Discord and Mercor investor Niko Bonatsos departs General Catalyst, plans new VC firm

After leading General Catalyst’s seed strategy for years, Niko Bonatsos has departed the firm. Known for backing an IPO-hopeful Discord and the $10 billion startup Mercor, Bonatsos told TechCrunch he intends to launch a new early-stage VC firm alongside “friends.”

Bonatsos is the latest investor to leave General Catalyst, a firm that recently expanded beyond the traditional venture model. Over the last few years, General Catalyst unveiled a wealth management business, a strategy focused on PE-style AI roll-ups, and a Customer Value Fund (CVF), which provides late-stage startups with nondilutive financing secured by recurring revenue.

Other recent General Catalyst departures include Deep Nishar and Kyle Doherty, who co-led the late-stage ‘Endurance’ strategy, and 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 about their departures, Bonatsos described his exit as a mutual decision, saying that his time at GC was an “awesome experience” which provided many “learnings.”

Bonatsos said he has yet to choose a name for his new firm or begin fundraising. He declined to specify the size of his team, noting only that the individuals he is considering include founders and investors “at the top of their game.”

Some of the themes Bonatsos intends to pursue include backing young founders, a trend he claims to have identified several years ago, before it became popular in the industry.  Indeed, many of the leading founders of the AI wave are young and include college dropouts like Mercor’s founder, Brendan Foody.

Bonatsos is also interested in investing in founders who are launching consumer businesses, a sector he views as “underappreciated” in a market saturated with enterprise-focused AI startups.

Although General Catalyst has transitioned into what it calls an “investment and transformation company,” it is continuing to make seed-stage bets. Last year, GC hired Yuri Sagalov, a former YC partner who also founded Wayfinder Ventures, to lead seed investing in the US.