US venture capital giant General Catalyst announces $8 billion in new funding to ramp up investment in multi-sector early-stage startups around the world, with particular focus on the US, Europe and India did.
This capital accounts for approximately $4.5 billion in “core VC funds” spanning seed and growth equity financing, while $1.5 billion is for new company formations by repeat or “proven” founders. The funds will be used for so-called “creative strategies” that focus on support. Another $2 billion is for “separately managed accounts,” which are specialized investment vehicles typically created for a single institutional investor.
“As a global investment firm seeking to partner with the world’s most ambitious entrepreneurs to drive transformation, resilience, and applied AI, we are confident that this capital will support AI, defense and intelligence, climate and energy, industrial , healthcare, and fintech,” General Catalyst CEO and Managing Director Hemant Taneja (pictured above) wrote in a blog post today.
Founded in 2000, General Catalyst has backed some of America's biggest technology startups, including Airbnb, Instacart, Snap, Kayak, Stripe, and HubSpot, as well as numerous international companies, including Europe's Deliveroo . More recently, General Catalyst has pursued global growth through mergers with local companies, including Europe's La Familia last year and India's Venture Highways more recently.
General Catalyst currently manages approximately $25 billion in assets.
continuation
Today's announcement comes shortly after TechCrunch reported that General Catalyst is working on a “continuation” fund worth up to $1 billion. This fund will continue to hold and invest in portfolio companies beyond the schedule of a typical VC fund. No word on whether that's still under consideration.
TechCrunch recently reported that General Catalyst is preparing to make its first investment in Saudi Arabia.
General Catalyst's latest fund is one of the largest to come out of a U.S. venture capital firm since Tiger Global's $12.7 billion tranche more than two years ago, but Index Ventures raised it earlier this year. That's far smaller than the $2.3 billion he earned and Andreessen Horowitz's $7.2 billion.
Janet Z Furstenberg, who currently heads General Catalyst's European operations, told TechCrunch in an exclusive interview that 25% of the $8 billion raised will be allocated to Europe across various strategies.
“The core theme is honing talent at an early stage. We are a global transformation company with early stage investing at our core,” she said in a call with TechCrunch.
After last year's merger between General Catalyst and her venture capital firm La Familia, the company said it would “double-click pre-seed and seed to treat it as one core bucket, where we have all the platform features and all features for founders.” “We want to promote it,” she said. ”
As for how she plans to implement her “Create” strategy, she said, for example, “We are looking at incorporating AI and we plan to partner with large companies that are looking to develop products. We are considering joint development and development.” Incubating products together…we're already doing that with Fever Energy, a Scandinavian climate technology company. That's because the future will require a more hybrid approach to capital. ”
She fleshed this out further, saying that General Catalyst is working on a so-called “roll-up” and said, “We have embraced different vertical sectors and functions from a company perspective.” This includes Crescendo, a call center software with built-in AI.
He said General Catalyst, as a company, is doing things “in reverse.” This means “build your technology stack and reap the full benefits of going full stack” by incorporating AI into your investments. “We have similar plans for Europe, where our existing networks merge with that strategy and also with the talent ambitions we have here,” she said. said.
General Catalyst also focuses on two core themes she calls applied AI and “global resilience.” “Our belief system is that AI is not inherently a disruptive technology. It doesn't give us new means of distribution. It basically gives us a transformative angle to existing categories. Masu.”
This will apply AI to areas such as manufacturing and supply chain.
“If you look at Europe, the real benefits from AI will depend on how it intersects with many of the vertical strengths that we have in Europe,” she said. I did.
“I think this is the first time I've seen a technology that doesn't actually put you at a disadvantage.” [Europe] Right out of the gate. AI is truly an enabler of, and a huge accelerator of, our existing strengths. ”
On global resilience, she said that in the face of destabilizing challenges such as pandemics, wars and energy crises, countries “cannot afford to be at the mercy of other countries…We are dependent on China for much of the world. I don't want to.'' Something that can't be reproduced here, right? ”
“For example, the shortage of antibiotics and vaccines during the pandemic,” she continued. “I think there is a very strong insight that we need to get closer to re-owning these core areas, and this can extend to things like energy systems and defence. So what are the flywheels that we can activate, where we can support founders and where we can support our established industry partners? Can we tie that in and help them incorporate that?”
She also cited General Catalyst portfolio company Hellsing, which currently has partnerships with Airbus and Saab, as an example.
“They partner with some of the largest defense primes in Europe,” she said. “And there is a strong intersection where we are really trying to bring the potential of AI into areas that we think are key to resilience. AI and global resilience are converging to a very large degree as two central themes. ”