Blackstone Group has made good on its plans to expand in growth equity, creating a platform for the investment strategy.
The firm announced Monday that it has hired Jon Korngold, formerly global head of financial services and health care at growth equity firm General Atlantic, to lead the business. Blackstone said the new platform will invest in companies during the “critical phase” between venture capital investments and traditional buyouts.
“This is a highly synergistic expansion area for the firm and a natural extension of our existing businesses,” Blackstone chief executive officer and co-founder Stephen Schwarzman said in the announcement.
The firm had pointed to its interest in growth equity during its third-quarter earnings call about three ago. Blackstone president and chief operating officer Jon Gray said during the call, held in October, that it would invest more in technology and growth equity strategies over time.
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Korngold spent 18 years at General Atlantic, where he was a member of the firm’s management committee and chairman of its portfolio committee, according to Blackstone’s announcement. He was ranked first on Institutional Investor’s Fintech Finance Top 40 list in 2018, rising from No. 2 in 2017 to reclaim the top position he had held the year before.
Korngold served as an adjunct professor for the finance and economics division at Columbia University’s business school from 2011 to 2014, according to his LinkedIn profile. He taught courses on health-care investments and deal making, the profile shows.
Prior to joining General Atlantic, Korngold worked at Goldman Sachs Group in mergers and acquisitions and principal investments.
Spokespeople for General Atlantic and Blackstone declined to comment on Korngold’s new role.
