San Francisco and New York – January 19, 2017 – Endeavor Catalyst II (“Fund II”), the second fund of Endeavor, is officially closed with nearly $85 million in commitments. Endeavor Catalyst is the innovative co-investment fund of Endeavor, set up to invest exclusively in Endeavor Entrepreneur-led companies and to sustain Endeavor’s long-term operations in a mission-aligned way. Fund II boasts 158 Limited Partners from 25 Endeavor local offices, of which 52 are Endeavor Entrepreneurs and 28 investors have invested at the $1 million+ Leadership Level.
“We could not be happier or more proud of our incredible investor base and Endeavor Catalyst community,” says Jackie Carmel, Managing Director of Endeavor Catalyst. “The 158 investors join the 100 existing Endeavor Catalyst I investors, bringing Endeavor Catalyst’s assets under management to over $100 million.”
“Much like Endeavor itself, Endeavor Catalyst started with a crazy idea: that we could build a vehicle that would both support our highest-impact entrepreneurs through investment while also sustaining Endeavor as an organization. As we close Fund II, counting many Endeavor Entrepreneurs among our investors, I am encouraged by our success to date and look forward to watching this crazy idea continue to unfold.” said Endeavor Co-founder and CEO Linda Rottenberg.
Endeavor Catalyst II was launched at the 7th Annual Global Entrepreneurship Summit hosted in Palo Alto and is anchored by a $10 million investment from Reid Hoffman, Co-founder and Executive Chairman of LinkedIn and Partner at Greylock. Fund II held its first close in January 2017 and made its first investment in March 2017 following the full deployment of Endeavor Catalyst I (“Fund I”). Fund I is fully invested in 48 companies across 17 Local Offices and has realized four exits to date, including Globant (Endeavor Argentina), Yemeksepeti (Endeavor Turkey) and RUMA (Endeavor Indonesia).
Fund II finished the year with 19 total investments across Latin America, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and even parts of the United States and Europe. Q4 2017 proved to be the busiest quarter in Endeavor Catalyst’s history, with ten new investments that ranged from financial services in Dubai to coding schools in Buenos Aires. Check out the full list of Endeavor Catalyst investments here.
“We’re continuing to see that great entrepreneurs from across the globe can attract top-tier equity investors,” shared Allen Taylor, Managing Director of Endeavor Catalyst, noting that world-class firms like TPG Growth and Sequoia Capital have been active co-investors with Endeavor. “Latin America continues to be a very active market for us – Brazil, Mexico, Colombia and Argentina, in particular,” said Taylor. “But this is becoming a truly global fund — with investments from Jakarta to Beirut to Cape Town to Detroit!”
Indeed, Endeavor Catalyst has been one of the most active international funds in Latin America for some time, and was recently recognized as one of the most active international funds in the Middle East.
For more information, please contact Jackie Carmel ([email protected]) and Allen Taylor ([email protected]).