Endeavor Catalyst Raises $320M to Support Founders Outside Silicon Valley

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Endeavor Catalyst has raised $320 million for its fifth fund to back entrepreneurs beyond Bay Area tech hubs, investing globally with a focus on Europe and Latin America. Half of profits return to the nonprofit Endeavor to support future founders.
Endeavor Catalyst, the venture arm of the global nonprofit Endeavor, has closed its fifth fund with $320 million in capital commitments, raising the firm’s total assets under management to over $850 million. Founded to support entrepreneurs outside major technology centers like Silicon Valley, Endeavor Catalyst focuses on what it calls "elsewhere"—regions often overlooked by traditional venture capital firms that are increasingly concentrated in the Bay Area and focused on artificial intelligence startups.
Managed by Allen Taylor and Jackie Carmel, both longtime leaders at Endeavor Catalyst, the fund operates under Endeavor’s umbrella, which means half of the profits generated flow back to the nonprofit entity. As Linda Rottenberg, Endeavor’s co-founder, explains, this reinvestment helps sustain Endeavor’s mission of nurturing the next generation of global entrepreneurs.
Startups must first be accepted into Endeavor’s rigorous global network, which provides mentoring and access to a vast community of over 3,100 entrepreneurs across more than 50 countries. In 2025 alone, the network reviewed more than 10,000 candidates to admit 88 new entrepreneurs.
Once in the network, founders who raise institutional rounds of at least $5 million become eligible for Endeavor Catalyst’s co-investments, typically ranging from $1 million to $3 million, but never exceeding 10% of those rounds. With the new fund, the team plans to invest in 40 to 50 companies annually, reaching up to 150 companies in total.
Since its inception, Endeavor Catalyst has backed 437 companies in 44 markets, fostering 83 unicorns, 39 exits, and 11 IPOs. Notable portfolio companies include ElevenLabs, an AI voice technology firm valued at $22 billion; Italy’s Bending Spoons with a $26 billion market cap; New York-based Reflection AI valued at $25 billion; payments platform Checkout.com at $12 billion; African fintech Flutterwave valued at $3.2 billion; and AI coding startup Replit, valued at $9 billion.
The fund’s limited partners include prominent figures such as LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, and the Dutch investment firm Prosus. Approximately 30% of these investors are Endeavor-affiliated entrepreneurs themselves, including founders of Nubank, Revolut, and Checkout.com.
Geographically, 90% of Endeavor Catalyst’s investments are outside the U.S., with Europe being its fastest-growing region and Latin America remaining its largest. The fund also increasingly supports repeat founders, expecting 20% of investments from this new fund to go toward second-time founders within the network.
Amid a venture landscape often centered on Silicon Valley, Endeavor Catalyst’s strategy highlights the vast entrepreneurial talent "elsewhere" worldwide, utilizing local networks and mentorship to unlock opportunities often missed by more concentrated investors.
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