Great Hill Partners, a private equity firm that invests in high-growth, disruptive companies, today announced that Atle Skalleberg has joined the firm as an Executive-in-Residence. In this role, Mr. Skalleberg will work with Great Hill to identify and pursue investment opportunities within the global travel industry alongside other businesses with direct-to-consumer or marketplace business models.
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Mr. Skalleberg joins Great Hill after nearly two decades as an experienced eCommerce operator. Most recently, he served as an Operating Partner at Digital Fuel Capital, an eCommerce-focused private equity firm, where he helped evaluate new investment opportunities and worked with a number of portfolio companies, including serving as the Interim CEO of StubHub International, a leading provider of secondary market tickets for sports and music. He previously served as the COO and Chief Digital Officer of Flight Centre Travel Group (ASX: FLT), an Australia-based travel company with approximately A$20 billion annual total transaction value. Mr. Skalleberg also spent more than a decade with StudentUniverse, one of the world’s largest online travel agencies for students, rising to CEO and Chairman of the Board and leading the Company through its acquisition by Flight Centre. He serves as an advisor to a range of growth companies, including as a Director of Collette, a global leader of world travel and escorted tours. Mr. Skalleberg received his undergraduate degree from BI Norwegian Business School and his graduate degree from Boston University, as well as Executive Education from MIT.
“Atle brings a differentiated perspective and extensive experience in scaling and accelerating growth across a broad range of global direct-to-consumer and marketplace businesses,” said Michael Kumin, Managing Director at Great Hill Partners. “We believe Atle will be a significant addition to the team as we seek to partner with high growth companies within the travel sector alongside other eCommerce business models.”
“Great Hill has built an impressive portfolio across some of the leading business-to-consumer and business-to-business digital commerce companies and has successfully demonstrated its ability to be a proven and trusted partner to some of the most talented entrepreneurs, executives and disruptive companies,” said Mr. Skalleberg. “I’m excited to join the team to help identify high growth investment opportunities for Great Hill where we can be supportive financial and operational partners to companies in their next stage of development.”
“The secular growth of the global travel industry has been an area of long-term focus and investment for Great Hill, and we’re confident that Atle’s leadership and expertise will be invaluable both with new investments and partnering with our existing portfolio,” added David Roberts, Managing Director at Great Hill Partners.
Great Hill is an active investor in digital commerce, having completed more than 25 investments in the sector, including: Bombas, Custom Ink, Momondo Group, The Shade Store, TodayTix Group and Wayfair, among many others.
About Great Hill Partners
Founded in 1998, Great Hill Partners is a private equity firm targeting investments of $100 million to $500 million in high-growth companies across the software, digital commerce, financial technology, healthcare, and digital infrastructure sectors. With offices in Boston and London, Great Hill has raised over $12 billion of commitments and invested in more than 95 companies, establishing an extensive track record of building long-term partnerships with entrepreneurs and providing flexible resources to help middle-market companies scale. It should not be assumed that the portfolio companies discussed in this press release were profitable, or that future portfolio companies or experiences will be comparable. For more information, including a list of all Great Hill investments, visit www.greathillpartners.com.
Executives in Residence are independent third-parties whose services will be paid by the Great Hill funds or their portfolio companies subject to the terms of the operating agreements of the Great Hill funds.
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