General Catalyst

General Catalyst is a venture capital firm headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with additional offices in New York City, Palo Alto and San Francisco. The firm was founded by four partners in 2000; David Orfao, Joel Culter, John Simon and David Fialkow. In addition to its investments, General Catalyst has incubated a number of companies by offering office space and management training in the early stages of company development. These companies include Kayak, Naturebox and Highfive. The firm also sponsors a student-run fund called Rough Draft Ventures, which allows a group of college students to invest in peer companies across the country.

General Catalyst currently has a team of ten managing directors. In 2018, the company was successful in raising it’s 9th individual fund, with a capitalization of $1.4 billion USD. Since its founding, General Catalyst has 100 successful exits in which a portfolio company was either acquired or went public. The firm has invested in numerous successful companies, including Airbnb, Gusto, ClassPass, Kayak, Hubspot, TuneIn, Snapchat and Warby Parker. The firm offers an Executive in Residence program for select portfolio companies, allowing founding teams to leverage the knowledge and experience of successful entrepreneurs and executives in the General Catalyst network.