Tiger Global Partner Alex Cook Leaves Firm, Sources Say

Alex Cook, a partner at Tiger Global who has overseen among the largest investments within the financial technology sector, is leaving the firm after nearly seven years, three people aware of the matter told TechCrunch.

Cook has informed multiple people around him in regards to the news of his departure in recent days, although he has not explained why he’s leaving. The sources requested anonymity since the discussions were private. A Tiger Global spokesman didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.

His departure joins other high-profile departures at Tiger Global. Scott Shleifer, who previously led the firm’s private equity division, resigned last yr. John Curtius, who led the firm’s software investments, left at the tip of 2022.

Cook anchored multiple fintech deals for Tiger Global, including TradingView, TrueLayer, Scalapay, Xendit, Selfbook, Fazz, Jar, and Refyne. The median deal size of his deal was around $35 million, while the median valuation was over $250 million, in line with PitchBook.

The departure got here as a surprise to at the least among the founders. Cook had been chatting with the founders steadily—several times every week, by some accounts. He had taken on responsibility for managing relationships with among the startups within the portfolio that Shleifer had previously overseen, in line with people aware of the matter.

Cook has focused heavily on emerging markets, particularly India, where he has steadily visited and met with founders in person. For example, in July 2022, he told founders in Bengaluru, India, that Tiger Global was going to decelerate its investment pace, TechCrunch reported on the time.

The development comes at a difficult time for Tiger Global, which recently raised $2.2 billion for its latest VC fund, its smallest fundraising in a decade and a stark contrast to previous years, when investor demand was strong and allowed the New York giant to lift larger funds, including a record $12.7 billion fund.

Amid a difficult fundraising climate marked by investor wariness toward VC and personal equity investments as a result of falling valuations and a slowdown in deals, Tiger Global announced a big leadership change in November, with founder Chase Coleman taking on the role of enterprise chief from Shleifer. Coleman took responsibility for managing relationships with among the company’s key portfolio startups around the globe, in line with people aware of the matter.