Funds of Funds

Our funds of funds are diversified across multiple vintage years, industry sectors, investment stages and geographical regions. We focus on funds offered by established firms; however, typically 10-20% of each of our funds of funds consists of emerging managers. We also actively seek secondary investments in existing top tier funds, and purchase only when we determine pricing is prudent.

We have three primary series of funds of funds:

Venture Capital
Leveraged Buyout
CleanTech / Alternative Energy

  • Venture Capital: Access to the core group of top tech and healthcare VC firms is the key here, coupled with maintaining a relatively small fund size and a hyper-selective investment discipline. We have access to this group through a combination of legacy investments and strategic fit. Highly sought after firms have provided us access to their funds because we offer them deep domain expertise and investment opportunities in areas such as medical devices, wireless communications, digital media and alternative energy, among other innovative sectors of the global economy.

    Our investment process is augmented by the working knowledge and insights of the Piper Jaffray global network. This information better enables us to determine which firms we feel are positioned to deliver attractive returns for investors.

  • Leveraged Buyout: Strong due diligence capabilities and diversification across the spectrum of buyout firms are the keys here. We build LBO funds of funds that are diversified from small fund strategies to mega-buyout strategies. We favor firms with industry sector specialization, distressed debt capabilities or other specialist characteristics over generalist firms.

    Again, our investment process is augmented by the working knowledge and insights of the Piper Jaffray global network. The firm’s particular strength in the lower middle-market buyout sector is a substantial value-added benefit to our team.

  • CleanTech / Alternative Energy (alternative energy, water technology and advanced materials): Our team became widely recognized as one of the few specialists in this sector in late 2005 / early 2006 when we launched the first U.S.-based CleanTech fund of funds. Our CleanTech program is further bifurcated into growth and infrastructure. We have been analyzing energy and CleanTech firms since 2000. Our capabilities have grown as Piper Jaffray’s investment banking and equity research teams have attained leadership roles in this emerging, global investment area.