Endeavor Selects 13 Entrepreneurs from Seven Countries at the Second Virtual International Selection Panel

Endeavor selected 13 entrepreneurs leading seven companies from seven countries at its Second Virtual International Selection Panel (ISP), welcoming the first company from the newly launched Endeavor Colorado office. Endeavor now supports 2,059 entrepreneurs leading 1,285 companies in 37 markets around the world (read more about the newly selected entrepreneurs below).

The Virtual ISP was presented by Softbank, with additional support from AXA, Bain, Cooley, EY, HSBC, Silicon Valley Bank, and Zoom.

Held eight times per year, the ISP is the culmination of a rigorous multi-step selection process to identify high-impact entrepreneurs who demonstrate the potential to leverage Endeavor’s resources and mentorship to create large-scale wealth and jobs, and are committed to reinvesting their time and money in their local entrepreneurship ecosystems to help others take off. Beyond the selection process, ISPs are also unique international gatherings that bring entrepreneurs, dedicated business leaders and staff together across borders and industries, and allow them to make connections they may never have otherwise.

“As the world faces this unprecedented global challenge, entrepreneurs have a critical role to play. That’s why Endeavor remains committed to selecting and supporting those that can make the highest impact,” said Endeavor CEO Linda Rottenberg. “From the panelists who gave their time, to Endeavor’s dedicated staff that helped take this event virtual, to the exceptional entrepreneur candidates, the second Virtual ISP truly gave life to Endeavor’s mission.”

Over the course of three days at the Virtual ISP, panelists utilized Zoom breakout rooms to interview a small group of high-caliber entrepreneur candidates about their businesses. In “deliberation rooms” — private Zoom meetings with only Endeavor staff and panelists — panelists evaluated the entrepreneurs on their potential for high-impact growth, discussed which candidates should be selected to become Endeavor Entrepreneurs, then voted unanimously to select the newest Endeavor Entrepreneurs.

“This ISP won’t be soon forgotten. As we connected across screens from our offices and homes, the distance seemed irrelevant. At this tumultuous time, it felt good to come together for something we believe in, and there was something soulful that coursed through our conversations,” said Patrick McGinnis, Founder & Managing Partner of Dirigo Advisors, who served as a panelist at the ISP.

Other panelists included: Nick Beim (Venrock), Joanna Rees (West), Bill Lautman (Nexus Capital), Chris Zook (Bain), Lisa Shalett (Goldman Sachs), Diego Piancentini (KKR, Fmr. Amazon), Edgar Bronfman, Jr. (Accretive, Waverly; Chairman, Endeavor Global), Gary Swart (Polaris Partners), Lynda Applegate (Harvard Business School), Henri Asseily (Leap Ventures) and Jeff Harbach (Kauffman Fellows). 

As part of Endeavor’s network, the entrepreneurs selected at the Virtual ISP will gain access to comprehensive, strategic, global support services, including introductions to local and international business mentors, investors, and volunteers from Fortune 500 consulting firms who will help them address key needs.

Endeavor Entrepreneurs have had a significant track record of impact. Endeavor Entrepreneurs have created 3 million jobs, generated $20 billion in revenue in 2018, and help build sustainable growth models in their home countries.

Learn more about the companies and entrepreneurs selected below.

COLORADO

Entrepreneur: Mark Frank
Company: SonderMind
Description: SonderMind is a U.S. based mental health platform that gives individuals access to high-quality, in-network therapists and manages the complexities of therapists’ private practice compliance and billing. SonderMind’s network of highly engaged, digitally connected therapists serve as a platform to solve the behavioral health problems for payors, employers, medical practices and health systems. SonderMind, which closed a $27M Series B in March 2020 to accelerate growth, is already serving more than 3,000 individuals and 400 therapists in 4 US markets.

GREECE

Entrepreneurs: Drew Delis, Chris Mohoney, Rob Wells & Michael Petychakis
Company: Orfium
Description: Orfium is a music rights management and artist discovery platform offering technology solutions for rights-holders. The platform identifies online copyright violations and monetizes content for producers, publishers and record companies that concede the right of use to various digital distribution channels such as YouTube. The algorithms of artificial intelligence and learning engineering that Orfium has developed utilize both the content (melody and image) and the descriptions, lyrics or comments of users to locate possible melodies reproduced on videos that belong to clients. Orfium’s clients include publishers such as Warner Chappell, Sony/ATV, EMI and Kobalt, and record companies such as Warner Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and Red Bull Records.

INDONESIA

Entrepreneurs: Andree Susanto & Edwin Wibowo
Company: Waresix
Description: Waresix is a logistics platform for freight-forwarding, warehouse, and land transportation. The platform matches unused warehouse space with users in need of such facilities, and looks to capitalize on the demand for flexible warehousing given the booming e-commerce market in the country. Waresix provides a solution for dynamic warehousing strategy that allows customers, retailer, distributor, and manufacturer to quickly adapt to variable demand. To date, the Waresix has on boarded 75,000 trucks, 200 warehouses, and is taking on Indonesia’s $240B logistics industry. 

JORDAN

Entrepreneur: Adey Salamin
Company: OpenSooq.com
Description: Opensooq is a leading classifieds platform in the Middle East & North Africa region, where sellers can offer products and services to millions of users online without intermediaries. Buyers can browse a wide variety of goods and services, including cars (automotive), Real Estate, Electronics and much more. OpenSooq is able to optimize the listing process and generate real-time user analysis to increase user engagement and can create  intelligent personalization filters and targeted offers for an effortless browsing experience for buyers. 

MEXICO

Entrepreneurs: Billy Rovzar & Fernando Rovzar
Company: Lemon Studios
Description: Lemon Studios is a content creation and production company that has been putting the Mexican entertainment industry on the map. Lemon releases high-quality Spanish-language film and television content both for network and cable television, as well as online platforms such as Netflix and HBO. The company now produces over 200 hours of content per year for clients such as Univision, Televisa, Netflix, and HBO, and has gained international recognition, including an International Emmy award for its HBO drama Sr. Avila and the “Certain Regard” prize at the Cannes Film Festival for Después de Lucia.

TURKEY

Entrepreneurs: Tolga Tatari & Ahmet Emre Sarı
Company: Akinon
Description: Akinon is a fast-growing, 3-year-old Turkish startup offering breakthrough ecommerce technology to an important market segment. Its clients are large retailers with approximately 50-60 stores and $1M-$50M annual online sales. These established brands struggle with switching from multichannel to omnichannel platforms. Akinon has developed a proprietary application, Omnitron, which streamlines and simplifies the process. It is 100% cloud-based, offering clients lower costs and faster set-up times. Its average “go to market” periods are 85 days versus 225 for competitors, which include Magento and SAP. Akinon’s customers include Marks & Spencer, GAP, and Sephora

URUGUAY

Entrepreneur: Santiago Zabala
Company: Trafilea
Description: Trafilea is an e-commerce group that operates intimate apparel fashion brands, whose mission is to help women love their bodies and embrace themselves for who they are. Its first marketplace, Shapermint, is the best place to buy high-quality shapewear online. Founded in 2014; the company now has operations in 14 countries and is the fastest-growing intimates’ retailer in the world, with $100M+ in sales in just 16 months. Leveraging marketplace positioning, operational efficiencies, customer data, and its existing customer base, Trafilea is going to introduce new marketplaces, branded products, and value-added services to capture a portion of the $30B+ worldwide intimate apparel market.