Endeavor CEO Linda Rottenberg
During a recent visit to Singapore from February 2-4, Endeavour CEO and Co-Founder Linda Rottenberg engaged with local entrepreneurs and leaders at a pivotal moment for the organisation. Her trip coincided with Endeavor’s first International Selection Panel (ISP) of the year, gathering founders from across Asia and beyond for the final stage of Endeavor’s global selection process.
This visit also marked the soft launch of Endeavor’s global hub in Singapore, ahead of an official launch later this year.
In an email interview with e27, Rottenberg shared her insights on the evolving landscape of entrepreneurship in the region.
“Being back in Singapore for our first ISP of the year feels like a shot of adrenaline,” she remarked. “The shift in founder mindset across Asia is unmistakable and a lot more optimistic than when I was here last year.”
She highlighted Singapore’s emergence as a global hub, attracting businesses such as GoTyme Bank and fostering a new generation of founders eager to scale their ventures internationally. According to Rottenberg, Southeast Asian (SEA) entrepreneurs have developed a remarkable discipline, thriving in challenging capital environments and honing their focus on unit economics and operational resilience.
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The following is an edited excerpt of our conversation with her.
After nearly three decades of building Endeavor, you have seen multiple waves of entrepreneurship worldwide. In your view, what distinguishes the small percentage of founders who go on to achieve the true 10x scale?
After almost thirty years of working with founders, one thing still holds true: “Crazy is a compliment.” The ones who scale 10x are willing to dream big and be misunderstood.
But dreaming big is not enough: It is also critical to build operating systems early, focusing on governance, culture, and a repeatable go-to-market strategy. While startup founders are understandably focused on product-market fit and unit economics, we have seen that the softer skills, such as culture and team building, are often what trip people up at scale. You cannot grow your company by 10x if you haven’t tackled these people-and-culture issues early on. The entrepreneurs who succeed also treat constraints as advantages and combine humility with the ability to attract top talent and capital.
Endeavor’s Global VC Trends for 2026 highlights shifting investor priorities globally. What signals are you seeing in Asia’s venture landscape right now that founders should be paying closest attention to?
We are entering what I would call a “Funding Spring”, but it is a cooler, more disciplined one. Seed deals are down sharply, while late-stage rounds are getting bigger. Capital is concentrating behind proven, resilient winners.
The biggest shift is what we call the profitability reset. Investors are no longer impressed by topline growth alone. They want to see EBITDA, strong margins, and defensible technology, especially in AI. In sectors such as fintech, consolidation is accelerating. A handful of deals now account for the majority of funding.
The message is clear: be the consolidator, or get consolidated.
In terms of AI, nearly all conversations in 2025 focused on foundational models, which are being built in Silicon Valley and China. The next wave of AI value creation, Endeavor believes, will be built in the application layer. Much of that innovation will come from elsewhere, including Asia.
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In relation to the previous question, Endeavor Catalyst has become a key part of your model for backing high-growth entrepreneurs. How has the role of long-term, founder-first capital evolved as markets become more selective?
In an environment where trust is scarce, founder-first capital matters more than ever. Endeavor Catalyst’s high-conviction, high-trust model backs founders as a co-investor, seeking to “crowd in” smart, connected capital. Our role is to look past the cycle’s noise and back the founder’s long-term vision.
We show up at pivotal moments, whether that means facilitating introductions, offering a sounding board for ideas, or helping provide “reverse due diligence” to help founders really get to know their potential investors. We aim to always do the right thing for the long-term interests of the founders and the company, even if that means pricing a new round of capital as a flat or down-round. There is too much “short-term thinking” in venture today; we aim to play for the very long-term.
In 2025 alone, we made over 320 investor introductions and invested in companies such as Astro and Staffinc in Indonesia. We remain focused on long-term outcomes, not market cycles.
Endeavor’s mission has always been about building multiplier effects—founders helping founders. How do you foster that kind of pay-it-forward ecosystem across very different markets in Asia?
At Endeavor, success is not just measured by valuation. It is measured by what we call the Multiplier Effect: how many others you lift as you rise.
We curate trust-based communities of the top one per cent of entrepreneurs and intentionally break down hierarchy. It is founder-to-founder mentorship, not top-down advice. From day one, there is an expectation to give back.
What is so meaningful is how it compounds. Role models such as Carro, GoTyme Bank, and Thunes do not just scale their own companies; they mentor, invest in, and inspire the next generation.
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When liquidity happens, that capital, experience, and confidence stay local.
Looking ahead, Endeavor is clearly doubling down on Asia at a pivotal time. What is your long-term vision for the region’s role in the global entrepreneurship movement over the next decade?
Asia is at a true inflexion point. We see Singapore serving as the regional nerve centre for capital, talent, and diaspora founders. With upcoming exits, secondaries, and IPOs, we anticipate liquidity that will fuel more multipliers.
But what excites me most is the shift beyond commerce and manufacturing. Deep tech is emerging at scale – robotics and physical AI in Japan, hardware innovation in Vietnam, superapps and integrated platforms serving hundreds of millions, and financial infrastructure that is being exported globally. We are watching R&D leave the lab and turn into real businesses.
Last year alone, we selected new Endeavor companies from Japan, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Indonesia. Founders such as Yoshi Yokokawa of Alpaca represent this next generation: global from day one, technically ambitious, and committed to paying their success forward.
Ultimately, Asia is emerging as the global home of platform-scale companies, and Endeavor’s role is to convert today’s “Funding Spring” into a decade of durable growth.
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Image Credit: Endeavor
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