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Fund managers

Long-term limited partner

General partners view us as a true partner – a dedicated source of capital and provider of strategic advice with a deep network of industry relationships.
Currently we sit on more than three-quarters of the advisory boards of the funds in which we invest (as of May 2015), providing insight and value added opportunities. Each year we host a conference for fund managers from around the globe, providing a forum to share insights and collaborate on best practices across venture, growth, buyout, credit, and other private markets. And in an industry where strong relationships are the foundation upon which opportunities are built, our tenured team is committed to creating lasting connections.

Criteria for investing in fund managers

The HarbourVest team views the fund managers with whom we invest as long-term partners. We seek to invest only with those managers that have strong track records and show the potential to create top quartile returns. We also maintain an open-door policy for meeting with new firms and welcome the opportunity to learn more about new potential partners. On an annual basis, our investment team typically evaluates more than 500 managers globally and invests in a very small percentage of these funds.

Areas of investment focus

We invest in fund managers throughout the private markets spectrum, including:
  • Small, medium, and large buyout partnerships
  • Venture capital managers that specialize in seed, early stage, later stage, and growth equity investments
  • Mezzanine and distressed debt partnerships
  • Infrastructure and real assets funds focused on infrastructure, power, energy, and natural resources
  • Emerging managers (primarily first-, second-, or third-time funds)
  • Diverse managers (women or minority general partners)
  • Underserved markets (funds that invest in companies that have historically lacked access to capital)

Contact us

Our offices span the globe from Boston to Beijing. Reach out through our contact form or find the HarbourVest location closest to you.

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Private clients

Secondary sellers

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”).