HighBar Partners Team

John Kim is a Co-founder and Managing Partner of HighBar Partners. Prior to HighBar, Mr. Kim was with W Capital Partners, a private equity fund with over $1 billion under management that makes and acquires direct investments in growth equity technology companies. Mr. Kim joined as the firm’s first employee in 2003. During his time at W Capital, Mr. Kim invested in special situations and secondary direct acquisitions from corporations, financial institutions and general partnerships. Prior to W Capital, Mr. Kim was Director of Corporate Development at Zeborg (acquired by Emptoris), a venture-backed enterprise software company spun off from The Mitchell Madison Group, where he focused on operations and corporate strategy. He was also Director of Investments at ISL Management, a venture capital firm funded by JPMorgan dedicated to early stage software and financial service investments. Prior thereto, Mr. Kim was an investment banker with JPMorgan Chase (and its predecessors) and Robertson Stephens, where he worked on complex M&A and leveraged finance transactions across sectors including technology, financial services, healthcare and industrials. Mr. Kim holds a BS in Economics from The University of Chicago and an MBA, with Honors, from Columbia Business School.