StepStone spin-out hires new managing partner

A StepStone secondaries spin-out that came to market last month has added a serial entrepreneur and investor to its management team.

Gregg Parise, who joins Sweetwater Capital Partners as managing partner, will focus on sourcing and underwriting secondaries and direct deals, the San Diego-headquartered firm said in a statement. He has been a senior advisor to the firm since 2016.

In 1999 Parise launched hedge fund Dorado Capital Management, growing its assets under management to $350 million, according to the statement. The company was acquired in 2003 by JLF Asset Management, where he stayed on as a managing partner. He later took up a series of up chief executive roles with companies such as Events.com and software-as-a-service providers Reachify and Vroozi.

According to his LinkedIn profile, Parise’s most recent position is as founder and chief executive of Collabor8 Partners, a private equity firm focused on tech-based secondaries investments.

Secondaries Investor reported in May that Sweetwater is seeking $150 million for Sweetwater Secondaries Fund II, a venture capital vehicle.

Sweetwater was formed in 2016 to make secondaries, directs and co-investments across venture capital, growth, buyout and infrastructure on a deal-by-deal basis, through tickets of between $5 million and $15 million, as Secondaries Investor reported. The firm’s aim is to help less well-resourced limited partners such as smaller endowments and foundations gain exposure to private equity.

It was founded by James Gamett, a former partner at StepStone who also spent four years at Portfolio Advisors.