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Joining Antler as Senior Investment Analyst
Happy New Year, Altruists.
I’m excited to share some good news to kick off the year: I’ve joined Antler as a Senior Investment Analyst.
My venture capital journey actually started with Antler MENAP, where I began as an Analyst. I later joined VentureSouq’s Investments team, and now—after gaining broader exposure across early-stage investing—I’m coming back home.
About Antler
Antler is a global early-stage venture capital firm and one of the most active early-stage investors worldwide. The firm operates across 30+ cities in six continents, with $1.2B+ in Assets Under Management, backing founders from day zero through scale.
Investments I Supported in 2025
Over the past year, I’ve had the opportunity to support 7 investments across fintech, commerce, AI, and infrastructure:
Siin.shop — GCC’s first live e-commerce platform (OWNED this)
Inovat.Tax — Digital VAT refund infrastructure for tourists across EMEA (OWNED this)
Orbii.AI — Credit-scoring platform for lending businesses
Oumla — The first Islamic repo-finance platform
Milkstraw — Digital AWS savings and cost-optimization platform
2× Stealth — Coming soon
Each of these companies sits at the intersection of strong fundamentals, structural tailwinds, and clear paths to scale.
My Focus at Antler
At Antler, I’ll be covering MENAP (Middle East, North Africa, and Pakistan)—a region spanning 15 markets and one of the most exciting early-stage ecosystems globally.
My core responsibilities include:
Building direct investment pipelines
Sourcing and scouting founders for Antler’s residency programs
Working closely with founders from ideation through investment committee
A Small Plan for 2026: Will Launch A Podcast
One of my personal goals for 2026 is to launch a podcast—but not the usual format.
No star founders.
No social-media influencers.
No YouTubers.
Instead, the focus will be on Analysts and Associates at top VC firms.
Why Analysts and Associates?
Because, in reality, analysts pitch businesses to investment committees more often than founders pitch to funds.
If you’ve ever gone through an IC process, you know how intense it is:
Hundreds of questions
Dozens of assumptions to pressure-test
Strong convictions built (or broken) through data
And finally, persuading partners who may have decades of experience in the space
Partners are effectively the CEOs of the firm. They set vision and capital allocation strategy.
But analysts?
They are closer to the designers and engineers—the people who obsess over why something works, why it doesn’t, and why now.
If you brought the CEO of Apple on a podcast, you’d get the vision.
If you brought the Head of Design, you’d learn why the frosted-glass UI exists and why it matters.
This podcast aims to do the latter.
Questions We’ll Explore
Some of the questions I plan to ask:
Why did you invest in Company Y, and why not Company Z?
Which portfolio company are you most excited about—and why?
How are you thinking about wealthtech heading into 2026?
What emerging sectors are you actively tracking?
Live commerce?
Vertical SaaS?
AI-enabled workflows?
The goal is simple:
Help founders understand what actually matters in an investment decision—and what doesn’t.
What makes an analyst fully convinced to take a company to partners?
What raises red flags early?
What separates “interesting” from “investable”?
Wish me luck as I start this new chapter.
And if you’re raising in MENAP, feel free to reach out to me directly on LinkedIn, always happy to connect.
Happy New Year,
Mohidul