Endeavor Catalyst, the co-investment fund affiliated with global entrepreneurial network Endeavor Global, is raising a new $300 million fund, its fifth and largest fund yet, as it looks to deepen its bet on high-growth startups across Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia, TechCrunch has learned.

The new fund, according to sources, is still in early fundraising stages. It’s previous fund was its $292 million Fund IV closed in 2022. The firm has already begun early conversations with limited partners, including family offices, development finance institutions, and tech founders across its global network.

If successful, the fund would take Endeavor Catalyst’s total assets under management to well over $800 million, further cementing its position as one of the most active venture players across emerging markets.  

Endeavor Catalyst declined to comment on fundraising activity.

The fundraise comes at a moment when many emerging markets venture investors are facing headwinds: sluggish exits, fewer follow-on rounds, and a constrained global capital environment. But Endeavor Catalyst is betting that its model can weather the downturn and scale promising and well-established companies in these markets.

The firm, formed in 2012, solves a persistent gap in venture capital in developing markets: access to growth-stage funding. Unlike traditional VCs, Endeavor Catalyst only invests in founders selected by Endeavor Global’s network — “high-impact entrepreneurs,” it calls them. It participates in equity rounds of at least $5 million (usually at Series A to C stages) and invest alongside other institutional VCs.

Endeavor Global identifies breakout founders early, provides them with global mentorship and market access, and then backs them (with Endeavor Catalyst) when they intend to raise capital, without leading or setting terms (the fund does not lead rounds or take board seats). 

Linda Rottenberg, who co-founded the organization in 1997, saw something most investors didn’t: that overlooked founders in emerging and frontier markets could build large companies if they had the right backing. That early conviction, which started in Latin America, laid the groundwork for a global network that has helped scale hundreds of companies long before investors paid attention to their markets.

So far, the thesis appears to be paying off.

Across four funds, Endeavor Catalyst has raised over $540 million and made more than 360 investments across 34 countries. That portfolio includes 63 companies now valued at over $1 billion, including Turkey’s Insider, Nigeria’s Flutterwave, Colombia’s Rappi, UAE’s Tabby and Indonesia’s Carro.

Endeavor Catalyst also backs startups in less active startup ecosystems across the U.S. and Europe. Polish AI startup ElevenLabs, Spain job platform Jobandtalent and U.S.’ Altruist are a few names.

Endeavor Catalyst’s fifth fund is launching in a very different climate than its predecessors. After a boom year in 2021, global venture capital slowed significantly through 2022 to 2024, with many crossover investors pulling back and follow-on capital drying up in emerging markets. 

Yet the New York-based investor has remained unusually active, especially last year. In Q4 2024, the firm completed 13 new investments across seven markets—its third most active quarter ever, according to its annual report. 

The fund’s performance to date has also helped build credibility. Over 30 of its portfolio companies have exited via IPO or acquisition, delivering returns and proving that high-growth outcomes are possible in markets outside the U.S., China, Europe and India. Names like Uruguay’s dLocal, Chile’s Cornershop and Tunisia’s Instadeep come to mind.

Still, Endeavor Catalyst’s success matters beyond its own returns. As one of the few global VCs with a purely emerging markets mandate and a built-in sourcing advantage, it plays an outsized role in proving the investability of tech markets outside Silicon Valley.

Endeavor Catalyst is backed by prominent investors and founders, including Bill Ford, Bill Ackman, Michael Dell, Pierre Omidyar and Reid Hoffman.

Similarly, founders and “Endeavor Entrepreneurs,” including Marcos Galperin (MercadoLibre), David Velez (Nubank) and Marcin Zukowski (Snowflake), are also limited partners (30% of the LPs across the first four funds are also “Endeavor Entrepreneurs.”)

Firms like General Atlantic, Tiger Global, QED Investors, Kaszek Ventures, Prosus Ventures and Peak XV and STV are frequent local and international co-investors in its startups.