Endeavor Catalyst, the co-investment fund affiliated with international entrepreneurial community Endeavor International, is elevating a brand new $300 million fund, its fifth and largest fund but, because it appears to deepen its wager on high-growth startups throughout Africa, Latin America, the Center East, and Southeast Asia, TechCrunch has discovered.
The brand new fund, in keeping with sources, remains to be in early fundraising phases. 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, growth finance establishments, and tech founders throughout its international community.
If profitable, the fund would take Endeavor Catalyst’s complete belongings beneath administration to properly over $800 million, additional cementing its place as some of the lively 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 dealing with headwinds: sluggish exits, fewer follow-on rounds, and a constrained international capital setting. However Endeavor Catalyst is betting that its mannequin can climate the downturn and scale promising and well-established firms in these markets.
The agency, shaped in 2012, solves a persistent hole in enterprise capital in creating markets: entry to growth-stage funding. In contrast to conventional VCs, Endeavor Catalyst solely invests in founders chosen by Endeavor International’s community — “high-impact entrepreneurs,” it calls them. It participates in fairness rounds of no less than $5 million (often at Collection A to C phases) and make investments alongside different institutional VCs.
Endeavor International identifies breakout founders early, gives them with international mentorship and market entry, after which backs them (with Endeavor Catalyst) after they intend to lift 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 neglected founders in rising and frontier markets might construct giant firms if that they had the best backing. That early conviction, which began in Latin America, laid the groundwork for a worldwide community that has helped scale a whole bunch of firms lengthy earlier than traders paid consideration to their markets.
Up to now, the thesis seems to be paying off.
Throughout 4 funds, Endeavor Catalyst has raised over $540 million and made greater than 360 investments throughout 34 international locations. That portfolio consists of 63 firms 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 lively startup ecosystems throughout the U.S. and Europe. Polish AI startup ElevenLabs, Spain job platform Jobandtalent and U.S.’ Altruist are a number of names.
Endeavor Catalyst’s fifth fund is launching in a really completely different local weather than its predecessors. After a growth 12 months in 2021, international enterprise capital slowed considerably via 2022 to 2024, with many crossover traders pulling again and follow-on capital drying up in rising markets.
But the New York-based investor has remained unusually lively, particularly final 12 months. In This autumn 2024, the agency accomplished 13 new investments throughout seven markets—its third most lively quarter ever, in keeping with its annual report.
The fund’s efficiency up to now has additionally helped construct credibility. Over 30 of its portfolio firms have exited through IPO or acquisition, delivering returns and proving that high-growth outcomes are attainable in markets exterior the U.S., China, Europe and India. Names like Uruguay’s dLocal, Chile’s Cornershop and Tunisia’s Instadeep come to thoughts.
Nonetheless, Endeavor Catalyst’s success issues past its personal returns. As one of many few international 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 exterior Silicon Valley.
Endeavor Catalyst is backed by distinguished traders and founders, together with Invoice Ford, Invoice Ackman, Michael Dell, Pierre Omidyar and Reid Hoffman.
Equally, 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.”)
Companies like Common Atlantic, Tiger International, QED Traders, Kaszek Ventures, Prosus Ventures and Peak XV and STV are frequent native and worldwide co-investors in its startups.
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