14 New High-Impact Entrepreneurs Join Endeavor in October

This month, Endeavor selected 14 entrepreneurs leading 8 companies from 6 markets: seven companies at our 48th virtual International Selection Panel (ISP) held October 21-23, 2024, and one at a separate “come back” panel for entrepreneurs who attended a previous ISP (details below). The organization now supports 2,649 entrepreneurs leading 1,617 companies in 45+ countries around the world.

Each ISP is the culmination of a rigorous, multi-step selection journey to identify high-impact entrepreneurs from all over the world. We seek founders with the greatest growth potential and those who commit to reinvesting time and resources into their local entrepreneurial ecosystems to help build the next generation of entrepreneurs, sparking a Multiplier Effect. During the ISP, our panelists interviewed entrepreneurs about their businesses and evaluated their potential for high-impact growth. The panelists then discuss the candidates and vote on whether to select them to become Endeavor Entrepreneurs.

Panelists

As always, we had an outstanding group of panelists who were given the task of selecting the next great leaders. Thank you to:

Edgar Bronfman Jr., Accretive LLC (Endeavor Global Board Chair); Martín Escobari, General Atlantic (Endeavor Global Board Chair); Adetayo Bamiduro, MAX (Endeavor Entrepreneur); Andrea Baronchelli, Aspire (Endeavor Entrepreneur); Herve Cuviliez, Id4 Ventures (Endeavor Entrepreneur); Vincent Tjendra, ASTRO (Endeavor Entrepreneur); Luis Lora, Globo Ventures (Endeavor Global Ambassador); Christopher Schroeder, Next Billion Ventures; Drew McElroy, Transfix; Joanna Lambert, Olo; Shari Loessberg, MIT Sloan; Susan Saideman, Former Amazon.

Our New Entrepreneurs

Learn more about the entrepreneurs and the innovative companies they are building.

Carousell

Entrepreneur: Siu Rui Quek
Endeavor Office: Singapore

What they do: Founded in 2012, Carousell is Southeast Asia’s largest classifieds and “recommerce” marketplace on a mission to make secondhand the first choice. It is a mobile-first platform that makes selling and buying secondhand items simple, fun, and trusted for tens of millions of users. Carousell operates across seven markets in Southeast Asia, has raised more than $300 million in equity, and reached a valuation of over $1 billion.

Who they are: Siu Rui Quek was inspired to start a tech startup after a one-year internship and study program in Silicon Valley while at the National University of Singapore. There, he developed a passion for technology and its potential to make a meaningful impact at scale. He returned to Singapore and started tinkering with different products with two of his schoolmates, eventually landing on the idea of Carousell as a way to solve a problem they had with selling their old gadgets. They built a prototype and joined the Startup Weekend hackathon where they realized hundreds of people expressed interest in using what they had built. The team feels like it’s been a 12-year-long hackathon since then—having the privilege to scale through phases of finding product market fit in Singapore, scaling regionally, monetizing and consolidating our leadership position, and now transforming the business to unlock new engines of growth via “recommerce.”

Incode

Entrepreneur: Ricardo Amper

What they do: Founded in San Francisco in 2015 by Ricardo Amper, Incode is revolutionizing the digital identity space, leveraging advanced machine learning and biometric solutions to minimize fraud. Incode’s platform is trusted by leading industries—financial institutions, hospitality sectors, and government agencies—to provide secure and automated identity proofing. With a vision of “One Identity Everywhere”, Incode is reshaping the future of digital identity, empowering people to control their information while securely accessing services around the world. Now valued at $1.25 billion, Incode has achieved unicorn status and is recognized as a global leader in identity verification.

Who they are: Ricardo, founder & CEO of Incode, is a serial entrepreneur with over two decades of experience founding and scaling disruptive, AI-driven companies. He previously founded La Burbuja Networks, a social media company, and Amco Foods, a drink company acquired by Grupo Bimbo. As CEO and CTO of Grupo Amco, he implemented cutting-edge big data and machine learning systems that transformed the company, leading to its acquisition by Brenntag.

nesto

Entrepreneurs: Malik Yacoubi, Damien Charbonneau, and Karim Benabdalla
Endeavor Office: Canada

What they do: Founded in 2018, nesto is a digital mortgage company that streamlines the entire residential and commercial mortgage process for borrowers and financial institutions in Canada. Nesto has processed billions in mortgage volume annually, serving over 400,000 customers to date. The company has raised more than $150 million in funding, including its most recent $80 million Series C round completed in December 2022.

Who they are: Malik and Karim have been co-founding businesses for over 24 years, starting with a retirement home portal while studying at Université Laval in the late 1990s. Malik and Karim studied marketing and engineering, respectively, and launched a web development business that grew into a successful web hosting company. In 2004, they co-founded Mobilito, one of Canada’s first mobile marketing firms, and later Paymentpin, a leader in mobile carrier billing. Paymentpin was acquired by Boku in 2012, and Mobilito by Cossette in 2010, where Malik became Chief Digital Officer for eight years. Karim has over 20 years of IT experience and managed remote teams for companies like Boku and Creditshop, while also co-founding Residences411.com, Mobilito, and Ecomsys, building over 100 e-commerce websites and systems. Damien, an industrial engineering graduate from École Polytechnique de Montréal, began his career at Aéroports de Montréal and later became a consultant at McKinsey, focusing on industries like energy and banking. He then joined Diagram Ventures, helping launch tech companies and pitching ideas to entrepreneurs—including Malik and Karim.

Entrepreneur spotlight – Why we’re excited:

Nesto is challenging an industry dominated by legacy financial institutions. Currently, Canada’s “Big 6” banks hold 80% of all mortgage debt, leaving borrowers with limited options and transparency in the process. Moreover, all stakeholders in the industry—including those legacy institutions—stand to benefit from leveraging AI and other cutting-edge technology in their operations.

As we’ve gotten to know Malik, Karim, and Damien, it became clear that they are the right team to democratize and enhance the Canadian mortgage industry. Their recent landmark acquisition of CMLS Financial—a mortgage lender five times its size—has expanded nesto’s portfolio to over $60 billion in mortgages under management.

This team combines the entrepreneurial vision of serial founders with the strategic insights of a career consultant, offering immense value to the Canadian ecosystem and Endeavor at large. We’re excited to see what’s next for this company!

Gitika Pahwa
Associate, Entrepreneur Selection

Nium

Entrepreneur: Prajit Nanu
Endeavor Office: Singapore

What they do: Founded in 2014, Nium is a payments infrastructure company specializing in real-time, cross-border payments. The company enables banks, fintechs, and other businesses to collect, convert, and disburse funds efficiently and cost-effectively in 220+ countries and 100+ currencies. Additionally, Nium’s growing card issuance business is available in 30+ countries. The company has raised over $330 million in total funding, including a $200 million Series D in July 2021 and a $50 million Series E in June 2024.

Who they are: Nium is led by Prajit, an Indian entrepreneur with professional experience across three continents. Prior to starting Nium, Prajit worked in sales, solution development, and consulting roles for multinational firms including WNS Global Services and TMF Group. In 2013, he experienced a personal challenge paying for accommodations when planning an international trip. This experience inspired Prajit to launch a consumer remittances app, Instarem, which would grow to become Nium.

Onfly

Entrepreneurs: Marcelo Linhares, Elvis Soares, and Elvimar Soares
Endeavor Office: Brazil

What they do: Founded in 2019, Onfly is one of Latin America’s leading corporate travel platforms. It consolidates various solutions for managing corporate travel into a single system, including bookings, expenses, and compliance. The company is trusted by over 1,600 companies and has raised a total of approximately $17 million across two rounds, including its most recent $16 million Series A round completed in June 2023.

Who they are: Marcelo, Elvis, and Elvimar combined their expertise in digital operations, corporate travel, and finance to create Onfly and tackle inefficiencies in the corporate travel sector. Marcelo, with a computer engineering degree from PUC Minas, managed digital operations at Lema21 and Constance, where he helped expand the brand from 24 to 110 stores. Elvis, an MBA graduate from Fundação Getulio Vargas, started in e-commerce at UOL and later became Director of Expansion at Constance, overseeing corporate growth and travel logistics. Elvimar, also known as Manzinho, holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting with an MBA in cost management from Universidade Paulista. He previously served as CFO at Sogefi Filtration before becoming a Constance franchisee, where he collaborated with his future co-founders. The idea for Onfly emerged from the travel inefficiencies Marcelo and Elvis encountered, leading them to partner with Elvimar to streamline corporate travel management.

Qida

Entrepreneur: Oriol Fuertes Cabassa
Endeavor Office: Spain

What they do: Founded in 2018, Qida offers private and public home care services, along with specialized insurance solutions for elderly and dependent individuals across Spain. The company has served 12,000+ patients to date. With more than $22 million raised across three funding rounds—including a $17 million Series A in March 2023, the largest in Spain’s senior care sector—Qida is a leader in home-based care solutions.

Who they are: His career began with over eight years as a consultant at McKinsey, where he specialized in public healthcare in the UK and Spain, as well as the MedTech sector. During his time there, Oriol played a key role in growing and co-leading McKinsey’s healthcare practices in both countries. His deep understanding of public health dynamics was further shaped by a year-long secondment with one of his clients, the Catalan Government, where he served as an advisor to the Vice-Minister of Health. Oriol has remained actively involved with the Catalan Government, serving as an advisor on integrated care for over five years now. Oriol identified four key gaps in Spain’s health and social care systems during his career: rising demand for services due to an aging population, the strain on the public healthcare system, insufficient staffing and management for caregivers, and the need for banks and insurers to better serve the senior market. Qida was founded on Oriol’s belief that many healthcare services can be delivered effectively at home by caregivers with the support of technology.

Qoala

Entrepreneur: Harshet Lunani
Endeavor Office: Indonesia

What they do: Founded in 2018, Qoala is one of the leading insurtech players in Southeast Asia (SEA). Tackling the digitization and optimization of the $90 billion+ Southeast Asian insurance industry, Qoala has established itself as a major player in Indonesia and Thailand, with operations across Vietnam, Malaysia, and the Philippines as well. The company focuses on distributing insurance; easing and optimizing the lives of 75,000+ insurance agents by providing them with the tools they need to sell insurance effectively, as well as embedding insurance into e-commerce businesses to make it accessible to the wider SEA population. Qoala also owns an insurance carrier in Indonesia, opening doors for more synergy and economic optimization. Qoala is now a team of 485 full-time employees and has raised over $130 million in funding, most recently a $47 million Series C in March 2024 co-led by PayPal Ventures and MassMutual.

Who they are: Qoala is led by Harshet, an experienced entrepreneur in the Southeast Asian insurtech industry. Harshet began his career in investment banking and consulting, and then transitioned to entrepreneurship and set up BIMA Indonesia—one of the first and largest insurtech companies in the country backed by Leapfrog and Allianz X. He launched Qoala after gaining experience in the industry and witnessing the potential for disruption in the distribution of insurance.

Endeavor also held a selection panel for one company that attended a previous ISP and was invited to come back to a second panel, following the achievement of select business milestones. This month, we proudly announce the selection of three remarkable founders as Endeavor Entrepreneurs. Throughout the rigorous ISP process, they demonstrated exceptional potential for high-impact growth and a steadfast commitment to nurturing their local entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Panelists

Endeavor would like to thank our panelists from this selection panel:

Guilherme Azevedo, Alice (Endeavor Entrepreneur); Mohamad Ballout, Kitopi (Endeavor Entrepreneur); Alison Light, Lightweight; Drew McElroy, Transfix.

Our New Entrepreneurs

Learn more about Nima, Paolo, Rafael, and their innovative company, minu.

minu

Entrepreneurs: Nima Pourshasb, Paolo Rizzi and Rafael Niell
Endeavor Office: Mexico

What they do: Minu is the leading employee benefits platform in Mexico, focused on improving the financial health of workers. Its value proposition includes financial education, instant access to salary, high-yield savings options, and benefits that promote physical and mental health. Currently, minu collaborates with more than 1,500 companies and supports more than one million employees across the country. It offers a subscription model for SMEs and an integrated transactional solution for large corporations and banking partners such as Citi Banamex and BanCoppel. Among its clients are some of Mexico’s leading employers, including Grupo Modelo, H&M, Liverpool, Capgemini, Rappi, Smartfit, and Royalton.

Who they are: Nima, born in Iran and raised in Spain, brings extensive experience in building and scaling tech companies across countries, starting with his first venture, FormaFina, which expanded to five Latin American markets. In Mexico, he served as Head of Retail Banking at Banco Sabadell. Rafael, with a background in consulting and finance, started at Oliver Wyman in 2006, becoming a partner in 2014 before joining Banco Sabadell as Chief Operating Officer in 2015. In 2019, he co-founded and became COO of minu. Paolo, an e-commerce pioneer, co-founded a company at 19 that was listed on the Italian Stock Market. He later launched the world’s first mobile auction platform and provided e-commerce technology to clients like A.C. Milan and the Vatican. In 2012, he was invited to Mexico to develop a fraud prevention system for banks using machine learning and later joined minu as CTO.

From providing homecare services for elderly and dependent individuals across Spain to making buying secondhand easy in Southeast Asia, this month’s new companies embody the diverse, yet consistently high-impact businesses that continue to join Endeavor’s community.

Stay tuned for next month’s batch of high-impact entrepreneurs and change-makers.