The Texas Municipal Retirement System (TMRS) announced the launch of a new private investment initiative committing up to $15 billion over the next five years to global private market co-investments. Designed to capitalize on transformative global megatrends, the program represents a significant expansion of TMRS’s private investment strategy. It positions the pension plan as a premier capital partner for leading investors and management teams worldwide.
TMRS’s new program will deploy capital flexibly across a range of investment structures, including co-underwrites, syndicated co-investments, secondary transactions, and growth capital investments. The strategy will emphasize long-term, thematic investments aligned with five global megatrends shaping the next decade: digital transformation, healthcare innovation, industrial resilience, energy modernization, and financial empowerment.
The plan features the capacity to invest up to $15 billion over five years, with individual commitments ranging from $10 million to $200 million. TMRS’s approach is duration- and structure-agnostic, providing the flexibility to hold investments for extended periods when appropriate. The portfolio will be globally diversified and built with an eye toward efficiency, risk management, and value creation.
Chief Investment Officer Yup Kim emphasized that TMRS’s thematic framework is rooted in identifying enduring structural shifts in the global economy. The fund’s investment philosophy integrates long-term demographic, technological, and geopolitical trends while maintaining a disciplined focus on cost efficiency and risk-adjusted returns. Backed by a strong, funded position and liquidity, TMRS is positioned to act as a patient investor capable of compounding returns through strategic partnerships and internal expertise.
The TMRS investment team, based in Austin, has expanded its platform and partnerships to accelerate deal execution and due diligence. Deputy Chief Investment Officer Tom Masthay noted that the firm has designed its processes to operate as a best-in-class co-investor, enabling differentiated insights and rapid execution across asset classes.
Under its new thematic structure, TMRS will allocate across venture capital, buyouts, real assets, and structured equity and credit. The digital transformation strategy will focus on AI-driven enterprise and consumer automation, cybersecurity, and enabling infrastructure. Healthcare innovation will emphasize next-generation therapies, data-driven care alignment, and advanced manufacturing. Industrial resilience will target supply chain innovation and critical infrastructure, while energy modernization will address power grid technologies and sustainable electrification. And the financial empowerment theme will invest in fintech, wealth management, and affordable financial services.
KEY QUOTES:
“TMRS’s investment team invests behind five megatrends that will shape the global economy over the next decade, led by the enduring forces of demographics, technology, and geopolitics—while also delivering meaningful cost efficiencies.”
“We’ve built a world-class team in Austin with decades of direct investing experience, united by the vision of making TMRS the model public pension plan. As a small, thematically oriented team, we can identify transformative trends early, act with conviction, and compound expertise internally—positioning TMRS as a partner of choice for leading investors and companies while delivering lasting value to our beneficiaries.”
Yup Kim, Chief Investment Officer, TMRS
“We have structured our investment process to drive differentiated diligence and efficient deal execution. We will operate as best-in-class co-investors.”
Tom Masthay, Deputy Chief Investment Officer, TMRS
“We look to invest in companies leading or disrupting their respective industries. The opportunity set of transformational businesses has never been greater. Our approach enables us to partner with these businesses across maturity stages and market cycles.” ****
Amol Deshpande, Managing Director of Private Equity, TMRS
“We are most excited to back founders building enduring companies at moments of inflection, especially where AI is driving industry-wide transformation and enabling long-term, compounding growth.”
Yuri Lee, Head of Venture Capital, TMRS
