Investor Highlight: General Catalyst Partners

Happy Primary Day to my fellow New Yorkers. If you're not yet ready to vote for NYC’s next mayor (and comptroller and city council members), then check out this handy quiz to figure out your best match as well as this other resource for learning about the folks on your ballot. Moreover, if you’re wondering how to be strategic with rank-choice voting: pick your favorite, and then most acceptable in order of preference; leave out the candidates you’d be bummed to see take the seat.

                                   
Photo credit: New York Magazine Photo-Illustration: Megan Paetzhold. Photo: Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Now, on to our Tuesday Investor Highlight.

General Catalyst Partners had a busy spring. As a VC firm that invests from seed to growth, the firm and its team get a thrill from handing over checks to innovators in a wide range of industries. With a reputation for being a great ally to founders (unless you take the side of disgruntled ‘treps on The Funded), GC has contributed to some game-changing companies from its outposts in the Valley, NYC, & Boston (think Airbnb, Stripe, and Oscar). The XIR program (Executive-in-Residence) brings some of the brightest and most experienced professionals into the mix to create new businesses or accelerate growth in existing ones.

General Catalyst is made of entrepreneurs, beginning with co-founders David Fialkow and Joel Cutler, after they built and sold 4 companies, including Alliance Development Group (sold to MyPoints.com) and Retail Growth ATM Systems (sold to PNC Bank). Former GC investor Rachel Blank went on to found her own company, Allara, focusing on women’s hormonal health, in a women's health tech industry expected to reach $50BN by 2025.

• Anduril Industries: While GC works primarily with early-stage companies, it reserves additional powder for growth & endurance stage investments for the A-team players. Anduril is a defense software & hardware company, with talent from some of the most innovative technology companies, bringing consumer and commercial technological advances to the defense industry. The company just raised a $450MM Round D.

• Stork Club: General Catalyst led a $30MM Round A for this company bringing family planning for the modern age into employer-sponsored health plans.

• ClubFeast: This company offers restaurant owners an additional revenue stream through pre-ordered meals. Betting on the experiment to get restaurants thriving, rather than just surviving, GC contributed to the company's second seed round of $10.3MM earlier this month.

• HeyDay: Leader of both rounds of funding, General Catalyst believes in this Amazon seller support network. The company raised a $70MM Round B in May.

• Loom: With flexibility and remote work the new normal, Loom has created an intuitive platform for simultaneous screen sharing, video conferencing, and recording. Its Round C of $130MM brought its valuation to $1.3BN.

• Ophelia: Fighting the good fight, Ophelia is a health tech startup battling the opioid epidemic through at-home medication management for people experiencing withdrawals. General Catalyst participated in the seed round last year and followed up in a $15MM Round A this April.

In the firm's own words
The firm is not afraid to put pen to paper and share its investment choices, opinions, and leadership on GC Amplified. Some recent popular posts are The Civic Vertical: Towards a New American Dynamism and Driving Grocery Towards Zero Waste & Higher Profitability.