J.P. Morgan Bolsters Private Capital Team with Two New Tech-Focused Partners
J.P. Morgan Private Capital, the venture and growth equity investment arm within J.P. Morgan Asset Management, today announced the appointments of Rand Araskog and Eric Ghernati as Partners focused on investing in leading growth companies.
The team's expansion comes in response to a fundamental shift in capital markets. Companies are staying private for longer, with the median age at IPO of U.S. tech companies nearly tripling from five years in 1999 to fourteen years in 2024. Over the same period, global private market assets have expanded 20-fold to $20 trillion. This evolution has blurred the traditional boundary between public and private markets. There are now over 800 private technology companies valued above $1 billion, together representing nearly $4 trillion of aggregate value. J.P. Morgan Private Capital seeks to capitalize on these secular growth trends across the platform.
Paris Heymann, Managing Partner, Technology Investing, J.P. Morgan Private Capital: "We're thrilled to have Rand and Eric join the Private Capital team. Their deep investment expertise across public and private markets will help us continue to support high-growth companies at scale."
Mr. Araskog has extensive experience investing in technology companies across public equities, growth equity, and buyout private equity. Most recently, he was a Managing Director at Permira, where he helped build out a dedicated strategy, systems, and team for the Firm's $4B growth fund and led successful public long-only investments. Prior to Permira, he was a Long/Short and Growth Equity Analyst at Coatue, responsible for investments across enterprise software, hardware, and frontier technologies.
Mr. Ghernati has been with J.P. Morgan Asset Management since 2020, most recently in the U.S. Equity Group where he was responsible for tech strategies across all market caps, including J.P. Morgan Mid Cap Growth and Small Cap Growth. He was also a co-portfolio manager for the J.P. Morgan U.S. Tech Leaders Strategy, including its active ETF vehicle, JTEK, and the US Equity Focus fund. Mr. Ghernati has also overseen the group's selective pre-IPO and private investments. Prior to J.P. Morgan, Mr. Ghernati spent six years at Lord Abbett, where he covered the technology sector for the growth, value, and core strategies.
Patrick McGoldrick, Managing Partner, J.P. Morgan Private Capital: "We see substantial opportunity to continue scaling the Private Capital platform. Rand and Eric will enable us to develop unique strategies across the growth investing continuum as we strive to partner with the world's most innovative companies."
Jed Laskowitz, Global Head of Private Markets and Customized Solutions: "With companies staying private longer, we are seeing an explosion of client interest in the convergence of public and private equity. Rand and Eric's extensive experience across growth markets will be instrumental in delivering differentiated solutions to our clients."
Rand Araskog is a Partner for J.P. Morgan Private Capital. He has extensive experience investing in technology companies across public equities, growth equity, and buyout private equity. Most recently, he was a Managing Director at Permira, where he helped build out a dedicated strategy, systems, and team for the Firm's $4B growth fund and led successful public long-only investments. Prior to Permira, he was a Long/Short and Growth Equity Analyst at Coatue, responsible for investments across enterprise software, hardware, and frontier technologies. He began his career in investment banking at Goldman Sachs. Rand holds a B.A. from Duke University and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.
Eric Ghernati is a Partner for J.P. Morgan Private Capital. Mr. Ghernati has been with J.P. Morgan Asset Management since 2020, most recently in the U.S. Equity Group where he was responsible for tech strategies across all market caps, including J.P. Morgan Mid Cap Growth and Small Cap Growth. He was also a co-portfolio manager for the J.P. Morgan U.S. Tech Leaders Strategy, including its active ETF vehicle, JTEK, and the US Equity Focus fund. Mr. Ghernati has also overseen the group's selective pre-IPO and private investments. Prior to J.P. Morgan, Mr. Ghernati spent six years at Lord Abbett, where he covered the technology sector for the growth, value, and core strategies. Earlier in his career, Eric worked for 15 years at Bank of America Merrill Lynch as a research analyst covering a variety of industries within the technology sector. Eric holds a B.S. in Finance from San Francisco State University.
