Adams Street Partners

HeadquartersChicago, USA

Founded1972

OwnershipIndependent, majority employee-owned

StrategySecondaries, primary fund commitments, co-investment, growth equity

ScaleMulti-decade multi-strategy private-markets platform

Adams Street Partners was founded in Chicago in 1972, making it one of the longest-running private-markets investment firms of any kind, let alone one active in secondaries — predating the emergence of secondaries as a recognized institutional strategy by nearly two decades.

The firm runs a diversified private-markets platform spanning primary fund investing, secondaries, co-investment, and growth equity, giving its secondaries underwriting team the benefit of five decades of primary-fund performance data across market cycles.

Adams Street has remained independent and majority employee-owned throughout its history, a similar structure to HarbourVest among the older-generation firms that avoided being absorbed into a larger diversified manager.

Worth knowing

Older than the concept of "private equity" as a mainstream asset class — founded in 1972, before most institutional PE fund structures existed.

See the full buyer directory, or read the glossaryfor the terms (LP-led, GP-led, continuation fund) that describe how firms like this actually transact.