Altimeter Capital is a technology-focused investment firm based in Menlo Park, California. Brad Gerstner founded it in 2008 after earlier roles at General Catalyst and as an entrepreneur. The firm operates as a crossover fund, investing in both private growth-stage companies and public equities. This structure lets Altimeter hold positions from Series B through post-IPO, which distinguishes it from pure venture funds or pure hedge funds.
At its peak, Altimeter managed roughly $15–20 billion in assets across its public and private books, though AUM fluctuates significantly given its exposure to volatile technology stocks. The firm takes concentrated positions and is known for high-conviction bets on a small number of companies rather than wide portfolio diversification. Gerstner himself is a prominent voice in technology and finance, widely known for an open letter he sent to Meta's Mark Zuckerberg in October 2022 urging the company to cut costs and workforce – a call that proved prescient as Meta underwent a major restructuring.
Altimeter's best-known investment is Snowflake, the cloud data platform. Altimeter led a late-stage round shortly before Snowflake's 2020 IPO, which became the largest software IPO in history at the time. The firm reportedly returned billions from that single position. Other major technology holdings have included Airbnb, Uber, and ByteDance.
Notable investments
- Snowflake – Led pre-IPO growth round; one of the most profitable single venture bets of the 2020 IPO cycle. Crunchbase profile
- Airbnb – Growth-stage investment ahead of the 2020 IPO.
- Uber – Public and private exposure over multiple years.
- FTX – Altimeter participated in FTX's Series B and Series C fundraising rounds in 2021–2022. When FTX collapsed in November 2022, the firm wrote the investment down to zero. Gerstner publicly acknowledged the loss and described it as a failure of due diligence on the governance and custody structures at FTX.
- Various Web3 and fintech companies – Altimeter has backed several growth-stage fintech and blockchain-adjacent companies, though the firm has not published a full public list of its private portfolio. Public information on individual crypto positions beyond FTX is limited.
Team
Brad Gerstner serves as founder and CEO. Before starting Altimeter, he founded Starpound.com and served as managing director at General Catalyst. He studied at Indiana University and Harvard Law School. Gerstner is active on X (formerly Twitter) and has become a frequent commentator on technology valuations, AI policy, and the broader venture market. Beyond Altimeter, he co-hosts the All-In Podcast alongside David Sacks, David Friedberg, and Chamath Palihapitiya, which has given him a large public profile in the technology investment community. Altimeter's broader investment team is not extensively documented in public sources.
Recent activity
From 2023 through 2025, Altimeter leaned heavily into artificial intelligence infrastructure – publicly holding positions in companies connected to AI compute, data, and foundation model deployment. Gerstner spoke frequently about AI being the dominant investment theme of the decade. The firm also trimmed or exited some positions in consumer technology companies that had underperformed post-pandemic highs. In crypto markets specifically, Altimeter's activity became more cautious after the FTX loss, with no major publicly confirmed new crypto-native investments in 2024–2025, though the firm continued to monitor blockchain infrastructure developments.
Altimeter's geographic focus is primarily North America, with some exposure to global technology companies through public market positions. The firm does not operate regional offices outside the United States, according to available public information.
Altimeter's track record is uneven in crypto specifically. The FTX investment stands as a significant reputational and financial setback. Outside crypto, the firm's overall technology returns – driven by Snowflake and other positions – place it among the stronger crossover funds of the 2015–2022 cycle. Whether its AI-focused positioning translates into comparable returns remains to be seen. More detail on Altimeter's fund structure and returns is available through Crunchbase and SEC 13F filings.