General Catalyst commits $5B to India over five years

General Catalyst, a Silicon Valley-based venture firm with more than $43 billion in assets under management, has announced it plans to invest $5 billion in India over the next five years, sharply expanding its push into the country’s startup ecosystem less than two years after merging with local venture firm Venture Highway . The commitment, unveiled at the India AI Impact Summit in New Delhi on Friday, will target startups across artificial intelligence, healthcare, defense technology, fintech, and consumer technology. The announcement marks a significant increase from the $500 million to $1 billion the firm had previously earmarked for India. India, the world’s most populous country with more than a billion internet users, is positioning itself as a major AI investment destination. New Delhi aims to attract over $200 billion in AI infrastructure investments over the next two years as it hosts the India AI Impact Summit with participation from companies, including OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google. “India will build the next generation of global platform companies,” General Catalyst CEO Hemant Taneja (pictured above) said, adding that the firm sees Indian founders as uniquely positioned to develop technology for markets serving enormous populations. General Catalyst said it sees India’s biggest AI opportunity in large-scale real-world deployment rather than in building so-called frontier models. The firm cited the country’s government-built digital infrastructure, vast domestic market, and deep services talent pool as reasons for that view. The push comes as India’s AI ambitions accelerate. At the summit, conglomerates Adani Group and Reliance Industries , led by billionaire Mukesh Ambani, announced plans to invest more than $200 billion combined to build AI data center infrastructure in the country. OpenAI has separately partnered with Tata Group’s TCS — one of India’s largest tech companies — to develop a 100-megawatt AI data center as part of the expansion of its St...