General Catalyst layers in financing to boost its fortunes | TechCrunch

In this episode of the StrictlyVC Download, hosts Connie Loizos and Alex Gove speak with Pranav Singhvi and Hemant Taneja of General Catalyst, one of the biggest venture firms on the planet. One of the central themes? A product that General Catalyst created some five years ago that’s almost reminiscent of GE leasing.

In essence, the firm extends capital to companies, both private and public, that spend a lot of money on customer acquisition and marketing, in exchange receiving a percentage of the income that’s generated from those new customers. It packages these deals together by trying to anticipate how much a company will grow over several years.

What’s fascinating about General Catalyst is just how little it looks like a venture firm in 2024. You could say the same thing about many of the biggest VCs out there, including Andreessen Horowitz. (It’s probably not a coincidence that these firms have all become registered investment advisors.) Founded just 24 years ago, General Catalyst now has more than $30 billion in assets under management, including a whopping $8 billion in investing capital that the firm announced just this past week.

It hasn’t been shy about finding creative ways to invest those assets. In addition to this financing product, for example, some of you might know the firm has acquired a couple of smaller venture firms over the last 12 or so months. It’s also in the process of buying a small health care system in Ohio.

The four talk about those other moves in the podcast. Singhvi and Taneja also discuss missing out on OpenAI and whether they think more privately held companies might just stay private forever. Listen to the full episode for more.

Meta releases an ‘open’ version of Google’s podcast generator

Merlin Solar bets twisty panels will help it land on rooftops everywhere

Arcade, a new AI product creation platform, designed this necklace

Apple wins $250 from Masimo in watch patent trial

VC megadeals are booming — and AI is surprisingly not the top category

‘Yikes’: While gaming, Musk inadvertently broadcasts ‘scary’ near-abort of Starship booster landing

FTC hits Lyft with $2.1M penalty for luring drivers with false earnings claims

Editor in Chief & General Manager

Loizos has been reporting on Silicon Valley since the late ’90s, when she joined the original Red Herring magazine. Previously the Silicon Valley Editor of TechCrunch, she was named Editor in Chief and General Manager of TechCrunch in September 2023. She’s also the founder of StrictlyVC, a daily e-newsletter and lecture series acquired by Yahoo in August 2023 and now operated as a sub brand of TechCrunch.