Endeavor Catalyst closes oversubscribed $320 million Fund V, with $70 million from Greek investors

• Fund V closed at $320 million, Endeavor Catalyst's largest fund yet, above its $300 million target. Endeavor Catalyst now manages more than $850 million and has backed 437 companies in 44 markets, 83 of them valued at $1 billion or more.

• Greek investors committed $70 million, roughly 22% of the fund, more than any of the 40+ markets investing in it. All four of Greece's systemic banks are among them.

• Endeavor Catalyst has invested $25 million in 15 companies with founders of Greek origin, including AI companies Reflection AI, Runway and Arena.

Endeavor Catalyst, the venture capital fund of the global entrepreneur network Endeavor, has closed Fund V at $320 million, its largest fund yet. Investors from more than 40 markets took it past its $300 million target and brought Endeavor Catalyst's assets under management to more than $850 million. Greece committed the most of any contributing market: $70 million from 17 Greek investors, roughly 22% of the fund.

Venture capital remains concentrated in a few large hubs, even as exceptional founders emerge across a much wider map. Endeavor Catalyst exists to back them in the markets beyond Silicon Valley and China that Endeavor calls Elsewhere.

Greece now plays a part on both sides of that mission. Greek investors are financing founders across dozens of markets, and founders of Greek origin are building some of the most dynamic AI companies in the world.

Great founders are everywhere, even when capital isn't

Endeavor Catalyst started in 2012 with a first fund of $32 million and has grown tenfold since. Across its five funds, it has invested in 437 companies in 44 markets. Eighty-three of them, including Bending Spoons and ElevenLabs, are valued at $1 billion or more, and the portfolio counts 39 exits and 11 publicly listed companies.

Endeavor is a nonprofit that selects and supports high-impact founders, known as Endeavor Entrepreneurs, in more than 50 countries. Endeavor Catalyst invests only in their companies, and its rules are simple: when one of them raises a round led by an institutional investor, Endeavor Catalyst can join on the same terms, usually with $1 million to $3 million, alongside firms such as Sequoia Capital, Founders Fund and General Atlantic. Endeavor Entrepreneurs themselves make up about 30% of Fund V's investors, a cycle Endeavor calls the Multiplier Effect.

Fund V plans 40 to 50 investments a year, about one a week, mainly in founders from Elsewhere. It has already put more than $55 million into 30 companies, including Replit, Preply, Cashea and HappyRobot, and plans to invest another $25 million to $30 million by the end of 2026.

Greek capital goes global

Greece's commitment has grown with every fund: $5 million in Fund III in 2019, $24 million in Fund IV in 2022 and now $70 million, close to three times the previous commitment. In total, Greek investors have put about $100 million into Endeavor Catalyst.

The 17 Greek investors in Fund V include all four of the country's systemic banks, the institutions at the core of its financial system: Alpha Bank, Eurobank, National Bank of Greece and Piraeus Bank. Through Fund V, Greek capital now backs leading companies around the world, from Ukraine and Jordan to Nigeria and Spain, including companies with founders of Greek origin. It connects Greece's investment community with fast-growing companies and some of the most dynamic innovation ecosystems in the world.

"This commitment shows there is now a real appetite to connect with the world," said Panagiotis Karampinis, Managing Director of Endeavor Greece and Regional Managing Director for Europe at Endeavor. "The Greek ecosystem is more outward-looking and more ambitious than it used to be. It sees opportunities across the world, not only in Greece, and recognizes that success stories can come from anywhere."

Greek founders at the AI frontier

Greek founders are the other half of the story. Endeavor Catalyst has invested $25 million in 15 companies with founders of Greek origin. Five came in the decade to 2022. Ten have come in the four years since: twice as many companies in less than half the time.

The Greek diaspora is now building AI companies at a pace that stands out across the entire Endeavor network. Three of them, selected into the network through Endeavor Greece, are already Endeavor Catalyst investments.

Reflection AI, co-founded by Ioannis Antonoglou, builds frontier AI models with open weights, which developers can download, run and adapt themselves. In October it unveiled Beam, a model built for coding, complex reasoning and AI agents that carry out multi-step tasks on their own. About two years after its founding, it is valued at more than $25 billion.

Runway, co-founded by Anastasis Germanidis, pioneered AI video generation and now builds world models: AI systems that simulate interactive environments in real time, with uses from entertainment to robotics. It is valued at more than $5 billion.

Arena, co-founded by Anastasios Angelopoulos, runs a leading platform that evaluates and ranks AI models through real-world comparisons and user preferences, and is now expanding into evaluating AI agents. In October it raised a $200 million Series B at a $3.1 billion valuation, with Endeavor Catalyst Fund V participating, nearly doubling its valuation in about ten months.

In 2025 alone, Reflection AI and Runway raised more than $2.3 billion between them. More founders of Greek origin are following them into AI.

"For generations, Greek families pushed their children toward mathematics, physics and chemistry," Karampinis said. "Now that technology has become deeper and more research-driven, Greeks are taking off at a pace we haven't seen anywhere else."

Most of these companies will keep growing abroad for now, where AI is concentrated today. As Karampinis noted, the question is not whether their founders will come to Greece, but whether they want to connect with the country and have an impact here, and the answer is a clear yes. 

Endeavor Greece's role is to be the bridge between the two ecosystems. It helps these founders make the most of where they are building, and helps bring part of their success back to Greece: as investment in the next generation of Greek startups, mentoring for their founders, access to global networks, and proof of what Greek talent can build.

Greece 2030 and the Greek Innovation Campus

Endeavor Catalyst's returns go back to its investors, and a share of them also funds Endeavor's nonprofit work around the world, including in Greece. With that in mind, Endeavor Greece has presented Greece 2030, its plan built on five priorities: the community of high-impact Greek founders, wherever they live; the role of Greece and Athens in Europe; the AI and Culture initiative, which aims to put Greece at the center of the conversation on ethics and democracy in AI; education; and the Greek Innovation Campus.

The Campus aims to be a permanent home in Athens for founders, investors, researchers and international companies, as well as for those taking their first steps in the country. Its partners and location will be announced in the coming months.

"What the ecosystem lacks most today is a physical space where everyone can come together," Karampinis said. "We want the capital that returns to Endeavor Greece from Endeavor Catalyst to go mainly into it. That way, every Greek investment in the fund contributes to Greece's innovation ecosystem."