SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 08, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The venture capital firm General Catalyst today announced that investor and entrepreneur Deep Nishar will join its investment ranks as a Managing Director reinforcing the firm’s commitment to operational excellence, thought leadership, and deep sector and investment expertise to support founders at every stage of their company building journeys.
An engineer by education and initially an entrepreneur by trade, Deep joined Google to start and scale their mobile business, and establish and lead its product and technology centers in Asia. Seeing the potential for the nascent field of social media, Nishar later joined LinkedIn, where he led product management, data science, user experience, web development, business development, and online sales globally, contributing to both a significant increase in the company’s global membership and revenues, and cementing his reputation as a renowned operator, tech leader and business builder.
Nishar brought that experience and prescience to bear at SoftBank where, as a founding team member and leader, he helped build the Vision Fund into a $100B global platform. He has emerged as a successful growth-stage investor respected by founders and fellow investors alike, having created strong outcomes in the enterprise software, healthcare and biotech sectors. In particular, he foresaw the potential for computational biology and genomics and led SoftBank’s investments in 10X Genomics and Guardant Health in early 2016, establishing the firm as an early leader in this category.
“It was clear to me when we met Deep in early-2014 that we share the same maker’s mentality and, as investors, a commitment to continually innovating the venture business to meet the evolving needs of founders,” said Hemant Taneja, managing partner, General Catalyst. “Deep has built a stellar career as an innovator, operator, and ‘N of 1’ investor dedicated to not just backing companies, but scaling some of the world’s best tech businesses globally and for the long-term. We are thrilled to bring that experience, maker’s mindset, and operational command to our portfolio of companies.”
Nishar is no stranger to General Catalyst or its portfolio of companies. He was introduced to the firm through a GC portfolio CEO, and partnered with the firm early on in its investment in Livongo, a company co-founded by Taneja and Glen Tullman (in 2020 Livongo merged with Teladoc Health in an $18.5 billion transaction, the largest in digital health history to-date.) More recently, Nishar introduced General Catalyst to portfolio company Eightfold.ai, a platform that empowers organizations to retain top performers, upskill and reskill the workforce, recruit top talent efficiently, and reach diversity goals. He also has co-invested with the firm in Karius Diagnostics, a life sciences company focused on saving lives through a liquid biopsy that can non-invasively and rapidly detect over 1000 pathogens causing both deep-seated and bloodstream infections, helping clinicians avoid invasive, low-yield, and sequential diagnostic tests that can delay treatment for the most vulnerable hospitalized patients.
Nishar’s track record as a skilled growth-stage investor in enterprise software, biotech and life sciences combined with his extraordinary operational experience in enterprise and consumer tech will enhance the magnitude of the team’s full stage investment capabilities.
“Enduring enterprises can only be built and supported by enduring institutions that continuously reinvent themselves. General Catalyst is a different firm than it was five years ago -- as it should be,” said Deep Nishar, incoming managing director, General Catalyst. “It is an organization that continues to innovate and reinvent itself to meet the evolving needs of its stakeholders and align with the long-term interests of society. I am proud to join GC and look forward to a long mission-driven partnership built on responsible innovation, shared vision, and shared success.”
About General Catalyst
General Catalyst is a venture capital firm that invests in powerful, positive change that endures — for our entrepreneurs, our investors, our people, and society. We support founders with a long-term view who challenge the status quo, partnering with them from seed to growth stage and beyond to build companies that withstand the test of time. With offices in San Francisco, Palo Alto, New York City, London, and Boston, the firm has helped support the growth of businesses such as: Airbnb, Deliveroo, Guild, Gusto, Hubspot, Illumio, Lemonade, Livongo, Oscar, Samsara, Snap, Stripe, and Warby Parker. For more: www.generalcatalyst.com.
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