News

General Catalyst and Venture Highway Merge to Focus on India

• ByStartupStory     |    June 22, 2024

In a significant move aimed at leveraging the burgeoning opportunities in India, US-based venture capital firm General Catalyst has announced its merger with India-focused early-stage investor Venture Highway. The strategic alliance seeks to bolster General Catalyst’s global seed capabilities and enhance Indo-US-Europe collaboration.

The merger is set to transform the venture capital landscape, combining the strengths of General Catalyst’s US seed team with the expertise of Venture Highway in India and La Famiglia in Europe. This coalition is poised to support founders at the earliest stages with greater efficacy.

“Combining our US seed team with Venture Highway in India and La Famiglia in Europe, we are committing deeply to becoming great at supporting the world’s best founders at the earliest stages…The combined capabilities of the two firms will allow us to be much more hands-on and effective going forward in India. I am especially excited about bringing our co-creation capabilities to India,” said Hemant Taneja, CEO of General Catalyst, on X (formerly Twitter).

Founded in 2015, Venture Highway has been a prominent player in the Indian startup ecosystem. Under the leadership of Neeraj Arora and Priya Mohan, the firm has backed several high-growth startups including betterplace, highperformr, meesho, moglix, mpl, and tracxn. The merger aims to harness this local expertise and experience, creating a robust platform for nurturing innovative ventures in India.

General Catalyst and Venture Highway plan to merge their global networks and financial resources with an in-depth understanding of the Indian market. Their joint efforts will focus on investing in unique opportunities and addressing challenges within the region. Key sectors such as manufacturing, which drive India’s GDP, are set to benefit from targeted digitization and expansion initiatives. Moreover, the firms will develop industry-specific incubation and partnership strategies to cultivate large-scale Indian enterprises with a global footprint.

Follow Startup Story