General Catalyst: Why the VC firm with an unassuming name should have healthcare's attention

In July, venture capital firm General Catalyst launched its second $600-million-plus fund focusing on healthcare. Then on Aug. 11, the company plucked Marc Harrison, MD, the president and CEO of Salt Lake City-based Intermountain Healthcare, to run a healthcare investment platform.

But who exactly is this company that's suddenly capturing the attention of the healthcare world?

Founded in 2000 in Cambridge, Mass., General Catalyst backs firms in various stages of development, from seed to "endurance" companies, actively helping build them. Its portfolio includes such household names as Airbnb, Instacart and Snapchat.

On the healthcare side, it has funded such health tech startups as Aidoc, Cadence, Color, Livongo, OM1, Olive, Osmind, Ro and Sword Health.

Dr. Harrison wasn't General Catalyst's first former hospital executive hire. He will join Daryl Tol, the ex-CEO of Altamonte Springs, Fla.-based AdventHealth, who became the firm's first head of health assurance in June, and Stephen Klasko, MD, the former CEO of Philadelphia-based Jefferson Health, who was named executive-in-residence in February.

General Catalyst had previously partnered with both Intermountain Healthcare and Jefferson Health on innovation, offering access to its health tech startups to drive digital health and value-based care at the health systems. The firm has also collaborated with Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Healthcare, and in August 2021 General Catalyst portfolio company Commure bought the hospital chain's PatientKeeper health data platform.

The firm has declared its intentions to be ambitious in the healthcare space.

"We're actually excited about the opportunity to build companies that are more intentional and that are really, truly focused on the gaps in care and encouraging management teams to concentrate on their core, rather than some ancillary business that might have made sense during a different time," Chris Bischoff, a General Catalyst managing director, told Forbes in July.

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