Global venture capital firm Antler today announced the appointment of Frank Kang as Associate Partner for Malaysia.
This senior-level appointment further strengthens Antler’s commitment to investing in early-stage startups and backing exceptional founders in the region.
Frank will also be taking the role of Country Head to spearhead the company’s investment strategy and operations in Malaysia.
Leveraging his extensive entrepreneurial experience across various industries, Frank will play a pivotal part in empowering Malaysian founders to think globally and scale their businesses beyond borders.
At present, Antler is one of the most active early-stage investors globally and has invested in over 792 companies across 26 cities worldwide, amassing a cumulative portfolio value of US$3.7 billion.
As a serial entrepreneur, Frank Kang brings Antler an extensive 17 years of entrepreneurial skills across various industries.
His entrepreneurial journey began when he co-founded a social networking service at the age of 23, for which he secured investment from the Japanese multinational investment holding company, SoftBank.
Subsequently, Frank ventured into Silicon Valley to bring Twitter services to Korea. His venture led to the establishment of one of the largest Twitter directories in Korea, with over two million users at the time.
Back in Malaysia, Frank acquired the leading e-commerce platform, everyday.com.my (later rebranded to LivingSocial Malaysia), and expanded the team from seven to more than 160 employees. Thereafter, Frank founded Althea, Korea’s premier beauty platform with digitally native vertical brands. Althea managed to raise funds from global institutional investors.
Prior to his appointment with Antler, Kang was the Venture Partner of Vynn Capital and was an Angel Investor and Advisor.
As the newly appointed Associate Partner and Country Head for Antler Malaysia, Frank Kang said, “Being a senior school year dropout and having experienced both failure and success early in my career, I’m excited to support founders to build and scale meaningful businesses that can bring positive impact to the world.
I believe local talents in Malaysia have a huge potential and we will be able to help them think globally.”
Jussi Salovaara, Co-founder and Managing Partner Asia, Antler said, “We are proud to welcome Frank as we strengthen the firm globally across 26 cities including Malaysia. Antler is committed to supporting entrepreneurs and pursuing our vision of making progress inevitable.
With Kang’s proven track record of building scalable businesses in Asia, his vast experiences are bound to expand the entrepreneurial impact of Malaysians across borders.”
Specializing in ‘Day Zero investing’, Antler takes a distinctive approach to fostering startup success, setting it apart from other entrepreneurial programs. The firm is committed to supporting founders throughout their journey, starting from the pre-seed stage and extending all the way to Series A and beyond.
This includes support in co-founder matching, deep business model validation, provision of initial capital, expansion assistance, and securing follow-on funding. With Antler’s comprehensive investment approach, startups are backed from their very earliest days through significant growth phases.
Headquartered in Kuala Lumpur, Antler is aiming to invest in over 30 startups across Malaysia over the next three years. The very first residency program in Malaysia is set to commence in October 2023.
BusinessNewsAsia