The EU-Startups Podcast | Interview with Fridtjof Berge, Co-founder and Chief Business Officer at Antler

Feb 12, 2026 - 11:00

This week on the EU-Startups Podcast, we sit down with Fridtjof Berge, Co-founder and Chief Business Officer at Antler, one of the world’s most active early-stage venture capital firms!

Since launching in 2017, Antler has backed more than 1,650 startups globally and, according to recent data, has now made over 1,800 investments across six continents, supporting founders from day zero. Operating in 27 cities worldwide, the firm has built one of the most distributed early-stage investment platforms globally. Its growth has been rapid, scaling from deploying €5.4 million across 44 startups in 2019 to launching a €30 million Nordic fund in 2021 and a €150 million Nordic fund in 2023.

In the interview, Fridtjof reflects on his journey from McKinsey and Harvard Business School to building a global VC platform and shares insights into what sets exceptional founders apart today. We also discuss Antler’s latest report, “The Anatomy of Greatness”, which analyses a decade of unicorn creation from 2014 to 2024. The findings point to a sharp acceleration in billion-dollar company formation, the rise of AI, shifting founder demographics, the continued globalisation of innovation well beyond Silicon Valley, and much more!

Key Points

Unicorn creation has surged from around 4 per year a decade ago to 148 per year, driven largely by AI.
AI startups now reach unicorn status in just 4.7 years on average, faster than any other sector.
The average AI-unicorn founder age has fallen to 29 in 2024, even as overall founder age trends slightly upward.
Unicorns have expanded from 30 cities in 8 countries to 300+ cities across 45 countries, reflecting a globalisation of tech entrepreneurship.

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