y Guillaume Pousaz,
Co-founder & CEO,
Checkout.com (UAE).
THE MEGA-ROUND
GOES GLOBAL
With companies staying private
longer, and all-time-high amounts
of capital flowing into venture
capital and private equity funds, we
have seen the rise of the so-called
"mega-round" in our markets.
ese rounds of $100mm+ in a single
financing have been well documented
in the United States and China over
the past few years.
In 2019, the mega-round officially
went global, spreading across Latin
America, Europe, the Middle East
North Africa + Turkey (MENAT)
region, and Southeast Asia. In
Endeavor Catalyst's own portfolio, we
witnessed ten rounds of $100mm+ in
the past twelve months. is compares
with one one such round in 2018:
CABIFY'S $160mm Series E.
e arrival of Softbank to Latin
America, with the launch of their $5bn
Innovation Fund in March 2019, was
certainly an important driver of this
trend. Softbank has participated in six
out of the ten mega-rounds raised by
Endeavor Catalyst companies over the
past twelve months, including leading
a $1bn investment in Colombia's
RAPPI (April 2019), a $231mm
investment in Brazil's
CREDITAS (July
2019), and a $150mm investment into
Argentina's
UALA (November 2019).
at said, Softbank is not the
only player when it comes to these
mega-rounds. General Atlantic
— a longtime partner of Endeavor
who has previously invested in
notable Endeavor success stories
like
MERCADOLIBRE (Argentina),
YEMEKSEPTI.COM (Turkey) and
PROPERTY FINDER (UAE) — also
had an incredibly active year in Latin
