Anyone have info on General Atlantic?

In the spirit of many new posts about growth equity, does anyone have any recent information on General Atlantic? There is not much info about it on WSO in general, but it seems like they have a really strong track record and huge AUM (over $35 bn). Looking for info on its thematic sourcing program (right out of undergrad), as well as any general info about its culture, track record, salary, nature of work, etc.

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General Atlantic is the OG growth equity shop (a pioneer of the strategy (the "BX/KKR of growth equity" to put it crudely).

  • They raise funds but use a mix of managed accounts and permanent/evergreen vehicles so it is a little harder to assess their scale. Seem to have ~$10bn of capital to deploy as of early 2018 and their deal sizes speak for themselves: $870mm in Jio along with Facebook, SL, Vista, KKR etc. recently suggests they are a mega player in tech growth equity at least.
  • Very pure growth equity - do not do buyouts, mostly take minority stakes and use debt infrequently (unlike Insight, TA etc, which dip into buyouts and minority growth rounds). Do $10mm rounds (Duolingo) but also do $870mm rounds^
  • Very international - rare US investment firm very active in China and India, and reasonably successful at it.
  • Returns in the high-teens (but consistent over a long period; good for growth equity).
  • Likely have their toes in most modern high-growth companies (altho didn't necessarily invest in all of them in early rounds): Uber, Airbnb, ByteDance, Ant, Opendoor, Crowdstrike and some "cool" ones you may have seen but are unproven: Clear (airports), DuoLingo, Wish.com

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-04-10/general-atlantic-add…

 

Appreciate the response! What do you think about the exit opps of their analyst program? Torn between the GA/Insight route or SL/Warburg route. Thanks!

 

Really depends on your goal.

If you want to do tech buyouts / late stage growth or to a hedge fund, SL/Warburg will set you up better.

If you’re interested in a career in Growth, exits will likely be similar.

If interested in VC / Early stage growth (sequoia, general catalyst, lightspeed, a16z) - insight / GA will have better exits.

 
Funniest

before COVID started, I saw Bill Ford on the street when I was walking by GC. dude looked like $. I’d work there

 

Yeah Moelis and PJT guys definitely get looks there. RX tricky due to lack of straight M&A sometimes in recruiters eyes but as long as you have a good story as to why you're interested and why not having worked on a "vanilla" deal as opposed to a RX deal you should be fine

 

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