Nitin Sharma — Co-Founder
CONTACT: Regarding new investments, email nitin@antler.co Please note that I do NOT check LinkedIn DMs with the same frequency Follow me on X: @nitinsharma1 ***** For the last 15 years, I've had the rare fortune of working with world-class entrepreneurs in both the US and in India, investing early in 150+ tech startups (17 of them reached >$100M value, 6 of them unicorns), and gradually finding my love for being the first believer at the ideation stage. Jumped very early into a few megatrends / new spaces: edtech in the US (2009 onwards), D2C brands in India (2013 onwards), Web3 infra, DeFi and DeSci (2017 onwards, first VC in India to go all in), and now via our Antler team’s efforts, being an early champion of digital public infrastructure (DPI) and ONDC. **** INVESTMENTS: “Day Zero” backer of: Kutumb, Molecule/BIO Protocol, Third Wave Coffee, Juno, Mudrex, Vyapar, Loco, Terra.do, Wingman (acq. By Clari), Ocean Protocol, Arweave, Bitespeed, Upekkha, and 100+ startups backed by Antler India as the first believer (incl. Inspecity, Namma Yatri, Green Aero, HouseEazy, Armory, Inamo, BazaarNow, DodgeAI, Mysa, Navana, etc.) Previously: Millennial Media (IPO, acquired by AOL), OPOWER (IPO, acq. by Oracle), ChannelAdvisor (IPO), AddThis (acq. by Oracle), EverFi (acq. by Blackbaud), Gilt Groupe (acq. by Saks / Hudson Bay), SharesPost (acq. by Forge), Fynd (acq. by Jio), Paymate (filed for IPO), Clinikk, Gramophone, The Better India, KarmaLife, Shvasa **** INVESTING JOURNEYS: (1) NEA in the US (serving founders in the 10 => 100 phase of a company) Where I first learnt the ropes of this business from some of the legends at one of the oldest and largest VCs in the world (2) The founding team of LIGHTBOX (Ser A fund, now $400M AUM) Spun out of Kleiner Perkins & Sherpalo India portfolios. Where I learnt to work very deeply with a concentrated portfolio in their 1 => 10 phase. (3) My own micro VC fund, FIRST PRINCIPLES. Where I learnt to operate as a solo GP and made 40 investments as a first believer (the 0 => 1 phase). As part of this, founded Incrypt Blockchain, created an Ethereum dev community, and got deeply involved with a national policy making body in India. (4) Now building a leading pre-seed institutional fund at ANTLER INDIA (the -1 => 0 phase) 2010-11: Briefly gained operating experience as part of the early management team at EverFi, which emerged as one of the world's largest edtech platforms, serving 40M+ students, and eventually acquired by Blackbaud for $750M
Stackforce AI infers this person is a Venture Capitalist with expertise in early-stage tech investments across diverse sectors.
Location: Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
Experience: 21 yrs 10 mos
Skills
- Venture Capital
- Investments
- Blockchain
Career Highlights
- Invested in 150+ tech startups globally.
- First believer in multiple unicorns.
- Pioneered Web3 investments in India.
Work Experience
Antler
Partner (5 yrs 5 mos)
On Deck
Fellow (ODA) (0 mo)
USC Viterbi School of Engineering
India Board Member (8 yrs 3 mos)
AngelList India
Advisory Board (8 yrs 3 mos)
Incrypt Blockchain
Founder (8 yrs 10 mos)
FirstPrinciples
Founder (9 yrs 3 mos)
Lightbox Ventures
Founding Principal (3 yrs 7 mos)
EVERFI
Vice President, Strategy and Business Development (1 yr)
Opower
Board Observer (1 yr)
New Enterprise Associates (NEA)
Investor (2 yrs 1 mo)
Suniva
Board Observer (2 yrs)
AddThis
Board Observer (2 yrs)
Bandgap Engineering, Inc.
Board Observer (2 yrs)
UBS Investment Bank
Analyst - Technology Corporate Finance and M&A (2 yrs)
University of Southern California
Research and Teaching (4 yrs)
Education
MBA at The Wharton School
Dual degrees at University of Southern California
University of Cambridge A Levels at Victoria Junior College
