By Nancy Dahlberg
Miami sits at the gateway of a global venture capital trend, yes, even during a VC winter.
About 70% of US venture capital still goes to companies in the SF Bay Area, New York and Boston. But did you know the US slice of venture capital globally is shrinking? With Miami being arguably (or perhaps not arguably) the most global of US startup cities, the gateway to Latin America, and increasing a US expansion launchpad for Israeli and European startups, that’s a trend the Magic City will benefit from.
At the Endeavor Summit hosted by Endeavor Miami this week, Endeavor Catalyst Managing Partner Allen Taylor revealed the data to back this up. In 2003, he said, over 90% of all venture capital went to US companies, primarily in Silicon Valley. In 2013, that percentage was down to 70%, and the jump in global VCs was largely driven mostly by China and India.
A decade later, by 2023, we began to see “an explosion” of venture capital being invested everywhere, Taylor said. Indeed, just 40% of worldwide funding went to U.S. businesses, and the other 60% came from the rest of the world, including in Latin America, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Europe.
“The best investors realized what Endeavor has always known, which is talent is globally distributed. There’s amazing entrepreneurs all over the world,” he told the audience of several hundred founders, investors and others gathered at the Rubell Museum for the summit that featured talks throughout the day on Tuesday.
The Endeavor Catalyst Fund directs capital to startups that are part of the global Endeavor network. Endeavor, founded in 1997, is a global entrepreneurship support organization. Endeavor entered the US in 2013, starting with Miami. This week Endeavor is also holding its Endeavor Selection Panel in Miami, 10 years after the first one here in 2013. At the ISPs, they interview and select entrepreneurs from around the world to become part of the global network.
Endeavor Catalyst has made 330 co-investments into startups in more than 30 countries. The fund makes investments of up to $2 million in every Endeavor company as they go to market, co-investing with leading venture capital funds, Taylor said.
Of those 330 companies Endeavor Catalyst has invested in over the years, about 40% of them were in Latin America, the largest grouping. Endeavor Catalyst aslo has big footprints in the Middle East, Europe and Asia. Just 9% are in US and Canadian companies, he said. Of those 330, Endeavor has seen 26 exits, and 90% of the companies are still operating.
One of every six of Endeavor Catalysts’ portfolio companies are now unicorns, private venture-backed companies valued at $1 billion or more. And the unicorn count also points to the global shift in venture capital. In 2013, there were just 39 unicorns, all in the US. Fast forward a decade and there are now 1,400 unicorns globally, with half from the US, Taylor said.
A recently released Kauffman Fellows report bears this out. The Kauffman Fellows Fund Return Index of the 1,400 unicorns shows that of those, about 25% were from California, 25% from the rest of the US, 25% from China, and 25% from the rest of the world, he said.
More evidence: The Forbes Midas list of the 100 top investors. Taylor said 25 years ago, everyone on the list was from Silicon Valley. This year’s list: 27 of the 100 investors were outside the US. “The number one most featured investment in the world on this new list, featured seven times, was Nubank of Brazil, the biggest digital bank in the world,” said Taylor. “I think this is a mindset shift.”
Taylor’s predictions for 2025 are largely globally powered too. He believes venture activity in the Middle East, particularly Saudi Arabia, UAE and Egypt, will continue to thrive and grow. He expects there will be an “absolute explosion” of space technology from all over the world. He expects Eastern Europe, already a hub for artificial intelligence talent and jobs, will be a go-to place to invest in the AI sector, primarily Romania, Estonia and Poland. And he believes the price of Bitcoin will reach $150K, thanks partly to the surging adoption in Saudi Arabia, Latin America and Southeast Asia.
In another talk during the Endeavor Summit, Shu Nyatta, co-founder and Managing Partner of Bicycle Capital, drilled down on the potential in Latin America and said the region is still missing from the global conversation. The belief that “you can’t make money in Latin America” is the past, he said. “You can make a lot of money in Latin America,” he said, citing the region’s leadership in fintech and Nubank’s success in particular.
“Focus on large underserved markets, invest in leaders, and wait. Be patient,” said Nyatta. “I chose Latin America and I am betting my career on it because I think it’s where the future is being built.”
Read more about the Endeavor Summit and other Art Week events here.
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