Endeavor Catalyst, the co-investment fund affiliated with world entrepreneurial community Endeavor Global, is elevating a brand new $300 million fund, its fifth and largest fund but, because it appears to deepen its guess on high-growth startups throughout Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia, TechCrunch has discovered.
The new fund, in keeping with sources, remains to be in early fundraising levels. It’s earlier fund was its $292 million Fund IV closed in 2022. The agency has already begun early conversations with restricted companions, together with household workplaces, improvement finance establishments, and tech founders throughout its world community.
If profitable, the fund would take Endeavor Catalyst’s whole property beneath administration to nicely over $800 million, additional cementing its place as one of the crucial energetic enterprise gamers throughout rising markets.
Endeavor Catalyst declined to touch upon fundraising exercise.
The fundraise comes at a second when many rising markets enterprise traders are going through headwinds: sluggish exits, fewer follow-on rounds, and a constrained world capital surroundings. But Endeavor Catalyst is betting that its mannequin can climate the downturn and scale promising and well-established corporations in these markets.
The agency, fashioned in 2012, solves a persistent hole in enterprise capital in growing markets: entry to growth-stage funding. Unlike conventional VCs, Endeavor Catalyst solely invests in founders chosen by Endeavor Global’s community — “high-impact entrepreneurs,” it calls them. It participates in fairness rounds of not less than $5 million (often at Series A to C levels) and make investments alongside different institutional VCs.
Endeavor Global identifies breakout founders early, supplies them with world mentorship and market entry, after which backs them (with Endeavor Catalyst) once they intend to boost capital, with out main or setting phrases (the fund doesn’t lead rounds or take board seats).
Linda Rottenberg, who co-founded the group in 1997, noticed one thing most traders didn’t: that ignored founders in rising and frontier markets might construct massive corporations if that they had the fitting backing. That early conviction, which began in Latin America, laid the groundwork for a worldwide community that has helped scale tons of of corporations lengthy earlier than traders paid consideration to their markets.
So far, the thesis seems to be paying off.
Across 4 funds, Endeavor Catalyst has raised over $540 million and made greater than 360 investments throughout 34 nations. That portfolio consists of 63 corporations now valued at over $1 billion, together with Turkey’s Insider, Nigeria’s Flutterwave, Colombia’s Rappi, UAE’s Tabby and Indonesia’s Carro.
Endeavor Catalyst additionally backs startups in much less energetic startup ecosystems throughout the U.S. and Europe. Polish AI startup ElevenLabs, Spain job platform Jobandtalent and U.S.’ Altruist are a couple of names.
Endeavor Catalyst’s fifth fund is launching in a really completely different local weather than its predecessors. After a growth yr in 2021, world enterprise capital slowed considerably by 2022 to 2024, with many crossover traders pulling again and follow-on capital drying up in rising markets.
Yet the New York-based investor has remained unusually energetic, particularly final yr. In This autumn 2024, the agency accomplished 13 new investments throughout seven markets—its third most energetic quarter ever, in keeping with its annual report.
The fund’s efficiency so far has additionally helped construct credibility. Over 30 of its portfolio corporations have exited through Stock Launch or acquisition, delivering returns and proving that high-growth outcomes are doable in markets outdoors the U.S., China, Europe and India. Names like Uruguay’s dLocal, Chile’s Cornershop and Tunisia’s Instadeep come to thoughts.
Still, Endeavor Catalyst’s success issues past its personal returns. As one of many few world VCs with a purely rising markets mandate and a built-in sourcing benefit, it performs an outsized position in proving the investability of tech markets outdoors Silicon Valley.
Endeavor Catalyst is backed by distinguished traders and founders, together with Bill Ford, Bill Ackman, Michael Dell, Pierre Omidyar and Reid Hoffman.
Similarly, founders and “Endeavor Entrepreneurs,” together with Marcos Galperin (MercadoLibre), David Velez (Nubank) and Marcin Zukowski (Snowflake), are additionally restricted companions (30% of the LPs throughout the primary 4 funds are additionally “Endeavor Entrepreneurs.”)
Firms like General Atlantic, Tiger Global, QED Investors, Kaszek Ventures, Prosus Ventures and Peak XV and STV are frequent native and worldwide co-investors in its startups.
