Harish Battu, a Stanford Sloan Fellow and CFA charter holder, has an impressive track record in the world of investment and finance. With over a decade of experience working with some of the top names in the industry, Battu has developed expertise in several areas, including special situations investing, growth equity, and healthcare.
Harish Battu
Currently, Battu is a manager at General Catalyst, a global top-tier venture capital firm with tens of billions in assets under management (Reported AUM of $33.3 billion at the end of 2021). As part of the firm’s health assurance funds, he focuses on highly innovative digital health companies that are solving some of the most pressing challenges faced by healthcare provider organizations. He advises the firm’s portfolio of 100+ healthcare start-ups in the areas of strategy and business development. As part of the Strategic partnerships initiative at General Catalyst, Battu was instrumental in launching innovation partnerships with 15 large healthcare organisations in the US, bringing together the best of Silicon Valley innovations and traditional healthcare’s real world use cases and applications.
Before joining General Catalyst, Battu served as the investment lead for iLabs India Special Situations Fund, where he led multi-billion dollar investments in companies in Energy & Infrastructure and Healthcare & Lifesciences sectors. He served on the boards of publicly listed portfolio companies, guiding CXO teams on turnaround levers. He has the unique distinction of scripting the first successful turnaround of a large Indian energy company after the bankruptcy law got enacted for the first time in India. This company achieved a 5x re-rating after implementing a slew of initiatives to drive operational efficiencies and to optimize capital structure. Other notable deals of Battu at iLabs include acquisition of one of the largest infrastructure holding companies in India with creditor claims of approximately $4 billion.
Earlier in his career, Battu worked as Assistant vice president at Wexford Capital, a US based hedge fund with global investments in Energy sector. Wexford Capital created India’s first institutional investment platform to invest in renewable energy companies and Harish was part of the founding team. Battu built a $100 million portfolio of renewable energy companies that generated cash-on-cash returns in excess of 27%.
Battu has a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the National Institute of Technology, India, and an MBA in Finance from S.P. Jain Institute of Management and Research, India.
Apart from his professional achievements, Battu has a keen interest in sports and was a leading all-rounder in his state cricket team, which reached the finals of the National U-19 cricket championship in 2002.
Without a doubt, Harish Battu is a finance professional with a stellar track record, a passion for healthcare investing and a penchant for investing in and turning around large companies undergoing stress. With his expertise and experience, he is poised to make a significant impact in the venture capital industry, and we can expect to hear more about his achievements in the years to come.
