Coatue Hires Former ServiceNow Executive for Private Investing

(Bloomberg) -- Investment firm Coatue Management has hired technology executive David Schneider as a general partner to focus on private investing, according to people familiar with the matter.

The appointment of Schneider highlights Coatue’s push into one of the hottest corners of the technology market and what keeps businesses functioning globally: enterprise software.

A representative for Coatue declined to comment.

Schneider worked for a decade at workplace software company ServiceNow Inc., where he held roles such as as chief revenue officer and president of global customer operations. Prior to that, Schneider headed international sales at Data Domain Inc., helping to steer the company through its initial public offering and eventual sale to EMC Corp., which itself was later sold to Dell Inc. He’s on the board of cybersecurity company Zscaler Inc.

Enterprise software companies have experienced surging valuations during the past year, with investors rallying behind the thesis that the global pandemic will accelerate digitization across industries.

Coatue, led by Philippe Laffont, is a veteran technology investor in late-stage private companies. It backed Uber Technologies Inc. and Snap Inc. before their initial public offerings. The firm has stakes in several big pre-IPO companies, including Rivian Automotive Inc., UiPath Inc. and Databricks Inc.

The hedge fund, once solely focused on public equity trading, has been pushing further into technology investing by raising new funds last year focused on the space.

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