June 17, 2026
GEM's Head of Venture Capital, Kate Simpson, recently joined Earnest Sweat and Alexa Binns on Swimming with Allocators to discuss GEM’s approach to building and managing a venture portfolio in today's market. Kate explains why she believes the market has bifurcated into a barbell—with scaled platforms on one end and emerging managers on the other—and why the “crowded middle” warrants extra caution right now. Their conversation also explores how GEM evaluates managers through the lens of sourcing, picking, and winning, why we believe fund math is such an important part of early-stage manager assessment, and what feels different about the current AI-driven cycle.
Watch the full episode below.
We believe the lower middle market remains one of private equity’s most durable and least crowded sources of outperformance. In our latest research report, we examine the data behind our thesis and explain why we think disciplined manager selection creates a distinct edge.
In this mid-year follow-up to our 2026 Outlook, we revisit the four themes shaping this year's markets—AI's debt-financed buildout, accelerating private market access, biotech's continued momentum, and a slowly healing real estate market—and take stock of what's playing out as anticipated and what isn’t.
Three years after our last Investment Policy review, the regime has shifted: higher rates, sticky inflation, and a positive stock-bond correlation. In this conversation, GEM’s CIO Matt Bank revisits not just capital market assumptions but the framework itself, from methodology to implementation and risk management.
Let’s start a conversation about how we can help.
