General Catalyst has pledged $5 billion to India over five years

General Catalyst, a Silicon Valley-based venture firm with over $43 billion in assets under management, announced that it plans to invest $5 billion in India over the next five years, significantly expanding its reach in the country’s startup ecosystem less than two years after its merger with homegrown venture firm Venture Highway.

The commitment, unveiled at the India AI Impact Summit in New Delhi on Friday, will target startups in the areas of artificial intelligence, healthcare, defense technology, fintech and consumer technology. This announcement represents a significant increase from $500 million to $1 billion that the company had previously allocated for India.

India, the world’s most populous country with over a billion internet users, is positioning itself as a prime investment destination in the field of artificial intelligence. New Delhi aims to attract more than $200 billion in investments in AI infrastructure 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,” said Hemant Taneja, CEO of General Catalyst (pictured above), adding that the company believes Indian founders are uniquely positioned to develop technology for markets serving vast populations.

General Catalyst said it sees the biggest opportunity for AI in India to be widespread deployment in the real world rather than building so-called frontier models. The company cited the country’s government-built digital infrastructure, vast domestic market, and deep services talent pool as reasons for this view.

This push comes as India’s ambitions in the field of artificial intelligence accelerate. At the summit, 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 the Tata Group’s TCS – one of India’s largest technology companies – to develop a 100 MW AI data center as part of the expansion of its Stargate infrastructure project. In recent months, global technology companies, including Amazon, Google and Microsoft, have identified tens of billions of dollars in cloud and artificial intelligence investments in the country.

General Catalyst is building its portfolio in India across fast-delivery e-commerce, health tech and deep tech, with investments including Zepto, PB Health, Raphe, Jeh Aerospace, Pronto and Ayr Energy.

“This investment allows us to operate at a different scale in India,” said Neeraj Arora, CEO, India, Middle East and North Africa, General Catalyst, adding that the company aims to support companies from early stage to public markets.

General Catalyst said it is developing a framework to accelerate the adoption of AI at scale across priority sectors in India, with the aim of helping transform pilot projects into full-fledged deployments. The company’s General Catalyst Institute also works to build government-industry partnerships in the country.