VC firms General Catalyst and Venture Highway merge to focus on India

India-focused venture capital firm Venture Highway (VH) is merging with Silicon Valley-based General Catalyst (GC) as they aim to create one of the most powerful venture platforms to support the next generation of entrepreneurs in India.

“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,” said Hemant Taneja, CEO of General Catalyst on X (formerly Twitter).

Venture Highway was co-founded in 2014 by Neeraj Arora, former chief business officer of WhatsApp and an angel investor in Indian startups. The fund had provided early cheques for companies such as Meesho, Moglix, MPL, ShareChat, BetterPlace, and Chalo.

“The beginnings of the GC-VH unison go back almost 7 years since Neeraj and Hemant Taneja first met and built a relationship of deep trust and respect, fueled by their shared interest in India, among other things,” added General Catalysts.

General Catalyst has backed startups like CRED, Spinny, Orange Health, and Loop, among others.

According to General Catalyst, the joint firm will play a significant role in amplifying the Indo-US-Europe collaboration in AI, technology, industry, and talent. They will also develop industry-specific incubation and partnership strategies to build large enterprises from India for the world.

Last year, Taneja also said that General Catalyst expects 10-20% of its new $4.6 billion fund to go towards Indian startups.

Recently, Silicon Valley-based South Park Commons (SPC) announced the opening of its first international location (outside the US) in Bengaluru.  The technical community and early-stage venture fund has collaborated with Flipkart’s co-founder Binny Bansal to foray into India.