What it does
Lineage maps the talent flow in and out of any PE firm. It shows you two things side-by-side: where the firm's current senior team came from (feeder firms) and where its past team went next (destination firms).
The data is centered on senior professionals — partners, managing directors, founders — because they're what diligence, recruiting, and origination teams actually care about. Junior turnover is everywhere; senior moves are signal.
When to use it
Diligence a sponsor's pedigree. Pitch decks claim "spun out of Apollo." Lineage tells you whether that's two MDs or twenty — and whether those alumni actually run the new firm.
Identify spinouts. The Alumni-Led callout surfaces firms founded or led by alumni of the firm you're researching. The cleanest way to find emerging managers with name-brand DNA.
Map a sponsor's network for BD or fundraising. Knowing that a target firm has five senior people from your former employer is a warm-intro shortcut.
Track senior departures. When a known MD left two years ago, where did they land? Pivot to the destination firm and check their current team.
Validate "team pedigree" claims in a fund deck. Compare what the firm says about itself to what the talent graph actually shows.
Recruiting and competitive intel. See which firms compete with you for the same talent pool.
Where to access
How to use it
1. Search a PE firm
Type a firm name into the search box (e.g., KKR, Audax, Platinum Equity). Pick a match. The lineage flow loads instantly.
2. Read the three-column flow
Left column — Current Team Worked At. Ranked list of feeder firms with the count of current-team members who previously worked there. The bar visualizes relative weight.
Center column — The firm itself. Shows HQ, website, current team count (with senior count), past team count, and two diverging "talent flow" mini-charts: by firm size tier (Mega → Small) and by region.
Right column — Past Team Now Works At. Ranked list of destination firms where alumni currently work. Same bar visualization.
3. Pivot by clicking
Every row in the left and right columns is a link. Click to load that firm's lineage. The callouts at the top use the same click-to-pivot links. You can walk the entire PE alumni graph without ever returning to search.
Tips
Click everything. Lineage is designed to be walked, not just read. The most interesting findings come 2–3 pivots in.
Start with the Alumni-Led callout when you're researching emerging managers. It's the fastest way to surface spinouts with real DNA from a known shop.
Compare "all senior" rows to mixed rows. A row labeled "all senior · 4" is a much stronger lineage signal than "1 senior of 6" — the former is a partnership-level outflow, the latter could just be a junior who left.
Use the size-tier chart to confirm a positioning story. A firm that claims it spun out of a mega-cap shop but pulls 80% of talent from middle-market firms is telling a different story than its deck.
FAQ
Q: Does Lineage cover banks, law firms, or operating companies?
Not yet. The talent map is currently PE-firm-to-PE-firm only. Bank and corporate alumni movement is on the roadmap.
Q: How is "senior" defined?
Mergr assigns each professional a score. Lineage treats higher weights as senior (partner, managing director, CEO).
Q: How is the Alumni-Led badge calculated?
A destination firm earns the Alumni-badge if (a) at least one founder/managing-partner level alumnus is there, OR (b) at least 2 senior alumni make up 25%+ of that firm's senior team. The first triggers on big founder moves (e.g., Tom Gores → Platinum); the second catches genuine team spinouts.