 The firm was founded in 1980 as the captive investment team for Atlantic Philanthropies, a philanthropic organization founded by Charles F. Feeney, the billionaire co-founder of Duty Free Shoppers Ltd.

As of March 31, 2020, General Atlantic has approximately $34 billion in assets under management and focuses on investments across four sectors, including Consumer, Financial Services, Healthcare, and Technology.The firm has more than 180 investment professionals based in New York City, Greenwich, Palo Alto, Sao Paulo, London, Munich, Amsterdam, Beijing, Hong Kong, Mumbai, Shanghai, Mexico City, Singapore, and Jakarta.General Atlantic was founded in 1980 as the captive investment team inside of Atlantic Philanthropies, founded by billionaire Charles F. Feeney a co-founder of Duty Free Shoppers Group.