General Atlantic, legal main entity General Atlantic Service Company, L.P., (also known as "GA") is an American growth equity firm providing capital and strategic support for global growth companies, headquartered in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

, United States. The firm was founded in 1980 as the captive investment team for Atlantic Philanthropies, a philanthropic organization founded by Charles F. Feeney, the billionaire co-founder of Duty Free Shoppers Ltd. As of November 2021, General Atlantic has over $86 billion in

assets under management In finance, assets under management (AUM), sometimes called fund under management, refers to the total market value of all financial assets that a financial institution—such as a mutual fund, venture capital firm, or depository institutio ...

and focuses on investments across five sectors, including Technology, Consumer, Financial Services, Healthcare, and Life Sciences. The firm has 185 investment professionals based in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, Stamford,

Palo Alto Palo Alto ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for ) is a charter city in northwestern Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a Sequoia sempervirens, coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto. Th ...

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

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Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

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, and

Jakarta Jakarta (; , Betawi language, Betawi: ''Jakartè''), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta (; ''DKI Jakarta'') and formerly known as Batavia, Dutch East Indies, Batavia until 1949, is the capital and largest city of Indonesia and ...

. In June 2023, General Atlantic were ranked ninth in

Private Equity International ''Private Equity International'' (PEI) is a global insight, analysis and data provider for the private equity industry, with a core focus on the relationship between investors and fund managers: the LP- GP nexus. Launched in December 2001, the t ...

's PEI 300 ranking of the largest private equity firms in the world. However, in June 2024, General Atlantic saw its ranking drop, ranking 15th in

's PEI 300 ranking among the world's largest private equity firms.

History

General Atlantic was founded in 1980 as the captive investment team inside of

Atlantic Philanthropies The Atlantic Philanthropies (AP) was a private foundation created in 1982 by American businessman Chuck Feeney. The Atlantic Philanthropies focused its giving on health, social, and politically left-leaning public policy causes in Australia, Berm ...

, founded by billionaire Charles F. Feeney a co-founder of Duty Free Shoppers Group. Two of the world's richest men, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, credit Feeney as a major inspiration for both the $30 billion-strong Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Giving Pledge, which has enlisted more than 90 of the world's richest to (eventually) grant half their wealth to charity. The firm was initially led by CEO Edwin Cohen, previously a partner of

McKinsey & Company McKinsey & Company (informally McKinsey or McK) is an American multinational strategy and management consulting firm that offers professional services to corporations, governments, and other organizations. Founded in 1926 by James O. McKinse ...

. Cohen was joined by Steven A. Denning, also from McKinsey & Company, as a founding member of the firm. Steven Denning served as General Atlantic's CEO from 1995 to 2006 and is now chairman Emeritus. William (Bill) E. Ford, who joined the firm in 1991, is the current chairman and CEO of General Atlantic. In November 2019, General Atlantic announced the appointments of Gabriel Caillaux, Martín Escobari, and Anton Levy to Co-Presidents of the firm, expanding its senior leadership team with the newly created roles. In December 2019, General Atlantic's Global Co-Head of Financial Services Paul Stamas was selected as one of GrowthCap's Top 40 Under 40 Growth Investors of 2019. General Atlantic focused initially on investments in computer software, oil and gas exploration, real estate and retailing. Among the firm's first major investments was United Health Services, which tripled in value in three years for the firm. By the late 1980s, General Atlantic began to expand its funding sources to include other

family offices A family office is a privately held company that handles investment management and wealth management for a wealthy family, generally one with at least $50–100 million in investable assets, with the goal being to effectively grow and transfer w ...

, as well as

foundations Foundation(s) or The Foundation(s) may refer to: Common uses * Foundation (cosmetics), a skin-coloured makeup cream applied to the face * Foundation (engineering), the element of a structure which connects it to the ground, and transfers loads f ...

and endowments. Conor O'Clery, ''The Billionaire Who Wasn't: How Chuck Feeney Made and Gave Away a Fortune Without Anyone Knowing'' (). Coincident with General Atlantic's expansion of its funding source, the firm began exploring expanding its presence overseas. Starting in 1999, General Atlantic began to open offices in Europe and Asia and currently has 16 offices globally. In 2018 General Atlantic invested in UK investment start-up

Greensill Capital Greensill Capital was a financial services company based in the United Kingdom and Australia. Its main business was the provision of supply chain finance, supply chain financing and related services. The company was founded in 2011 by Lex Greensi ...

in an attempt to challenge traditional lending systems. In 2019 the firm continued its investments in EMEA region by acquiring majority share in Kiwi.com. In October 2023, General Atlantic acquired a minority stake in India-based travel-tech platform TBO for an undisclosed amount. In November 2023, General Atlantic acquired a majority stake in Joe & The Juice for $641 million. General Atlantic agreed to acquire British investment firm

Actis Capital Actis LLP is a global investment firm focused on sustainable infrastructure, in particular the energy, infrastructure, and real estate asset classes. It is focused on investments in emerging markets in India, Latin America, South East Asia, the ...

in January 2024. The acquisition finalized in October, after which Actis became General Atlantic's sustainable infrastructure arm. In October 2024, General Atlantic set up its first Middle East office.

Investments

General Atlantic backed

Royalty Pharma Royalty Pharma is a private equity investor firm founded in 1996. It purchases the rights to royalties on future drug sales. It claims to own partial rights to 7 of the top 30 selling drugs in the United States. As of 2017, it is valued at $15 bil ...

ahead of the company's 2020 IPO, which was among the largest U.S. IPOs that year and was the second-largest pharmaceutical listing ever. The firm also expanded its footprint in Asia in 2020 with an $870 million investment in India's digital services platform

Jio Platforms Jio Platforms is an Indian Multinational corporation, multinational technology company, headquartered in Mumbai. It is a subsidiary of Reliance Industries. Established in 2019, it acts as a holding company for India's largest mobile network op ...

. In 2018, General Atlantic entered into a joint venture, Nucom ecommerce, with

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

mass media company ProSiebenSat.1 Media. Later that year, NuCom purchased U.S.-based

online dating Online dating, also known as internet dating, virtual dating, or mobile app dating, is a method used by people with a goal of searching for and interacting with potential romantic or sexual partners, via the internet. An online dating service ...

website

eHarmony eharmony is an online dating website launched in 2000. eharmony is based in Los Angeles, California, and owned by ParshipMeet Group, a joint venture of German mass media company ProSiebenSat.1 Media and American private equity firm General A ...

. In October 2024, General Atlantic acquired Actis, a leading global investor in sustainable infrastructure. The merger expanded the investment platform to approximately $97 billion in operating assets.

References

External links

* {{Largest private equity firms Investment companies based in New York City Private equity firms of the United States Financial services companies established in 1980