Antler Canada, the Canadian fund and division of Singapore-based global early-stage venture capital (VC) firm Antler, has brought on tech entrepreneur Tammer Kamel as general partner (GP).
Kamel is the co-founder and former CEO of Toronto-based financial data platform Quandl, a FinTech startup that was acquired by Nasdaq in 2018 (a source familiar with the deal indicated that Quandl was sold for over $100 million). With Antler Canada, Kamel hopes to share his learnings from Quandl with other founders developing business-to-business software-as-a-service, FinTech, and marketplace solutions.
Kamel will support Antler Canada as it deploys the remainder of its first VC fund, and help raise and co-lead Fund II with both fellow GP Bernie Li and newly promoted associate partner Shambhavi Mishra.
“We think that we’ve arrived at a model that really works.”
Bernie Li,
Antler Canada
“We have ambitions to continue to grow this forward in the future, which includes an additional fund, and Tammer has an incredible experience set as an operator of a very innovative company that was venture-backed,” Li told BetaKit in a joint interview with Kamel. “Those types of people are hard to come by, especially those who have the true passion and desire to help other founders.”
Naman Budhdeo, who led Antler Canada’s entry into Canada in 2021 and its first Canadian fund alongside Li as GP, is transitioning into the role of partner emeritus for Fund II to spend more time with family, and will stay involved in a lesser capacity from its second fund onward.
Antler Canada initially set out to raise a $30-million first fund, but ultimately fell shy of its target amid challenging VC market conditions, closing $23 million.
To date, Antler Canada has deployed approximately 60 percent of Fund I across 36 startups. The VC firm’s portfolio includes artificial intelligence assistant for franchisees EZee Assist, the rent-to-rewards platform Chexy, financial modelling tech startup Glassbox, and trade credit software developer NetNow.
RELATED: Chexy secures $4.1 million to improve its rent-to-rewards platform’s payments infrastructure
“Over the last three years, we’ve been lifting off and building the Antler platform here in Canada,” Li said. “We think that we’ve arrived at a model that really works.”
Li said that Antler Canada intends to invest in another 15 or so startups through Fund I by the end of 2025, before launching a second fund in 2026 that Li expects to be larger than its first and potentially see the firm expand beyond its roots in Toronto to another part of Canada.
Kamel holds a degree in computer engineering from the University of Waterloo. Prior to launching Quandl, he spent 12 years as a risk manager, quantitative analyst and portfolio manager with several hedge funds.
Kamel told BetaKit that he learned a lot during his seven-plus-year journey building Quandl, which specialized in discovering alternative and financial data and information and harvesting, packaging, and selling it to investors on a subscription basis.
RELATED: Financial data platform Quandl acquired by Nasdaq
Nasdaq purchased Quandl thanks in part to its ability to do that, rebranding it to Nasdaq Data Link. Kamel declined to disclose the acquisition price, but claimed it was “a great outcome for founders, employees, and investors.”
“There’s no startup that succeeds without going through a whole bunch of challenges and hardships and difficulties along the way,” Kamel said, noting that Quandl was no exception.
“I can give them my two cents here and there, so that they just move a little bit farther and a little bit faster.”
Tammer Kamel,
Antler Canada
Kamel said he made some mistakes before getting things right with Quandl, and now hopes to leverage that knowledge to help the next generation of Canadian tech founders “do a little bit better than I did.”
Since selling Quandl to Nasdaq, Kamel has spent time working at Nasdaq as vice-president of its alternative data group, where he helped formulate the firm’s global data strategy, in addition to angel investing and advising other entrepreneurs.
Kamel said he was attracted to Antler’s approach, which involves soliciting applications from across the country and inviting selected solo founders or pre-existing teams looking to build tech startups to Toronto to take part in its biannual, no-cost, 10-week residency program.
Antler Canada works closely with participants, providing them with support as they validate their ideas and begin developing companies, ultimately cutting $150,000 cheques into the most promising startups in exchange for a 10 percent equity stake.
“I can give them my two cents here and there, so that they just move a little bit farther and a little bit faster,” Kamel added.
Feature image courtesy Antler Canada.