Endeavor Catalyst Closes Fifth Fund at $320 Million to Back Global Founders Outside Silicon Valley

Endeavor Catalyst has closed its fifth venture fund with $320 million in capital commitments, bringing the firm’s total assets under management to more than $850 million. The capital raise is aimed at supporting founders outside the San Francisco Bay Area who face the risk of being overlooked as venture capital increasingly concentrates on Silicon Valley artificial intelligence companies.

The fund serves as the venture arm of Endeavor, a New York-based global nonprofit that has spent 30 years supporting entrepreneurs outside major technology hubs. Managing partner Allen Taylor, a 20-year veteran of the organization, and managing director Jackie Carmel, who joined 12 years ago, lead the fund alongside a 16-person team.

A Unique Profit-Sharing Model

Endeavor itself acts as the official general partner of the fund. According to Linda Rottenberg, who co-founded Endeavor and helped establish Endeavor Catalyst in 2012, this structure ensures that half of the fund’s profits return directly to the nonprofit. This mechanism allows every investment to help fund and support the next generation of global entrepreneurs.

Gaining access to the Endeavor network involves a highly selective screening process. Once admitted, founders gain access to mentoring and a broad international network. Last year, the organization screened more than 10,000 candidates and selected 88. The network currently includes more than 3,100 entrepreneurs across more than 50 countries.

Investment Strategy and Portfolio Performance

Endeavor Catalyst co-invests alongside other institutional investors. When an Endeavor-backed founder raises a funding round of at least $5 million led by an outside institutional investor, the fund can participate on the same terms. These investments typically range from $1 million to $3 million and are capped at 10% of the total round.

With the fifth fund, the team plans to make 40 to 50 investments annually, targeting up to 150 companies in total over the next few years. Across its five funds to date, Endeavor Catalyst has backed 437 companies in 44 markets. The portfolio currently includes 83 startups valued at $1 billion or more, alongside 39 exits and 11 initial public offerings.

Some of the venture arm's most valuable holdings include:

• ElevenLabs, an AI voice tool developer originally founded in Poland, recently valued at $22 billion in a secondary sale.
• Bending Spoons, an Italy-based conglomerate that went public in July and holds a $26 billion market cap.
• Reflection AI, a New York-based firm founded by former Google DeepMind researchers, valued at $25 billion.
• Checkout.com, founded by a Swiss entrepreneur and valued last year at $12 billion.
• Flutterwave, an African payments infrastructure company valued at $3.2 billion this summer.
• Replit, an AI coding startup co-founded by Amjad Masad, which secured a $9 billion valuation earlier this year.

Global Reach and Backers

Approximately 90% of Endeavor Catalyst's investments are located outside the United States. While Latin America remains its largest investment region, Europe is the fastest-growing, recording 12 new investments in the first half of 2026 compared to 14 during the entirety of last year.

The new fund is backed by 400 limited partners, including LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, and the Dutch investment group Prosus. Roughly 30% of the fund's backers are Endeavor founders themselves, including the founders of Nubank, Revolut, and Checkout.com.

Repeat founders are also taking up a larger share of the fund's capital. Taylor noted that approximately 14% of Endeavor Catalyst's fourth fund went to seed or Series A companies started by repeat Endeavor founders. The team expects this figure to rise to 20% under the fifth fund.