General Catalyst

Last updated

General Catalyst
Company type Private
Industry Venture capital
Founded2000;25 years ago (2000)
Founders
Headquarters Cambridge, Massachusetts, US
Number of locations
Area served
Key people
Products Investments
AUM US$43B+ (December 2024) [1]
Number of employees
250+
Website generalcatalyst.com

General Catalyst (GC) is a global venture capital firm that makes seed to growth stage investments and more. [2] [3] [4] [5] The firm has invested in 800+ businesses, including global companies such as Airbnb, Anduril Industries, Canva, Glean Technologies, Guild Education, HubSpot, Kayak, Datalogix, Datto, Livongo, Gusto, Zepto, Ramp, Deliveroo, Samsara, Stripe, Snap, Circle, Mistral, and Helsing. [6] [4] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12]

Contents

History

General Catalyst was founded in 2000 in Massachusetts by Joel Cutler and David Fialkow. [7] [13] [14] [15] [16]

In 2010, the company opened a Silicon Valley office. [13] In 2021, the firm managed more than $8 billion in assets. [17] In February 2022, it raised $4.6 billion for its 11th general fund. This brought the firm's total raised in its 20-year history to $14.75 billion. [18]

In 2021, the firm opened a London office. [19] [20] By September 2022, General Catalyst had invested in 17 European startups. [21] By April 2023, the company had invested in 25 Indian startups, including CRED, Uni, Spinny, Orange Health, FarMart, and Loop Health with investments ranging in all stages. [22]

In March 2023, General Catalyst was a supporter of the Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), after U.S. regulators shut it down after a significant number of the bank's customers sought to withdraw funds after dropping stock prices. [23] [24] General Catalyst, which was a SVB customer, [25] organized a joint statement of support signed by more than 110 venture capital firms. [23]

As of 2020, it was ranked as one of America's largest venture capital firms. [26]

In June 2022, the company made an investment in Multiverse as part of a $220 million investment round. [27]

In June 2024, General Catalyst acquired La Famiglia, a German venture capital firm, after which La Famiglia's founding partner Jeannette zu Fürstenberg became a managing director at General Catalyst, overseeing its European business. [28] In the same month, General Catalyst acquired Venture Highway, an early-stage investor based in New Delhi. [29] [30]

In October 2024, General Catalyst announced the raise of $8 billion in new funds, including $4.5 billion for their core venture funds, making it their largest fundraise yet. [31]

In May 2025, the company launched a £30 million medical technology venture fund with the UK's National Health Service along with Speedinvest. [32]

Investments

General Catalyst makes capital investments in seed-stage companies, early-stage businesses and later-stage companies. [33] [34] [35]

Healthcare fund

In 2021, General Catalyst raised $600 million for a new Health Assurance Fund. [36] [37]

In July 2022, the firm raised an additional $670 million. [18] The money is invested in healthcare businesses. [36] [38] [39] General Catalyst was the most active VC investor between 2020 and October 2023, according to Pitchbook. [40]

In October 2023, the company announced plans to acquire a health system and "then use it as a proving ground for technology that its portfolio companies sell, including generative artificial intelligence-powered solutions applied to health care problems." [41]

General Catalyst spent $485 million to purchase Summa Health and convert a non-profit health network into for-profit. [42]

References

  1. ↑ "General Catalyst" . Retrieved December 2, 2025.
  2. ↑ Jennings, Katie. "Defying Pullback In Investments, General Catalyst Launches $670 Million Healthcare Fund". Forbes. Retrieved June 5, 2023.
  3. ↑ Chernova, Yuliya (July 12, 2023). "Venture Firm General Catalyst Seeks Bigger Funds Despite Market Downturn". Wall Street Journal. ISSN   0099-9660 . Retrieved October 23, 2023.
  4. 1 2 "VC General Catalyst to boost India investments". The Times of India. April 25, 2023. ISSN   0971-8257 . Retrieved June 5, 2023.
  5. ↑ Chernova, Yuliya. "Goldman Sachs to Buy $200 Million Stake in General Catalyst". WSJ. Retrieved July 17, 2023.
  6. ↑ Farrell, Maureen (November 8, 2021). "A former SoftBank executive will join the Silicon Valley venture firm General Catalyst". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved June 14, 2023.
  7. 1 2 Bertoni, Steven. "Venture Capital Firm General Catalyst Raises $2.3 Billion Amid Coronavirus Crisis". Forbes. Retrieved June 5, 2023.
  8. ↑ Alspach, Kyle (December 23, 2013). "General Catalyst raises $675M seventh fund, cites growing focus on Silicon Valley". www.bizjournals.com. Retrieved June 13, 2023.
  9. ↑ Shu, Catherine (November 1, 2013). "Circle Raises $9M Series A From Accel And General Catalyst To Make Bitcoins Mainstream". TechCrunch. Retrieved September 30, 2025.
  10. ↑ Jin, Berber; Schechner, Sam; Dotan, Tom (May 9, 2024). "AI Challenger Mistral Set to Nearly Triple Valuation to $6 Billion in Six Months". The Wall Street Journal . Retrieved July 15, 2024.
  11. ↑ Butcher, Mike (July 11, 2024). "Defense AI startup Helsing raises $487M Series C, plans Baltic expansion to combat Russian threat". TechCrunch. Retrieved July 16, 2024.
  12. ↑ "Applied Intuition valued at $6 billion in new funding round". Bloomberg. November 11, 2021. Retrieved August 30, 2024.
  13. 1 2 "General Catalyst closes $675M fund to expand presence in Silicon Valley". VentureBeat. December 23, 2013. Retrieved June 13, 2023.
  14. ↑ Jennings, Katie. "Defying Pullback In Investments, General Catalyst Launches $670 Million Healthcare Fund". Forbes. Retrieved June 5, 2023.
  15. ↑ Maheshwari, Sapna (November 8, 2021). "Macy's plans to raise wages and offer tuition assistance in the race for hourly workers". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved June 5, 2023.
  16. ↑ "Venture firm General Catalyst loses co-founder". Fortune. Retrieved September 8, 2023.
  17. ↑ Kruppa, Miles (September 29, 2021). "General Catalyst launches fund to buy future earnings of tech start-ups". Financial Times. Retrieved June 9, 2023.
  18. 1 2 Jennings, Katie. "Defying Pullback In Investments, General Catalyst Launches $670 Million Healthcare Fund". Forbes. Retrieved June 14, 2023.
  19. ↑ Hammond, George (October 16, 2023). "General Catalyst in German VC tie-up as part of European tech push". Financial Times. Retrieved October 23, 2023.
  20. ↑ Butcher, Mike (February 4, 2021). "General Catalyst pushes farther into Europe/Israel, hiring Chris Bischoff for London office". TechCrunch. Retrieved June 9, 2023.
  21. ↑ Lewin, Amy (December 14, 2021). "US VC giant General Catalyst has opened an office in Europe".
  22. ↑ "General Catalyst expects to invest $100 million in Indian start-ups". www.thehindubusinessline.com. April 25, 2023. Retrieved June 9, 2023.
  23. 1 2 Joyner, April. "More than 110 VC firms, led by General Catalyst, are banding together in support of Silicon Valley Bank". Business Insider. Retrieved June 9, 2023.
  24. ↑ "Top VCs in a huddle to discuss Silicon Valley Bank collapse, vow to be 'supportive'". The Economic Times. March 11, 2023. ISSN   0013-0389 . Retrieved June 9, 2023.
  25. ↑ "More than 1,000 VC, PE, and investment firms held capital at SVB in 2022". Fortune. Retrieved June 14, 2023.
  26. ↑ Chernova, Yuliya (July 12, 2023). "WSJ News Exclusive | Venture Firm General Catalyst Seeks Bigger Funds Despite Market Downturn". Wall Street Journal. ISSN   0099-9660 . Retrieved November 21, 2023.
  27. ↑ Lunden, Ingrid (June 8, 2022). "Multiverse nabs $220M at a $1.7B valuation to expand its tech apprenticeship platform". TechCrunch. Retrieved June 3, 2025.
  28. ↑ Warnock, Eleanor (October 16, 2023). "German fund La Famiglia merges with General Catalyst". Sifted. Retrieved June 26, 2024.
  29. ↑ Sharma, Samidha (June 20, 2024). "Silicon Valley VC fund General Catalyst acquires Venture Highway; will deploy $1 billion in India". The Economic Times. ISSN   0013-0389 . Retrieved April 3, 2025.
  30. ↑ Ramasubramanian, Sowmya (June 20, 2024). "VC firm General Catalyst acquires Venture Highway to expand in India | Mint". mint. Archived from the original on August 29, 2024. Retrieved April 3, 2025.
  31. ↑ Taneja, Hemant. "Announcing Fund XII: Let's Venture Beyond" . Retrieved October 26, 2024.
  32. ↑ Curran, Niamh (May 12, 2025). "NHS trusts back £30m venture fund to aid medical tech firms". www.thetimes.com. Retrieved May 17, 2025.
  33. ↑ "Top 10 venture capital firms: General Catalyst". fintechmagazine.com. June 25, 2020. Retrieved June 9, 2023.
  34. ↑ Loizos, Connie (March 18, 2019). "General Catalyst just carved out an aggressive new seed-stage program -- here's what to know". TechCrunch. Retrieved June 9, 2023.
  35. ↑ Bruce, Giles (August 29, 2022). "General Catalyst: Why the VC firm with an unassuming name should have healthcare's attention". www.beckershospitalreview.com. Retrieved June 9, 2023.
  36. 1 2 Konrad, Alex. "General Catalyst Doubles Down On Healthcare With $600 Million New Fund". Forbes. Retrieved June 14, 2023.
  37. ↑ Szkutak, Rebecca (October 14, 2023). "Why does General Catalyst want to buy a healthcare system?". TechCrunch. Retrieved October 23, 2023.
  38. ↑ Chernova, Yuliya. "WSJ News Exclusive | Venture Firm General Catalyst Seeks Bigger Funds Despite Market Downturn". WSJ. Retrieved July 17, 2023.
  39. ↑ "General Catalyst announces new healthcare company, intent to purchase health system". MobiHealthNews. October 10, 2023. Retrieved October 23, 2023.
  40. ↑ Szkutak, Rebecca (October 14, 2023). "Why does General Catalyst want to buy a healthcare system?". TechCrunch. Retrieved November 21, 2023.
  41. ↑ Ravindranath, Mohana (November 1, 2023). "Venture capitalists want to own hospitals. Can they do better than private equity?". STAT. Retrieved November 21, 2023.
  42. ↑ Julie Washington, cleveland com (November 7, 2024). "Akron's SummaHealth moves closer to sale; deal to for-profit firm placed at $485 million". cleveland. Retrieved December 5, 2024.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.