Venture Secondaries and Artificial Intelligence (AI):

How firms can unlock liquidity now.

Investor interest in AI continues to reach new heights, fueled by unprecedented
innovation and growth across startups and established companies, driving deal flow and
dominating fundraising rounds. We believe turning attention to the venture capital
secondary market can help investors gain access to attractive upside potential from highly
ought-after AI companies, while giving General Partners and shareholders more liquidity
optionality, especially as the market continues to grow.

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AI’s transformative potential and the expanding secondaries opportunity set, combined with today's exit environment and active shifts around portfolio management, have created a uniquely attractive venture secondary market.
Brent Westbrook
Principal, Venture Capital and Growth Equity

Venture revenue growth

In addition to newly formed companies benefitting from building from the ground up with AI, existing companies are leveraging AI to innovate faster and operate more efficiently. In many cases, this yields accelerated revenue growth and improved profit margins. 

A strategic choice – private vs. public

Many companies are deliberately choosing to stay private longer. This autonomy allows founders to prioritize sustainable growth, invest in research and development with longer time horizons, and make decisions based on fundamental business value creation rather than under the scrutiny of public markets.

Unlocking liquidity

AI-fueled startups are growing quickly, yet slow exits in venture capital's $3.8T* total addressable market mean billions remain illiquid for General Partners and Limited Partners. Can venture secondaries be the key to unlocking this liquidity?

Our approach to venture capital and growth equity investments

We aim to access top-tier venture and growth equity companies through fund investments, direct investments and solution-oriented secondaries. Our strategy is designed to produce an asymmetric return profile that limits losses, while capturing the attractive upside that venture and growth equity investments can provide.

$116.0B

Assets Under Management & Supervision1,2

260+

General Partners With Whom We Actively Invest3

How can venture secondaries play a critical role in creating liquidity for investors? We explore the impact of AI amid current market conditions.

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About Hamilton Lane

Our purpose is simple: To provide enhanced financial well-being for those who depend on us. We do that by seeking to deliver tailored, solutions-oriented private markets exposure and industry-leading client service. We’re an organization built on over three decades of client-centricity, candor and authenticity and powered by intellectual rigor and data-driven insight. 

Our commitment to serving those who depend on us has remained steadfast, while our focus on growth and transformation has only strengthened. Today, we serve institutional and private wealth investors around the world, helping them tap into the opportunities afforded by this maturing asset class.

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*Source: Pitchbook (April 2025)

1Discretionary Assets Under Management ("AUM") includes all investments managed by Hamilton Lane for which Hamilton Lane retains a level of discretion for the investment decisions. AUM equals assets under management for active accounts. AUM is equal to market value plus unfunded. AUM calculation does not include authorized to invest amounts (ANI). ANI can only be attributed to commingled fund-of-funds and separate accounts and cannot be attributed to underlying investments.             

2Non-discretionary Assets Under Supervision ("AUS") comprise assets from clients for which Hamilton Lane does not have full discretion to make investments in the account. AUS includes all investments for which Hamilton Lane provides services including asset allocation, strategic planning, development of investment policies and guidelines, screening and recommending investments, legal negotiations, monitoring and reporting on investments and investment manager review and due diligence.  AUS equals assets under supervision for active accounts. AUS is equal to market value plus unfunded. AUS calculation does not include authorized to invest amounts (ANI). ANI can only be attributed to commingled fund-of-funds and separate accounts and cannot be attributed to underlying investments. 

3Number of Active GPs includes only active GP relationships for Hamilton Lane discretionary or advisory investments. This number excludes GPs with investments for which Hamilton Lane provides Monitoring & Reporting only services as well as Legacy accounts.