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.
The firm announced the final close of its second Independent Sponsors Fund at its hard cap. New capital for the strategy totals $685 million, extending a program that has invested alongside independent sponsors for more than a decade.
CIO Matt Bank joined a group of fellow CIOs on the Capital Allocators podcast to discuss how each of them is evaluating the benefits and risks of integrating AI into their investment practices today.
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.
Let’s start a conversation about how we can help.
