Clipway has completed the final close of Clipway Secondary Fund I at $6.4 billion, creating what the firm described as the largest debut secondaries platform ever raised. The closing also establishes Clipway as the world’s largest independent firm dedicated exclusively to technology-enabled secondary market investing.
The fund received commitments from 186 limited partners, including sovereign wealth funds, pension plans, insurers, endowments, foundations and family offices. Its capital base is distributed across Europe at 44%, North America and Latin America at 21%, the Middle East at 18%, and Asia at 17%.
Mubadala Investment Company, Carmignac and General Atlantic have supported Clipway as strategic partners since its formation. Clipway has also played a role in developing and advancing Carmignac’s private equity platform.
Private equity secondaries involve the purchase and sale of existing interests in private funds or portfolios of private companies. These transactions can provide liquidity to investors that would otherwise need to wait until the underlying funds sell their assets and distribute proceeds.
Clipway Secondary Fund I primarily targets diversified, limited partner-led transactions involving North American and Western European buyout funds. LP-led transactions occur when an existing investor sells some or all of its interests in one or more private equity funds.
Clipway seeks to acquire high-quality private equity exposure at discounts to prevailing market valuations. Its strategy emphasizes developed markets and mid-market companies while using broad portfolio diversification to manage risk.
The firm has completed more than $6 billion in transaction volume across 1,403 companies held through 177 private equity funds. These investments were selected from more than $267 billion of opportunities evaluated through Clipway’s technology platform.
Approximately two-thirds of the capital deployed to date has been sourced directly by Clipway through proprietary and off-market transactions. This sourcing model can give the firm access to investments that are not broadly marketed through traditional auction processes.
Clipway has also offered existing investors one-to-one co-investment opportunities alongside the fund. These investments have been made available without management fees or carried interest, allowing participating investors to increase their exposure to selected transactions on more favorable economic terms.
The firm’s investment process is supported by TESS, its proprietary Tech-Enabled Secondaries System. TESS is used across sourcing, screening, underwriting, portfolio construction and ongoing investment monitoring.
The system’s database covers more than 38,500 private companies and approximately 3,400 private equity funds. This allows Clipway to evaluate secondary transactions by analyzing the individual businesses held within each underlying fund rather than relying only on top-level fund information.
TESS applies advanced analytics, artificial intelligence and machine learning to support investment analysis. Final decisions remain with Clipway’s investment professionals, who combine the platform’s data with their own experience and judgment.
Clipway’s strategic partners can also access TESS to evaluate and monitor their private equity portfolios. The firm believes this broader use of its technology can strengthen relationships with institutional investors and improve portfolio transparency.
Clipway has grown to 62 professionals across six global offices under Managing Partners Vincent Gombault, Ingmar Vallano and Benoit Verbrugghe. The team includes 18 data science and technology professionals.
The firm was structured as a broadly owned partnership, with equity distributed across the senior team and no individual holding more than 10%. Clipway believes this structure aligns leadership around the firm’s long-term investment performance and development.
The fund closed as limited partners increasingly seek liquidity from existing private market holdings. Slower exit activity and the continued growth of private equity assets have expanded the supply of secondary transactions and increased demand for dedicated capital.
KEY QUOTES:
“Closing CSF I is a defining milestone for Clipway, and we are grateful for the trust placed in us by our investors and strategic partners. We have built a global, aligned and differentiated secondaries firm, combining deep investment expertise with TESS, our proprietary technology platform that harnesses AI and machine learning for data-driven investment analysis.”
“Our focus now is to continue earning that confidence through highly selective deployment, differentiated sourcing and attractive risk-adjusted returns.”
Vincent Gombault, Ingmar Vallano and Benoit Verbrugghe, Managing Partners of Clipway
