General Atlantic's India COO Alok Misra quits

Alok Misra was CFO of WNS Global and Group CFO of IT Services company Mphasis before he joined General Atlantic in 2013.

Alok Misra, the Chief Operating Officer of India and Operating Partner at private equity major General Atlantic, has quit the firm. Sources said that top corporate honchos and dealmakers from the industry attended Misra's farewell party recently.

Misra, who reported to outgoing India and Southeast Asia head Sandeep Naik, was CFO of WNS Global and Group CFO of IT Services company Mphasis before he joined General Atlantic in 2013. This comes weeks after Moneycontrol had first reported on June 26 that Naik would be stepping down from his position, following the PE major's debacle with Byju’s as an investment.
General Atlantic has invested $300-$400 million across multiple rounds in the edtech company to secure a stake of around 6 percent.

The edtech startup, however, went from being a behemoth valued at $22 billion in 2022 to now challenging an insolvency plea in the Indian courts. The value erosion has been too much to stomach for all its investors, including large ones like General Atlantic.

For the global investment firm, which has deployed more than $6 billion in 45 companies across India and SEA since the late 1990s, there have been some other upsets in India, the world’s third-largest startup ecosystem.

Another edtech company from General Atlantic’s portfolio, Unacademy, is reportedly in talks to merge with Peak XV-backed K12 Techno.

In 2022, Prosus-backed PayU was in talks to acquire BillDesk, a payments gateway business, for a staggering $4.7 billion but the deal was eventually called off which meant an exit to early investors, like General Atlantic, was delayed.

While General Atlantic declined to comment, Misra has confirmed his departure in a LinkedIn post.

“As I step into this new phase, I'm excited about what lies ahead. Retirement isn't an end; it's a beginning—a chance to explore new passions, spend time with loved ones, and embrace life beyond the office walls,” Misra said in the social media post.

Earlier this year, General Atlantic hired Neal Kok, a former director at KKR, to lead its investments in Australia and the wider Asia-Pacific region.

In May, the firm announced that Anand Agarwal, the former chief financial officer of Amazon’s consumer business in India, would join the firm’s regional leadership team as an Operating Partner focused on India and Southeast Asia, likely taking up Misra’s job and looking after other bets in India, including PhonePe, Acko, Amagi, BillDesk, No Broker and others are all part of its tech bets in India.

Legacy companies like PNB Housing Finance, Rubicon Research, Capital Foods (Ching’s Secret), and others are also part of its portfolio here.