Tech3 | Venture Highway merges with General Catalyst; 25 startups drop out of Hurun Unicorn Index; and more

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In today’s newsletter:?

• Venture Highway merges with General Catalyst in India
• 25 startups drop out of Hurun Unicorn Index?
• 28% GST deals real money gaming a bad hand

Venture Highway merges with General Catalyst in India

The Indian startup scene just got a major shot in the arm!

• This marks a significant development, being the first major VC merger, between India and the US, in over 16 years

Driving the news: In a landmark deal, Indian early-stage investor Venture Highway is merging with US-based venture capital giant General Catalyst .?

• General Catalyst is committing a whopping $500 million to $1 billion to back Indian startups

New name, same mission: Venture Highway, while retaining its leadership team of Neeraj Arora and Priya Mohan, will be rebranded as General Catalyst India.

• While Venture Highway's third fund is largely deployed, all new investments will be made using General Catalyst's capital

General Catalyst, which backs Cred, Uni, Spinny, Orange Health, FarMart, and Loop Health in India, will also make follow-on investments for Venture Highway's portfolio companies (including Meesho, Cred, MPL, ShareChat and others).

Exits at the VC firms: The merger follows significant departures from both firms:?

• Anand Chandrasekaran, who oversaw India investments at General Catalyst, quit in April

• Samir Sood, founder of Venture Highway, stepped down in October 2023

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A first in 16 years: It's been 16 years since the last major merger between two VC firms.?

• Sequoia acquired WestBridge in 2006, but they eventually split in 2011.?

• Accel acquired Erasmic in 2008

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