Nov 22, 2023

Ark Kapital, the leading Swedish growth platform for tech, announced today that John McCormick, former Co-head of the world’s largest alternative asset management Blackstone, joins the company as a new strategic investor. Ark Kapital is already backed by LocalGlobe, Creandum and no less than seven unicorn founders and Swedish banking veteran – Annika Falkengren, formerly Swiss banking group Lombard Odier and Swedish bank SEB, Hjalmar Winbladh of Epidemic Sound and founding partner of EQT Ventures, Jacob De Geer of IZettle, Timo Soininen of Small Giant Games, Ilkka Paananen of Supercell, Sebastian Knutsson of King, Riccardo Zacconi of King, and Steve Anavi of Qonto. “Ark Kapital has pioneered the development of a new asset class tailored for technology companies, employing constantly updated and forward-looking data as the bedrock for crafting innovative loans that pave the path to profitability,” says John McCormick, former co-Head of Blackstone and new investor in Ark Kapital. “In stark contrast to the early iterations of RBFs (Revenue-Based Financing), which primarily fixated on singular data dimensions such as cash flow, ArK’s pioneering approach is more like 3D, and thereby setting a new standard for the industry.” John McCormick is currently a personal investor and advisor and until recently was Global Group Head of Blackstone Alternative Asset Management (“BAAM”), the $82 billion AUM hedge fund division of The Blackstone Group, where he led the division to record financial results for Blackstone shareholders and strong investment performance for institutional clients. Over the course of his 17-year career at BAAM, McCormick led numerous functions within the organization, including global strategy, product development, global business development and client service, and GP stakes and seeding. McCormick was a member of all BAAM investment committees and Blackstone’s firm-wide Operating Committee. He is credited with launching Blackstone’s data science initiative and helping to establish Blackstone as a leader in democratized alternatives. “John is a legend in the world of finance and was early in pushing the implementation of data at Blackstone, leading to the hedgefond boom we all know today.” “We’re excited to work closely together as we’re getting ready to embark on our US market expansion,” says Oliver Hildebrandt, CEO at Ark Kapital . “We believe that with his expertise and network we can accelerate our mission of empowering founders with the tools and funding they need to jetfuel sustainable growth.” Ark Kapital empowers tech companies and gives them ongoing access to detailed views of their historical and future growth, by connecting the companies’ raw data to the analysis platform AIM – a growth platform that gives Ark the opportunity to provide access to long-term and non-dilutive loans of up to €10M. In 2023, Ark Kapital extended its capital pool to more than €400M to lend European founders and tech companies. In record time, Ark Kapital has seen significant demand in the Nordic region and Germany for its financial products, with hundreds of companies already utilizing the frontier growth forecasting platform, and is now planning on further market expansions as the entire growth platform is rolled out to the world’s entrepreneurs. To learn more about Ark Kapital and our Growth loan, powered by the unrivaled growth forecasting platform AIM , head over to Ark Kapital. People In This Post Fintech Fintech Event Videos Fintech Fintech