General Catalyst Raises $1.375 Billion In Its Largest Fund To Date

According to SEC filings posted recently, General Catalyst, a Cambridge, MA-based venture capital firm, has raised $1.375 billion for a new venture capital fund. Its the firm’s ninth and largest fund to date.

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Below, you can find a chart displaying the size of General Catalyst’s known funds, based on Crunchbase data that has been checked against SEC filings when possible. (This does not include figures for its first venture fund, sidecar funds, or any special purpose vehicles for which SEC filings were not available.)

According to reporting from the Wall Street Journal in early January 2018, sources familiar with General Catalyst’s plans said that the ninth fund will combine early- and late-stage investment strategies, although the source didn’t expand on that subject further.

Today’s news only bolsters the narrative that venture capital funds, both in Silicon Valley and elsewhere, are awash in capital from limited partners.

Just last week, Crunchbase News was among the first to report on SEC filings revealing Khosla Ventures’ plans to raise two new funds totaling $1.4 billion, which was in line with historical fundraising patterns for the firm. That same day, CNBC broke the news that Sequoia Capital raised a $12 billion late-stage fund, also that firm’s largest pool of capital to date. Last month, Battery Ventures closed two new funds, its twelfth and a side fund, summing up to $1.25 billion.

So why are all these VC funds raising so much capital? Word on the street—or, more precisely, on Sand Hill Road—is that these funds are being forced to reckon with the SoftBank’s $100 billion Vision Fund. Softbank’s massive fund gives it the ability to pay a valuation premium for startups it deems successful. That also means competition for otherwise established and respected venture capital funds.

General Catalyst’s last fundraising campaign, referred to as the eighth fund and completed in early 2016, consisted of a $675 primary fund and a $170 million “supplemental” fund.

Illustration: Li-Anne Dias