General Catalyst, a US-based venture capital firm that has backed companies such as Stripe, Snap, and Airbnb, will boost its focus on India, striking additional agreements at various stages as it seeks to strengthen its footprint in one of the world’s largest emerging economies.
Former SoftBank investor Deep Nishar, who joined General Catalyst in January, and former Snapdeal and Meta (the erstwhile Facebook) executive Anand Chandrasekaran will be at the forefront of this push into India.
Hemant Taneja, the fund’s managing partner, who is now in India, said he was thrilled about the India opportunity and that the fund would make early-stage to late-stage investments from the $4.6 billion it recently raised over three funds.
Since 2019, General Catalyst has made about a dozen investments in India and is looking to significantly increase its presence here.
“If you think about what technology did in 2010 in the US, I do believe the same is going to happen here in the next decade,” he said.
The firm may also hire a local team but this year it is likely to be through frequent visits by Nishar, Chandrasekaran and others from the fund. It doesn’t have a country specific capital allocation. “It will be more intentional, going forward. We are not shy about the cheque sizes and are willing to write large cheques,” he added.
Nishar’s comments that General Catalyst is looking at an increased pace of dealmaking in India comes at a time when startups globally and in India are seeing a correction in valuations and overall funding is expected to slow down owing to multiple global factors. Its top India bets include credit card payments startup Cred, fintech firm Uni, used car marketplace Spinny, among others.
“We are beginning to see more rationalisation in valuation when they (startups) are closer to an IPO. But if a company has two-four years before they can go public, then the prevailing notion still is–and it could change–you have time to catch up and if you are in a large market with a good team, growth will be high and you can grow into the valuation,” said Nishar, explaining the current changes happening across listed startups and privately held startups.
