American venture capital giant General catalyst has announced new funding of $8 billion as it looks to increase its investments in early-stage multi-sector startups globally, with a specific focus on the US, Europe and India.
The capital constitutes around $4.5 billion for its “core venture capital funds,” which encompass seed and growth capital financing, while $1.5 billion is earmarked for its so-called “venture capital funds.”creation strategy” which focuses on helping repeat or “proven” founders build new companies. Another $2 billion goes into “separately managed accounts,” which are typically special investment vehicles 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 believe this capital will fuel our investment theses in AI, defense and intelligence, climate and energy, industrial, healthcare and fintech,” General Catalyst CEO and CEO Hemant Taneja (pictured above) wrote in a today’s blog post.
Founded in 2000, General Catalyst has backed some of the biggest US tech startups, including Airbnb, Instacart, Snap, Kayak, Stripe and HubSpot, but has also backed numerous international companies, including Deliveroo in Europe. More recently, General Catalyst has pursued global growth through mergers with local entities, including La Famiglia in Europe last year and, more recently, Venture Highway in India.
General Catalyst now has around $25 billion in assets under management.
Today’s announcement comes shortly after reports emerged that General Catalyst was working on a “continuation” fund valued at up to $1 billion, a mechanism through which it would continue to hold and invest in its portfolio companies. beyond what would be a typical schedule for a venture capital fund. , it is not known if it is still something that is being considered.
On the other hand, General Catalyst is also preparing to make its first investment in Saudi Arabia.
General Catalyst’s latest funds are among the largest to emerge from a U.S. venture capital firm since Tiger Global’s $12.7 billion tranche more than two years ago, although it dwarfs the $2.3 billion raised by Index Ventures earlier this year, as well as Andreessen Horowitz’s $7.2 billion.