Tiger Global Management Research
Executive Summary
Tiger Global Management is a pioneering crossover investment platform founded in 2001 that operates at the intersection of public equities and private venture investing at massive scale. Under founder Chase Coleman's leadership, Tiger Global has evolved from a spray-and-pray venture investor during the 2021 bull market into a more disciplined, conviction-based investor focused on AI-led and infrastructure opportunities. Managing over $32 billion across public and private portfolios, Tiger Global represents a rare institutional investor capable of following companies from early-stage through IPO and beyond.
Investment Thesis and Philosophy
Tiger Global's investment thesis centers on identifying leading global companies that leverage technological innovation across both public and private markets. The firm distinguishes itself through several key principles:
Core Philosophy:
- Technological Innovation Focus: Tiger Global prioritizes companies at the forefront of technological disruption, from infrastructure to consumer applications
- Crossover Model: Unique in its ability to maintain positions across private venture stages and public equities, allowing founders to know Tiger will follow them from seed through IPO
- Data-Driven Approach: Operating with a quantitative, systematized approach more akin to a quant shop than traditional relationship-driven VC
- Long-Term Capital: Provides patient, long-term capital without governance burden, highly attractive to founders seeking capital without micromanagement
2025 Strategic Shift: After the harsh 2022-23 market correction that resulted in significant markdowns and the firm losing $17 billion and seeing a 56% portfolio decline, Tiger Global has undergone a dramatic philosophical pivot. Chase Coleman's new strategy explicitly rejects the "spray and pray" mentality that defined 2021 when Tiger led 212 rounds in a single year. Instead, the firm now emphasizes:
- Concentrated, conviction-based investing
- Aggressive pruning of underperformers (sold 85+ companies from PIP 15, generating $1B+ in proceeds)
- Disciplined focus on proven winners and emerging AI leaders
- Humility about AI valuations, acknowledging that "valuations are elevated and sometimes unsupported by company fundamentals"
Market Activity and Recent Performance
2025 Deployment Pattern: The data tells a striking story of Tiger's transformation. In 2025, Tiger Global made just nine new private investments after reviewing hundreds of potential deals. This represents a dramatic pullback from 2021's frenzy but signals exceptional selectivity and conviction. The firm is now focused on quality over quantity, with larger check sizes deployed to fewer, more promising companies.
Recent Notable Investments (2026):
- Cerebras Systems (Series H, Feb 2026): $1B+ round, continued AI chip investment
- Waymo (Series D, Feb 2026): Autonomous vehicle platform, core conviction
- Rogo (Series C, Jan 2026): $75M round, part of expanding portfolio
- Mews (Series D, Jan 2026): $300M round, hospitality operating system
Fund Performance:
- PIP 16 (raised $2.2B in 2024): Up 33% YTD, driven by OpenAI and Waymo stakes that have appreciated significantly
- PIP 15 (raised $12.7B in 2021): Up 16%, recovering from 2022-23 losses as portfolio companies exit and prove value
Portfolio Scale:
- 791 portfolio companies across 33 funding rounds in the last 12 months
- 2 acquisitions (Confrere video conferencing in 2022, jobs.ch in 2007)
- Managing $32.36B in total portfolio value as of Q3 2025
Stage and Check Size
Investment Stages: Tiger Global is a true crossover investor willing to deploy capital across all stages from pre-seed through late stage. However, their new strategy concentrates capital into:
- Primary Focus: Seed through Series B
- Sweet Spot: Series A ($8M-$15M range where they can be meaningful participants)
- Latest Stage: Willing to follow winners into Series C/D/E for proven companies with strong traction
Check Size and Strategy:
- Typical Range: $1M - $100M depending on stage and conviction
- Seed Round: $2M-$5M typical (target 15-20% ownership)
- Series A: $8M-$15M with check sizes of $10M-$50M+ for high-conviction companies
- Strategy: Concentration effect means larger checks to fewer companies in 2025-2026 versus the micro-check strategy of 2021
Geographic Focus
Primary Markets:
- United States: Primary focus (SF Bay Area, NYC, Seattle particularly strong)
- India: Significant secondary market (historically large bets like Flipkart, Nubank)
- APAC: Selective investments in Japan, South Korea, Singapore
- Europe: Growing presence, particularly in London, Berlin, and Eastern Europe
- Emerging Markets: Latin America and Africa on a selective basis
Sector Focus and Preferences
Tiger Global's portfolio spans multiple industries, but recent concentration is in:
- Enterprise Applications & Developer Infrastructure - B2B SaaS, DevOps, CI/CD, data infrastructure
- AI and Machine Learning - AI chip design, LLM applications, infrastructure
- Consumer & Digital Commerce - E-commerce platforms, digital banking
- Hardware & Infrastructure - Autonomous vehicles, EV technology
- Fintech & Payments - Digital banking, stablecoins, payments
- Logistics & Supply Chain - Freight, last-mile delivery
Team and Decision-Making
Key Leadership: Chase Coleman III - Founder & CEO, former Tiger Management analyst, known for disciplined data-driven approach, now taking more direct role post-2022 corrections. 27 total partners including global leaders in US (Chase Coleman, Evan Feinberg, Sean Carey, Zaahid Khan), APAC (Pengfei Wang, Amita Singh), and Europe (Ray Brilus).
Organization:
- 108 total team members including 27 partners, 39 principals
- Distributed globally: US (primary), China, India, UK
- Decision Process: Partnership model with Chase Coleman + leadership partners
- Timeline: Relatively fast (1-2 weeks typical) compared to traditional VCs
Lead Tendency and Involvement
Lead Status: Leads and Co-leads - Tiger Global leads or co-leads most rounds it participates in. In 2025, shifted to fewer total deals but larger check sizes indicating continued lead role.
Board Involvement: Minimal governance involvement - typically takes board observer seat or advisory seat rather than board control. Known among founders for not micromanaging.
Investment Timeline:
- Term sheets: 1-2 weeks
- Due diligence: 2-4 weeks depending on stage
- Check delivery: 30-45 days post-signature
Notable Portfolio Companies
Unicorns (>$1B): OpenAI (2021 <$16B), Waymo (2021 at $39B), ByteDance, Revolut, Databricks, Nubank, Flipkart, Upscale AI (raised $200M Series A)
Notable Exits: BuildKite (acquired by Atlassian 2024), LogStream (acquired by Datadog 2023), Confrere (acquired by Tiger 2022)
Recent Strong Bets: Revolut, ByteDance, Flock Safety, Harbinger, Rokt, Cargomatic, BVNK, Zipline
Investment Thesis Deep Dive
What Tiger Loves:
- Proven founders with hyperscaler experience (Google, AWS, Stripe)
- Large TAMs (billions+) with path to $100M+ ARR
- Product-led growth with organic adoption
- Scalability (3-10x with capital)
- Defensibility (network effects, switching costs, moats)
- Global expansion potential
What Tiger Avoids:
- Non-technical founding teams
- Small TAMs (<$500M potential)
- Heavily regulated industries with unclear policy
- Hardware-first plays without software differentiation
- Companies needing significant founder governance
- Commodity businesses
Tiger's Competitive Advantages:
- Capital scale (large checks)
- Long time horizon
- Crossover expertise (public + private)
- Minimal governance
- Speed
- Global network
Risk Factors
Tiger Global explicitly flags several risks in investor communications:
- AI Valuation Bubble Risk: "Valuations are elevated and sometimes unsupported by company fundamentals"
- Concentration Risk: Fewer but larger bets increase risk if large bets fail
- Deployment Challenges: Struggled to fully deploy previous funds
- Market Cycle Risk: Exposed to venture downturns (learned hard lessons 2022-23)
- Regulatory Risk: India tax case highlights international regulatory uncertainties
- Founder Dependency: Heavy reliance on OpenAI and Waymo returns in PIP 16
Fund Status and Deployment Timeline
Current Deployment:
- PIP 17 Launch: December 2025, targeting $2.2B close (March 2026 initial close)
- Target Size: $2.2B (significantly smaller than predecessors)
- Deployment Strategy: Concentration approach, similar to earliest Tiger funds
- Fund Life: 10-year investment period
- Deployment Pace: Slower, methodical (9 deals in 2025 vs 212 in 2021)
Liquidity Events:
- Following companies from Series A through IPO and beyond
- Willing to hold 7-10+ years
- Recent exits from PIP 15 generating $1B+ in proceeds
Warm Introduction Preference
Strongly Preferred: Yes. Tiger Global receives thousands of inbound pitches. Warm introduction from existing portfolio founder, lead investor, hyperscale exec, or banker significantly increases likelihood of engagement. Cold outreach rarely results in meetings.
Contact and Engagement
Primary Contact: [email protected]
Locations:
- HQ: 9 West 57th Street, New York, NY 10019
- Global offices: London, Hong Kong, India, Singapore
Website: https://www.tigerglobal.com
Summary: The New Tiger Global
Tiger Global in 2025-2026 represents a fundamentally different investor than the "spray and pray" Tiger of 2021. The firm has learned hard lessons from the venture correction and emerged more disciplined, more concentrated, and more focused on conviction bets in AI infrastructure, consumer technology, and developer tools.
Under Chase Coleman's continued leadership and with reduced capital to deploy ($2.2B vs $12.7B five years ago), Tiger is positioning itself as a more selective partner for proven founders with large market opportunities. The firm's willingness to lead rounds, lack of governance burden, and long-term capital make it highly attractive to founders despite reduced deployment pace.
For startups considering Tiger as an investor: Tiger will move fast and deploy large capital to high-conviction bets led by experienced founders in proven categories. But the days of Tiger funding every interesting pitch are definitively over.