HarbourVest DEI Report

A review of our diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts

Cultivating diversity

Our more than 40 years of private markets experience have taught us the power of a good investment. With this in mind, we continue to enhance our formal approach to sourcing, developing, and retaining diverse talent.

Reflecting on my time here, it’s clear that this firm values talent and investing in our people. Throughout the industry, teams form and disband, firms change, some have disappeared from the landscape. But not HarbourVest. We have had this unique consistency over the years to come together and promote this heritage of which we are
so proud.
HarbourVest is consistently evolving our processes to ensure our team reflects the world around us: one with a variety of viewpoints and experiences. We are putting resources into not only growing our team but nurturing a community where we bring diverse ideas together, flex our unique strengths, and make the best decisions for our clients.

We provide the following data as part of our commitment to transparency in pursuit of diversity across all levels of our firm. We are proud to compare favorably to the alternatives industry as a whole, where women account for just 13.6% of the senior workforce and 20.9% of the workforce overall.1

HarbourVest employee demographics2 

Overall

Women
0%
Racially/ethnically
diverse
0%

Senior leadership

Women
0%
Racially/ethnically
diverse
0%

Managing Directors

Women
0%
Racially/ethnically
diverse
0%

2022 hiring and retention rates 

New hires

Women
0%
Racially/ethnically
diverse
0%

Retention

Women
0%
Racially/ethnically
diverse
0%
Sources

[1] Women in Alternative Assets 2023, Preqin.

[2] Representing global data as of 6/30/23. Racially/ethnically diverse includes Asian, Black, Latine, Native Americans, or 2+ races. Senior leadership includes Vice President and above.

Investing early: internship program provides opportunity for exponential growth  

2023 marked our third year of partnership with SEO and the 10,000 Interns Foundation (formerly known as #10000BlackInterns) to develop opportunities at HarbourVest for high achieving students who are typically underrepresented in our industry. We were proud to add GAIN to our growing list of internship program partners as we continue to expand our talent pool and create pathways to careers in financial services for professionals with untapped potential at the earliest stages of their careers.  

HarbourVest has positioned themselves as a company students want to work for. They provide the access, resources, and networks our students need to really thrive and showcase their capabilities.
Mindy Davis
Managing Director and SVP
SEO Career
SEO is grateful to have a strong partnership with HarbourVest on both sides of the Atlantic. Interns in EMEA learn a lot from knowing they are part of a global firm, especially one that promotes cross-cultural relationship building.
Elise Golden
Head of Alternative Investment Programme
SEO London

Partnership in action

2023 SEO Intern Victor Uche and Vice President of Marketing Kim Stokes share their experience as internship program partners:   

Victor Uche

2023 SEO Intern

Kim Stokes

Vice President,
Marketing

“My experience at HarbourVest taught me that a progressive work environment where everyone feels welcomed and is encouraged to be themselves does exist.”

The impact of our growing roster of interns and former interns who have joined our Boston, London, and Dublin offices has been felt throughout the firm. 
In just three years we have more than doubled our commitment to nurture young and diverse pools of talent. 

No Data Found

Partnership in action

2023 SEO Intern Victor Uche and Vice President of Marketing Kim Stokes share their experience as internship program partners:   

Victor Uche

2023 SEO Intern

Victor: “My experience at HarbourVest taught me that a progressive work environment where everyone feels welcomed and is encouraged to be themselves does exist. It’s an environment where people are happy to be there and connect with you on a personal level. Team members were interested in supporting my career goals past what I was doing this summer at my internship.

HarbourVest partnering with programs like SEO has a bigger impact than I think any of us fully realize. The willingness to work with interns and be patient while teaching us about all the different departments and processes of the company outside of their own is phenomenal. HarbourVest has created a standard that any intern who can experience it, should settle for no less going forward.” 

Kim: “Victor’s project during his internship with the Marketing team focused on providing competitive research and recommendations for employer branding content on social media. We valued his insight and the unique opportunities this summer for the team to learn from one another and grow.

Working with Victor was a great experience for our team. He brought a fresh perspective on how we can authentically connect with future talent through an enhanced online presence that brings our great culture to life.”   

Kim Stokes

Vice President,
Marketing

Important Disclosures:

This material does not constitute an offer or solicitation for any fund sponsored by HarbourVest Partners, LLC (“HarbourVest”) or its affiliates, or any investment services provided by HarbourVest, and may not be relied on in any manner as legal, tax, or investment advice or as an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy an interest in a fund or any other investment product sponsored by HarbourVest. No sale will be made in any jurisdiction in which the offer, solicitation, or sale is not authorized or to any person to whom it is unlawful to make the offer, solicitation or sale. This document includes information obtained from published and non-published sources that HarbourVest believes to be reliable. Such information has not been independently verified by HarbourVest. Unless otherwise specified, all information is current at the time of issue. Any opinions expressed are those of HarbourVest and not a statement of fact. The opinions expressed do not constitute investment advice and are subject to change.

The companies and GPs discussed in this report are intended for illustrative purposes only, do not represent all of the investments made, sold, or recommended for funds or client accounts, and should not be considered an indication of the performance or characteristics of any current or future performance HarbourVest fund or investment strategy. It should not be assumed that an investment in the company or fund sponsored by a GP discussed in this report was or will be profitable. Actual investments will vary for each fund and client and there is no guarantee that a particular client’s account will hold any or all of the investments identified herein.

Any published third-party ratings or rankings discussed herein are not representative of any one client’s experience with HarbourVest and are not indicative of HarbourVest’s future performance. Ratings and rankings have inherent limitations and qualifications, and are not indicative of the experience of any client or investor or of the future performance of any product. There can be no assurance that the universe upon which the awards were based included all investment products within each category that are actually in operation or existence. Unless otherwise specified, all awards shown are based on the one-year period immediately preceding the date listed.

Certain information contained herein constitutes forward-looking statements, which can be identified by the use of terms such as “may”, “will”, “should”, “expect”, “anticipate”, “project”, “estimate”, “intend”, “continue”, or “believe” (or the negatives thereof) or other variations thereof. Due to various risks and uncertainties, including those discussed above, actual events or results or actual performance may differ materially from those reflected or contemplated in such forward-looking statements. As a result, investors should not rely on such forward-looking statements in making an investment decision. Any forecast provided herein is based on HarbourVest’s opinion of the market as of the date of preparation and is subject to change, dependent on future changes in the market.

The principles related to sustainable and responsible investing discussed above represent general goals that will not be achieved by investment selected. These goals are not representative of current processes or outcomes for every strategy, and may not be fully realized for all products or client accounts. There can be no assurance any initiatives or anticipated developments described herein will ultimately be successful. The information provided is solely for informational purposes and should not be relied upon in connection with making any investment decision. It should not be assumed that any ESG initiatives, standards, or metrics described herein will apply to each asset in which HarbourVest invests or that any ESG initiatives, standards, or metrics described have applied to each of HarbourVest’s prior investments. ESG is only one of many considerations that HarbourVest takes into account when making investment decisions, and other considerations can be expected in certain circumstances to outweigh ESG considerations. The information provided is intended solely to provide an indication of the ESG initiatives and standards that HarbourVest applies when seeking to evaluate and/or improve the ESG characteristics of its investments as part of the larger goal of maximizing financial returns on investments. Any ESG initiatives described will be implemented with respect to a portfolio investment solely to the extent HarbourVest determines such initiative is consistent with its broader investment goals. Accordingly, certain investments may exhibit characteristics that are inconsistent with the initiatives, standards, or metrics described herein.

For additional legal and regulatory disclosures related to HarbourVest offices and countries, please refer to Important office and country disclosures.

Continuation solutions encompass a host of transaction types in which a GP secures interim liquidity and/or additional primary capital for their LPs in a strongly performing asset, or set of assets, that the GP will continue to own and control. Specifically, they include continuation funds, new funds created by GPs for the purpose of acquiring the asset(s) that continue to be managed by the same GP and capitalized by one or several secondary buyers, or equity recapitalizations involving a direct equity or structured equity investment into a portfolio company. These transactions can also include a parallel investment from the GP’s latest fund into that same pool of assets (a “cross-fund trade”).