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Endeavor Miami receives $500K funding commitment from JPMorgan Chase for early-stage program and more

Nancy Dahlberg
Nancy Dahlberg
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By Nancy Dahlberg

Following its four $500,000 grants awarded to Miami-Dade organizations last year through the Tech Equity Miami Initiative, JPMorgan Chase  is boosting another worthy organization at the heart of the Miami tech community.

Endeavor Miami has received the half-million dollar commitment from JPMorgan Chase to support EndeavorLAB, the entrepreneurship organization’s program for underrepresented startup founders in South Florida aimed at helping them scale their businesses through digital transformation. Both Endeavor and JPMorgan share a commitment to support underrepresented founders, particularly those founded by Latinx, Black and female founders. The two-year investment is part of JPMorgan Chase’s five-year $10 million commitment to Tech Equity Miami, an initiative aiming to leverage the potential of tech to become a powerful accelerant of socioeconomic mobility.

What does this mean for Endeavor Miami and its EndeavorLAB program participants? With this investment, Endeavor Miami aims to reach 250 local founders by 2025, on a mission to build a more resilient and inclusive entrepreneurial community in South Florida.

Entrepreneurs selected for EndeavorLAB will continue to receive resources, including mentorship from industry veterans, educational workshops, and a peer support network. The program culminates in a demo day so founders can showcase their ventures to local stakeholders and potential investors.

In addition to supporting EndeavorLAB’s operations, the new financing will also fund a series of community-building events such as the Endeavor Miami Summit, Bootcamp, and Pitch Competition that will provide broader access to critical knowledge and resources within South Florida’s tech ecosystem.

Endeavor Miami, which was the first U.S. affiliate of the global Endeavor network and recently celebrated its 10 years of impact, supports entrepreneurs that together generated $900 million in revenue and employed more than 6,000 people and generate $900 million in annual revenue in 2023, the organization reports. Its EndeavorLAB was created to address the urgent need to bridge the startup-to-scaleup gap with effective support systems. 

In 2020, in partnership with the City of Miami, Endeavor Miami developed the EndeavorLAB model to support a cohort of female founders. That was followed by cohorts focused on Black and Latinx founders and to this day Endeavor holds three cohorts a year focused on early-stage  underrepresented founders. As of last fall, more than 150 Florida-based companies have gone through Endeavor’s EndeavorLAB and its Scaleup program.

“The partnership between JPMorgan Chase and Endeavor Miami will help drive innovation and inclusivity in South Florida’s entrepreneurial community. This extends beyond an economic investment – it cultivates a diverse and dynamic ecosystem that elevates underrepresented founders. At Endeavor Miami, we aim to build a more robust, inclusive, and equitable entrepreneurial landscape in South Florida,” said Endeavor Miami Managing Director Claudia Duran, in a statement.

And from an economic perspective, the need is large. Endeavor Insight’s research titled Miami’s Competitive Advantages in Entrepreneurship found that scaleup companies are critical to developing local economies because they generate 70% of the jobs once they hit moderate scale. But this research also revealed that 60% of startups in Miami were struggling, and only 1% employed 50 or more people after five years of operation.

“Small businesses are the fabric of our economy and the lifeblood of our shared city. Our goal through this commitment is to help more of Miami’s underrepresented entrepreneurs reach their full business potential,” said Maria Escorcia, Southeast Region Executive for Global Philanthropy at JPMorgan Chase. “We believe opportunities for success should be accessible to all and look forward to helping the participants of the EndeavorLAB program succeed.” 

This investment follows a string of local investments by JPMorgan Chase. As a key sponsor of Tech Equity Miami since 2022, JPMorgan Chase last summer deployed $2 million of its $10 million commitment to Tech Equity Miami by giving $500,000 grants to BrainStation, CodePath, Rebrand Cities, and YWCA of South Florida. Separately, JPMorgan has also partnered with Techstars for their accelerator programs for diverse founders, with Miami cohorts kicking off last year in Miami. “We are really committed to helping drive sustainable, real impact in the Miami ecosystem – helping founders achieve their definition of success,” said JPMorgan Market Executive Andrew Lane, in a previous interview with Refresh Miami.

Endeavor Miami’s team is shown here. At top of post: photo of Endeavor Miami Managing Director Claudia Duran and some of her team members meet with JPMorgan Chase leaders.

READ MORE IN REFRESH MIAMI

Nancy Dahlberg
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