US-based venture capital firm General Catalyst, which makes early-stage and growth equity investments globally, said on Thursday that it has raised $8 billion to expand its global investment strategy.
General Catalyst, which has backed several Silicon Valley heavyweights, including Airbnb, Stripe, Snap, Guild, Hubspot, among others, will invest the corpus across three different strategies.
To be sure, the VC firm has raised $4.5 billion focussed on its core VC funds. The funds will invest in opportunities in seed and growth equity.
On the other hand, the investor is planning to put $1.5 billion into creating new startups while it plans to invest the remaining $2 billion in expanding its presence in strategically significant businesses.
General Catalyst, in its release, said that as a global investment firm committed to partnering with ambitious entrepreneurs to drive transformation, resilience and applied AI. It will infuse capital in investment strategies across sectors such as AI, defense and intelligence, climate and energy, industrials, healthcare and fintech.
“We are ready to be the company that drives transformations, global resilience and applied AI for the world. We are powered by early-stage venture capital at our core and excited to dream bigger and co-create with our GC Famiglia of founders, business leaders and policymakers to expand what’s possible,” said Hemant Taneja, chief executive officer and managing director of General Catalyst.
In India, General Catalyst has invested in several startups including quick commerce firm Zepto, Kunal Shah-led fintech platform Cred, and eldercare startup Primus Senior Living.
The VC firm recently acquired Indian VC firm Venture Highway to bolster its presence in the country. The acquisition saw the entire Venture Highway team joining General Catalyst as part of General Catalyst India. As a result, Venture Highway has ceased to exist. On similar lines, it had acquired La Famiglia in Europe.