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Draft:Hemant Taneja

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Hemant Taneja is the CEO and managing director of General Catalyst, a venture capital firm with investments in Stripe, Snap, and Mistral, among others.[1][2][3] Taneja has been CEO and managing director since 2021.[1]Under his leadership, General Catalyst has Assets Under Management (AUM) of over $27.3 billion;[4][5] raised almost $8 billion in 2024 to invest in technology start-ups across industries including defense, space, climate, fintech, and healthcare;[1] bought a hospital and partnered with others to trial new models of care under the Health Assurance Transformation Corporation (HATCo);[6][1][7] and expanded internationally, merging with European investor La Famiglia and Indian investor Venture Highway.[1][8]

Investments

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Taneja's investments include Stripe, Snap, Anduril, Grammarly, Gusto, and Samsara.[5] He invested in Hippocratic AI, an LLM designed for healthcare that was launched in 2023.[9] Hippocratic CEO Munjal Shah said that he and Taneja came up with the idea for the startup together.[9]

Taneja also founded two health-focused companies: Livongo (co-founded), which was later acquired by Teladoc Health in an $18.5 billion merger,[5] and Commure (valued at $6 billion), which later merged with Athelas.[10]

Under Taneja's leadership, General Catalyst raised an $8 billion fund, marking one of the largest in the venture capital industry. This fund aims to support sectors such as healthcare, climate technology, and AI. Reports on the fund highlight Taneja's approach to broadening the firm's investment reach and reinforcing its position in the global market.[11][12]

General Catalyst, guided by Taneja, has committed $1 billion toward investments in healthcare innovation, focusing on partnerships that aim to improve healthcare delivery through technology.[13][14]

Responsible Innovation

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In 2023 Taneja co-founded a nonprofit, the Responsible Innovation Labs,[15] that partnered with the U.S. Commerce Department to lead an initiative to encourage early-stage startups to develop AI responsibly: the Responsible AI Initiative.[16][2] In November 2023, Taneja shared that over 35 venture capital firms and 15 companies had signed a set of "Responsible AI" commitments authored by the Responsible Innovation Lab.[15] The nonprofit also published the Responsible AI Protocol, described as a "how-to playbook".[15]

Taneja has emphasized the need for responsible AI practices within the industry, advocating for ethical guidelines and regulatory frameworks. In interviews, he discusses AI's potential to reshape industries and stresses the importance of adopting responsible standards, as reflected in General Catalyst's role in the Responsible AI Initiative, which supports ethical AI development for early-stage startups.[17][18]

Books

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Taneja wrote the following books:

  • Intended Consequences: How to Build Market-Leading Companies with Responsible Innovation (2022)[19]
  • UnHealthcare (2020), ISBN 1716996511, 978-1716996511
  • Unscaled (2018)[20][21]

Philanthropy

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Taneja and his wife are members of the Giving Pledge.[22] By signing the pledge, they commit to donating the majority of their wealth in their lifetimes or after their death.[22]

In 2018, Taneja gave a gift in support of MIT.nano, the new center for nanoscience and nanotechnology at MIT.[23] His donation created the Shiv and Santosh Taneja Innovation Alcove (named for his parents).[23]

Taneja also helped build the Khan Lab School, a school that uses the MIT systems thinking approach for elementary education.[23] He serves on the Stanford School of Medicine Board of Fellows, and the Board of Trustees for Northeastern University. He is also the co-founder and chairman of Advanced Energy Economy (now Advanced Energy United).[24][19][20][25]

Early life and education

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Taneja and his family moved from India to Boston, Massachusetts when he was in high school.[23] Taneja later attended MIT, where he earned three undergraduate and two graduate degrees.[5][23]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e Hammond, George (28 April 2024). "Silicon Valley's General Catalyst closes in on $6bn fund for tech start-ups". Financial Times. Retrieved 2024-09-13.
  2. ^ a b "A Venture Capitalist's View of AI: Where the Money Is". The Wall Street Journal. 19 February 2024. Retrieved 17 September 2024.
  3. ^ Torrence, Rebecca. "A top investor in global brands from Airbnb to Snap says we need swift 'guardrails' to get countries on the same page about AI". Business Insider. Retrieved 2024-09-17.
  4. ^ "IAPD - Investment Adviser Public Disclosure - Homepage". adviserinfo.sec.gov. Retrieved 2024-11-19.
  5. ^ a b c d "Hemant Taneja". Forbes. Retrieved 2024-09-13.
  6. ^ Adams, Katie (2024-01-18). "Is General Catalyst Buying Summa Health a Good Idea? Only Time Will Tell". MedCity News. Retrieved 2024-09-23.
  7. ^ "General Catalyst announces new healthcare company, intent to purchase health system". MobiHealthNews. 2023-10-10. Retrieved 2024-09-23.
  8. ^ Singh, Manish (2024-06-20). "General Catalyst merges with Venture Highway in India push". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2024-09-23.
  9. ^ a b Adams, Katie (2023-05-16). "Meet the Startup Promising to Deliver the 1st Healthcare-focused Generative AI Model". MedCity News. Retrieved 2024-09-17.
  10. ^ "Sixteen Indian Americans among Business Insider's 'The Seed 100'". The Indian Panorama. 21 June 2024. Retrieved 13 September 2024.
  11. ^ Hammond, George (2024-10-24). "Silicon Valley's General Catalyst raises $8bn in global push". Financial Times. Retrieved 2024-11-18.
  12. ^ Bradbury, Rosie (24 October 2024). "General Catalyst's $8B haul cements return of mega-funds". Pitchbook. Retrieved 18 November 2024.
  13. ^ Perna, Gabriel (24 October 2024). "General Catalyst to invest $1B into healthcare companies". Modern Healthcare. Retrieved 12 November 2024.
  14. ^ "General Catalyst raises $8B in new funds". siliconcanals.com. 2024-10-25. Retrieved 2024-11-14.
  15. ^ a b c Harris, Ainsley (19 November 2023). "The AI safety debate is tearing Silicon Valley apart". Fast Company. Retrieved 19 September 2024.
  16. ^ Confino, Paolo. "Commerce Department partners with major VC firms encourage startups to be "responsible" in AI use". Fortune. Retrieved 2024-09-19.
  17. ^ Garfinkle, Allie. "General Catalyst's Hemant Taneja on AI, LPs, and raising around $8 billion". Fortune. Retrieved 2024-11-14.
  18. ^ "General Catalyst CEO Hemant Taneja on the investing landscape, impact of AI technology". CNBC. 2024-10-24. Retrieved 2024-11-14.
  19. ^ a b "View From The Top: Hemant Taneja". Stanford Graduate School of Business. Retrieved 2024-09-13.
  20. ^ a b "Hemant Taneja". Hachette Book Group. 2017-08-08. Retrieved 2024-09-13.
  21. ^ Unscaled. 2017-08-08. ISBN 978-1-61039-812-1.
  22. ^ a b Olakoyenikan, Segun. "Open AI's Sam Altman Just Vowed To Donate Most Of His Wealth Through Giving Pledge". Forbes. Retrieved 2024-09-19.
  23. ^ a b c d e "Education Meets Innovation". MIT for a Better World. Retrieved 2024-09-19.
  24. ^ Kaufmann, K. (2023-01-06). "New Mission Means New Name for Advanced Energy Economy". RTO Insider. Retrieved 2024-09-19.
  25. ^ Mello-Klein, Cody (0909). "Hemant Taneja, a venture capitalist and global thought leader, appointed to Northeastern University Board of Trustees". Northeastern Global News. Retrieved 2024-09-19.