Popular Silicon Valley-based VC General Catalyst, has announced the acquisition of India’s Venture Highway, with the new merged entity becoming the face of GC’s India investments. The new entity has earmarked $500 million to $1 billion for investments in the country, said reports.
“This merger unites one of the world’s largest and most respected platforms with a highly reputed Indian seed investment team, reflecting perfect alignment in culture, people, and vision”, said General Catalyst in a press statement.
Venture Highway was co-founded by former WhatsApp Chief Business Officer Neeraj Arora in 2014. The firm has been one of the frontrunners in the Indian seed stage investment space and have been early backers of companies like Meesho, Moglix, Applied Intuition, among others. In 2018, Priya Mohan joined the firm having exited from her startup when it was acquired by Byju’s.
“As part of GC’s ‘Global Resilience thesis’, it understands that India’s economic, political, and strategic agency in the world is growing; supported by both macro and micro tailwinds. Therefore, to look at India as yet another “investment destination” or “a vast geography” is inadequate by itself”, GC reasons about its acquisiton and renewed India focus.
With General Catalyst’s formal entry through this merger, it will now join in the likes of other major funds in the country, such as Lightspeed, Peak XV (formerly Sequoia India), Accel Partners among others, all of which have recently closed in excess of $500Mn for their respective funds. The mix also has institutional backers such as Softbank, Singapore’s GIC, Saudi Arabia’s PIF among others.
Here’s an excerpt from General Catalyst and Venture Highway’s press statement, highlighting the focus of this new entity:
GC and VH aim to combine global networks and capital with deep India localization to:
- Reimagine venture investing to suit India’s unique opportunities and challenges.
- Build focused Indo-US collaborations to drive talent and tech synergies.
- Digitize and expand core GDP-driving sectors such as manufacturing.
- Develop industry-specific incubation and partnership strategies to build large enterprises from India for the world.
This merger goes beyond Venture investing, aiming to nurture deep tech talent, foster innovation, and accelerate digitization across industries in India, driven by a shared set of values, culture, and ambitious goals.
