:quality(75)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/bloomberglinea/BQA4SXPAWRDF5NSWBCFUSGREYM.png "Andrew Endicott and Miguel Armaza of Gilgamesh Ventures")
Miami — Miguel Armaza and Andrew Endicott announced this week that they’ve recently launched Gilgamesh Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm based in New York City and focused on fintech, with a focus on both the U.S. and Latin America. To date, the firm has raised just over $9 million.
Armaza, who is originally from Bolivia, earned his MBA from Wharton at the University of Pennsylvania and has been immersed in the fintech world since graduation. Endicott, is the co-founder of Petal, an American fintech that’s raised north of $700 million in debt and equity. He left the company in fall of 2021 to work on Gilgamesh full-time.
“I realized that a lot of the growth of the financial industry was going to come from fintechs,” Armaza said. He also runs a fintech newsletter and podcast, both of which are called “Fintech Leaders.” Today, many of Gilgamesh’s LP’s are founders that Armaza has interviewed over the years.
Gilgamesh will target non-lead checks in early-stage companies (pre-seed through Series A), along with follow-on investments in select portfolio companies in later-rounds.
While the firm is located in the U.S., Armaza said that more than two thirds of their investments to date have been in Latin American fintechs. The company has deployed about $2.7 million in capital across 16 deals.
“So far, 86% of our investments include diverse founders, along with 20% including female founders,” Armaza said in a statement.
Armaza also finds that Gilgamesh’s physical presence in the U.S. has been an asset to his portfolio companies.
“Being in NYC is extremely helpful for our portfolio companies because we can be this bridge for our fintech companies from both the U.S. and LatAm,” Armaza said. He explained that Gilgamesh has been able to help U.S. companies make a soft landing in LatAm and vice versa.
Between Armaza’s and Endicott’s experience, the duo hopes to offer companies more than just a check, but also help them with their fintech expertise.
