Jeannette zu Fürstenberg

Who they are

Jeannette zu Fürstenberg is President and Managing Partner at General Catalyst — she co-founded La Famiglia VC in Berlin in 2016 and merged it into General Catalyst in 2023, where it now operates as the firm's European seed arm.

Person

Jeannette joined General Catalyst in 2023 when La Famiglia — the Berlin-based early-stage fund she co-founded in 2016 with Judith Dada — merged with the firm, with La Famiglia becoming GC's seed investing arm in Europe. She built La Famiglia over roughly seven years into one of Europe's more consequential early-stage platforms, backing companies that went on to become unicorns including Deel, Personio, and Coinbase — 10 unicorns, 1 IPO, and 7 acquisitions across the portfolio. Her investing focus runs across climate, industrials, and defense, not just software — a deliberate bet on the sectors reshaping European industrial policy. She speaks publicly at Milken Institute, Slush, and DLD Conference, and sits on the board of Helsing (European defense AI) and Mistral (French large-language-model company), two of the most watched bets in European sovereign tech. She is also a member of Founders Pledge and holds an advisory/board role at African Parks. Possibly — her long-tenure pattern and Berlin base suggest she sees herself as a builder of the European tech ecosystem rather than a tourist passing through it.

Company

The defining recent move is the 2023 merger of La Famiglia into General Catalyst, with Jeannette zu Fürstenberg and Judith Dada joining as Managing Directors and La Famiglia becoming GC's dedicated seed investing arm in Europe. Since the merger, General Catalyst has deployed more than $1.8 billion in Europe in this fund cycle, positioning the combined platform as one of the largest committed backers of European technology companies. The investment thesis has broadened beyond traditional software into climate, industrials, and defense — sectors tied to Europe's shifting industrial policy priorities. The Berlin HQ remains the anchor for the European seed operation.

Market

European early-stage venture is increasingly shaped by geopolitical forces — multipolarity, export controls, and the EU's push to strengthen industrial competitiveness through targeted policy — which is creating demand for investors who can operate at the intersection of deep tech, defense, and climate. General Catalyst, via GC Famiglia, competes with other transatlantic and pan-European early-stage funds for the same cohort of founders, but its $1.8 billion European deployment gives it a scale advantage at the seed-to-growth continuum that most Europe-native seed funds cannot match.

Network

Jeannette co-founded La Famiglia alongside Judith Dada, who joined as a founding partner in 2017 and moved with her to General Catalyst as a Managing Director after the 2023 merger — they are the core partnership. Her board seats at Helsing and Mistral put her in close contact with leadership at two of Europe's highest-profile sovereign-tech companies.

Judith Dada· Co-founder of La Famiglia / Managing Director at General Catalyst

How they likely show up

Long tenure building La Famiglia from 2016 to 2023 before merging it into GC → likely thinks in multi-year conviction cycles, not reactive deal flow.
Board seats at both Helsing (defense AI) and Mistral (LLMs) simultaneously → comfortable holding high-stakes, politically sensitive positions that require discretion and long time horizons.
Investment focus on climate, industrials, and defense — not just software → probably impatient with pure-SaaS pitches that ignore physical-world complexity.
Speaks at Milken, Slush, and DLD — international, cross-sector stages → comfortable operating across audiences from finance to policy to tech; not a narrow specialist.
Possibly — founder-turned-investor arc (built and sold her own fund) → likely has more empathy for the operational grind of company building than a career investor who has only written checks.

Conversation tips

→ Reference a specific portfolio company — Helsing or Mistral board work will land better than generic questions about 'European tech'; she's operating at the frontier of sovereign AI.
→ Ask about the La Famiglia-to-GC transition on her terms — it's a rare case of a founder merging her firm rather than shutting it or selling out, and she likely has a clear view on why that was the right move.
→ Come with a point of view on European industrial policy or defense tech — she invests at that intersection and will engage more if you're not just asking her to educate you from scratch.
→ Don't treat her as a generalist VC; her thesis is sector-specific (climate, industrials, defense) and she'll respond better to specific sector questions than to broad 'what's hot in Europe' prompts.

Toolbox

Openers

Open on her Mistral board seat — she backed the French LLM company at a moment when European sovereign AI was still a contested idea, and it's now one of the most watched bets on the continent.
Reference the La Famiglia merger structure — merging a fund you founded into a larger firm as its dedicated seed arm, rather than a straight acquisition, is an unusual outcome worth unpacking.
Mention Helsing — she sits on the board of one of Europe's most prominent defense AI companies, a pointed bet from an investor who started in Berlin's civilian tech scene.

Discovery questions

When you merged La Famiglia into General Catalyst as the European seed arm, what changed about how you evaluate founders — and what stayed the same?
Your portfolio spans climate, industrials, and defense alongside software — how do you think about the different risk profiles and holding periods across those sectors?
With GC deploying more than $1.8 billion in Europe in this fund cycle, how do you maintain the seed-stage conviction and speed that La Famiglia was known for at that scale?

Avoid

Don't open with generic European tech market commentary or ask her to map the ecosystem — she's been building inside it since 2016 and will expect you to bring a specific angle, not ask for orientation.

Make it yours