Phoenix Group, one of the UK’s longest long-term savings and retirement businesses with around £290 billion AUM, today announces its first unicorn investment via Antler Elevate. Airalo, a portfolio company of global early-stage venture capital firm Antler, has closed a $220 round at a valuation exceeding $1 billion. The round was led by CVC, with participation from Peak XV and Antler Elevate—a fund investing in breakout companies originating from Antler’s proprietary company-building platform, one of the largest of its kind globally.
Founded in 2019 through Antler’s Singapore residency, Airalo has scaled rapidly to become the world’s largest eSIM marketplace, with over 20 million users across more than 200 countries. The platform enables travellers to access affordable mobile data services instantly via digital eSIMs, eliminating the need for physical SIM cards. The company’s growth has been driven by rising global demand for flexible connectivity, with product-market fit achieved through a fully digital distribution model and low customer acquisition cost.
In November 2023, Phoenix Group acquired a minority equity stake in Antler through its With-Profits Funds. The investment allows Phoenix to invest alongside Antler on behalf of its With-Profits customers, enabling direct access to the investment potential of the early-stage market — where supporting companies like Airalo from the earliest stages is core to Antler’s investment model.
James Mitchell, Head of Strategic Partnerships, Phoenix Group commented: “Phoenix is delighted to highlight this positive success story as a result of our long term investment in productive assets, in this case in early stage venture capital. Giving our customers exposure to the most successful and fastest growing businesses globally, creates better retirement outcomes – which is at the heart of the Mansion House Accord.
“We believe that this will be one of many unicorns created with the help of our policyholders’ investments, bringing wealth creation to our customers through successful investment in venture capital with our valued partner, Antler.”
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About Antler
Antler is the most active early-stage investor globally. The firm leads in ‘Day Zero’ investing, an approach to venture capital focused on partnering with founders pre-launch. Antler systematically removes capital and network constraints for early-stage technology entrepreneurs by providing co-founder matching, deep business model validation, initial capital, expansion support, and follow-on funding. The firm is present in over 30 cities across most leading technology ecosystems globally and has made over 1,500 investments into early-stage startups.
