General Catalyst is a Silicon Valley-based VC fund that is planning to acquire early-stage India-focused venture Highway to strengthen its Indian presence. The VC firm is trying to solidify its presence in India by investing in Venture Highway. It has invested in various global tech giants, including Canva, Stripe, Snap, and Airbnb. Venture Highway has partners, including Meesho and Moglix. Here we are talking about VC firm General Catalyst will invest $1 billion to strengthen its India presence and acquire Venture Highway.
This investment came amid the challenges faced by various Venture Capital firms after the COVID pandemic, and many tech-focused funds including Sequoia Capital, moved out of India. This investment is a part of General Catalyst’s global fundraising for which the VC firm is raising around 1 billion USD. The venture capital fund presently has more than 25 billion USD in assets globally. The firm has backed many Indian startups, including Spinny, Cred, and Uni, and by acquiring the venture highway, it aims to strengthen its presence across the country. The company merged with Europe’s La Famiglia last year to scale up its operations.
The CEO and managing director of General Catalyst, Hemant Taneja, told ET that the firm is planning to invest $500 million to $1 billion in India, which is a big capital compared to previous investments. This will be a global partnership that includes investments in the US, India, and Europe. The company believes that Venture Highway is a specialist in this field, and partnering with them will help the firm positively.
General Catalyst has been investing from fund III and will stop the funding investments from focusing on this expansion. After this acquisition, Venture Highway will become the Indian arm of General Catalyst. The co-founder of Venture Highway, Neeraj Arora, mentioned that they have been making seed investments with small funds, which is easier to return. Still, now they want to participate in the Indian venture ecosystem, which is much larger. This is one of the reasons they partnered with the VC firm General Catalyst.
Conclusion
The Venture Capital fund General Catalysts plans to acquire India-focused early-stage investor Venture Highway to solidify its presence in India. To date, the VC firm has invested in various global tech giants, including Canva, Stripe, Snap, and Airbnb. Venture Highway claims to have partners, including Meesho and Moglix. This investment came amid the challenges faced by various Venture Capital firms after the COVID pandemic, and many tech-focused funds, including Sequoia Capital, moved out of India. This investment is a part of General Catalyst’s global fundraising, for which the VC firm is raising around 1 billion USD. The firm plans to invest $500 million to $1 billion in India, a big capital
compared to the previous investments. General Catalyst has been investing from fund III, and after this acquisition, Venture Highway will become the Indian arm of General Catalyst. The VC firm has backed many Indian startups, including Spinny, Cred, and Uni, and by acquiring the venture highway, it aims to strengthen its presence across the country.
