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The 2015 Fintech Finance 35: Jonathan Korngold, General Atlantic
No. 5 History is repeating — or, to be more precise, evolving — at General Atlantic.


History is repeating — or, to be more precise, evolving — at General Atlantic. The New York–based growth-equity firm was in the thick of the dot-com generation, helping to guide companies like E*Trade Financial Corp. and Priceline Group toward long-term viability, and it’s still going strong. William Ford, who was closely identified with the earlier successes, was elevated from president to CEO in 2007; Jonathan Korngold has been head of the global financial services sector since 2012. For Korngold, a Harvard Business School MBA and Goldman Sachs Group alumnus who joined the firm in 2001, ten years after Ford did, it’s not technology alone but also “the level of regulation that is driving massive change” in the financial industry. As capital-constrained banks pull back from certain markets, “huge swaths of the financial services sector are no longer economically viable to be served by traditional institutions, which also often struggle to adapt their business practices to the rapidly changing preferences of the consumers.” Therein lies opportunity for upstart companies to fill the breach. A case in point is nonprime consumer lending. Marketplace lender Avant, for which General Atlantic led a $325 million Series E financing in October, is “uniquely capable” of serving this segment “in a fair and transparent manner” through innovative technology and underwriting techniques, says Korngold, 41, who is joining the Chicago-based company’s board. He’s bullish on payment services: Two GA investments, Amsterdam-based Adyen and Sweden’s Klarna, fall into the category of “e-commerce enablement”; the former, which supports transactions in 187 currencies, is the global payments partner of Airbnb and Uber (both GA portfolio companies). Korngold stresses the global view and nature of the strategy, and the approximately 20 team members in the Americas, Europe and Asia who support it.
![]() 2. Jane Gladstone Evercore Partners ![]() 3. Matthew Harris Bain Capital Ventures ![]() 4. Steven McLaughlin Financial Technology Partners ![]() 5. Jonathan Korngold General Atlantic |
![]() 6. Richard Garman & Brad Bernstein FTV Capital ![]() 7. Amy Nauiokas & Sean Park Anthemis Group ![]() 8. Thomas Jessop Goldman Sachs Group ![]() 9. Meyer (Micky) Malka Ribbit Capital ![]() 10. Hans Morris Nyca Partners |
![]() 11. Maria Gotsch Partnership Fund for New York City ![]() 12. Marc Andreessen Andreessen Horowitz ![]() 13. Barry Silbert Digital Currency Group ![]() 14. Jay Reinemann Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria ![]() 15. Mariano Belinky Santander InnoVentures |
![]() 16. François Robinet AXA Strategic Ventures ![]() 17. Vanessa Colella Citi Ventures ![]() 18. Alan Freudenstein & Gregory Grimaldi Credit Suisse NEXT Fund ![]() 19. Justin Brownhill & Neil DeSena SenaHill Partners ![]() 20. Rodger Voorhies Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation |
![]() 21. Michael Schlein Accion International ![]() 22. Kenneth Marlin Marlin & Associates ![]() 23. Rumi Morales CME Ventures ![]() 24. Mark Beeston Illuminate Financial Management ![]() 25. Vladislav Solodkiy Life.SREDA |
![]() 26. Fabian Vandenreydt Innotribe SWIFT ![]() 27. Derek White Barclays ![]() 28. Alex Batlin UBS ![]() 29. Jeffrey Greenberg & Vincenzo La Ruffa Aquiline Capital Partners ![]() 30. P. Howard Edelstein REDI Holdings |
![]() 31. Nektarios Liolios Startupbootcamp FinTech ![]() 32. Roy Bahat Bloomberg Beta ![]() 33. Andrew McCormack Valar Ventures ![]() 34. Lawrence Wintermeyer Innovate Finance ![]() 35. Janos Barberis FinTech Hong Kong |