General Catalyst, a Silicon Valley-based venture-capital firm will acquire India’s early-stage investor Venture Highway. It plans to invest $500-$1 billion dollars in India as it looks to increase its presence.
General Catalyst India will be the new entity that will focus on early and growth stage investments in India.
“The combined abilities of the two companies will allow us to become much more hands-on and effective moving forward in India.” Hemant Taneja is the chief executive of General Catalyst. He said, “I am particularly excited about bringing our cocreation capabilities to India.”
Venture Highway, founded by former WhatsAppbusiness director Neeraj Arora has unicorns such as Meesho and Moglix, in its portfolio. The VC raised $78.6 Million for its second fund, which will be in 2020.
Priya Mohan will lead General Catalyst’s India efforts along with Arora. She is Venture Highway’s general partnership.
General Catalyst manages assets totaling over $25 billion worldwide. It has backed startupssuch graphic design platform Canva and travel marketplace Airbnb. It has backed over a dozen startups in India, including CRED, a fintech company, and Spinny, a used-car marketplace.
In a blog post on its website, General Catalyst stated that India’s economic and political agency is growing in the world, supported by both macro and micro tailwinds.
The firm stated that “the country’s diverse cultures, consumer psychology, as well as its deep structural idiosyncrasies need a level understanding, which numbers often don’t do justice to.”
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In India, VCs like Accel and Nexus Venture Partners have raised up to $500 million each for India.