally. The asset management industry needs to rethink traditional models of backing innovation, and Antler is among the change-makers in the industry, so being able to support the team was an opportunity I could not turn down. There are exciting times ahead and I’m looking forward to helping provide world-class entrepreneurs access to all the necessary tools to help grow their businesses.”
Antler is a global early stage VC firm that started in Singapore and has since branched out around the world. Most recently, Antler opened an office in Canada and then announced its first cohort of investments in Germany following a new office in Berlin last year.
Patel was previously chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management group based in London, and a member of the bank’s Firmwide Management Committee, holding leadership roles in two divisions across three continents.
Prior to joining Goldman, Patel headed Trading Strategy at Morgan Stanley for seven years.
She is currently the Vice-Chairman of B Capital Group, a VC firm co-founded by Eduardo Saverin (Facebook co-founder).
Magnus Grimeland, Antler founder and CEO stated:
“Sheila brings to our team a wealth of experience from the asset management industry and from building strong leadership teams of high performers. It is no wonder why she is regularly featured for her insights and market observations by financial media across the globe. Furthermore, she is a role model for women around the world and is passionate about helping women succeed with pursuing their dreams. We look forward to working with Sheila to enable founders across the world realise their ambitions to build the defining companies of tomorrow.”
Founded in 2017, Antler focuses on enabling and investing in the next generation of entrepreneurs by building complementary co-founder teams, supporting the teams with business model validation, and providing a global platform for scaling.
The firm has a mission to improve the world by enabling and investing in the world’s most exceptional people.
Antler has invested in over 350 companies globally across 30 different industries.