After leading General Catalyst’s seed investment strategy for several years, Niko Bonatsos has left the firm. Known for backing Discord, which is expected to pursue an IPO, and the $10 billion startup Mercor, Bonatsos told TechCrunch that he plans to start a new early-stage venture capital firm with “friends.”
Bonatsos is the latest investor to depart General Catalyst, which has recently moved beyond the traditional venture capital model. In recent years, the firm has launched a wealth management business, introduced a strategy centered on private equity–style AI roll-ups, and created a Customer Value Fund (CVF) that provides late-stage startups with nondilutive financing backed by recurring revenue.
Other recent departures from General Catalyst include Deep Nishar and Kyle Doherty, who co-led the firm’s late-stage Endurance strategy, as well as Adam Valkin, who co-led the early-stage fund alongside Bonatsos and Trevor Oelschig, TechCrunch reported last year.
Unlike his former colleagues, who declined to comment on their exits, Bonatsos said his departure was a mutual decision. He described his time at General Catalyst as an “awesome experience” and said it offered many “learnings.”
Bonatsos said he has not yet selected a name for his new firm or begun raising capital. He also declined to share the size of the team he plans to build, saying only that the people he is considering include founders and investors who are “at the top of their game.”
Among the themes Bonatsos plans to focus on is supporting young founders, a trend he said he identified several years ago, before it became widely recognized in the industry. Many of the leading founders driving the current wave of AI startups are young, including college dropouts such as Mercor founder Brendan Foody.
Bonatsos also said he is interested in investing in founders building consumer-focused companies, a segment he considers “underappreciated” in a market that has become heavily focused on enterprise AI startups.