Blackstone's hiring of Jon Korngold, a former senior leader at equity firm General Atlantic, could have implications for automated investing platform SigFig, and illustrates that financial technology is a rising focus of the investment firm. Korngold was involved in a summer 2018 Series E funding round that saw a $50 million injection of investor cash in SigFig, according to a source familiar with the hire. Later in the summer, SigFig purchased digital wealth management IP from UBS.
Korngold will be a senior managing director and head of Blackstone's new "growth equity" investing platform, set up to be a capital provider for companies needing funding between their venture stages and traditional buyouts, according to Blackstone.
"Wealthtech could be one area [the platform] invests in," according to an executive close to the business. SigFig did not initially respond to a request for comment.
"Jon [Korngold] is the ideal leader for this new platform," said Jon Gray, president and COO at Blackstone, in a statement announcing the hire. "He will build upon Blackstone’s capabilities and strengthen all of our investing businesses through his deep expertise in the rapidly evolving technology sector.”
Korngold will start his new role next month.
Update: Paul Stamas led General Atlantic's Series E investment and SigFig does not expect to be impacted by Korngold's move, according to a SigFig spokesperson.
