SAN DIEGO, Calif—Emerging Manager Monthly—January 2023—Grantchester Growth has launched a new private equity platform that will look to bring industry specialists and university endowments together.
The Equity25 platform will focus on developing investment syndicates for university endowments that would make investments with specialty funds across five areas: mobility and energy, artificial intelligence, cyber, healthcare and water. “This will be the first program that’s brought to the market that I believe will create a paradigm shift in the industry,” said Liz Griggs, founder and ceo of the San Diego-based firm.
The specialty funds will be led by industry “All-Stars” that will be mentored by an established private equity partner that will be selected by Grantchester. The established capital partner will bring a track record, deal experience in the specialized industry and strategic partner relationships to the table while developing and mentoring the industry specialist. Endowments involved in the program will invest in parallel funds offered by the specialty fund and the established capital partner. Griggs said teaming with an established firm will help “de-risk” the investment for endowments and offer an avenue for allocators to invest in emerging and diverse managers. “There are powerful, successful people that are trying to raise funds … that have not gotten capital,” Griggs said, noting that through her own experiences in the industry she decided that “we have to change this dynamic. We have to move the needle. ”The specialty funds will be primarily growth equity funds focused on smaller cap companies in their respective industries. “I don’t think that investors know how important it is to have industry specific knowledge for returns, and that is going to be a really big deal over the next five years. You are going to have to know how to make money,” said Griggs, who co-founded her first company in the early 1990s, creating a healthcare company that eventually sold for $2.3 billion to Apax Partners.
The platform aims to bring on 25endowments in the initial launch and has already identified industry executives for each of the five funds, with a goal of having committed capital by the end of the first quarter. With committed capital, Grantchester will work with the industry specialist to build a team, with the firm offering fund management and operations support. “We’re providing the foundation,” Griggs said.
Liz Griggs, Managing Partner & CEO
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Kelly Sargent
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