StepStone spin-out Sweetwater raises $20m for blind-pool fund

The boutique secondaries firm is targeting $150m for Sweetwater Secondaries Fund II, Secondaries Investor reported last year.

Sweetwater Capital Partners, an investment manager formed by StepStone’s former secondaries head, has held an interim close on its blind-pool fund.

The Encinitas, California-headquartered boutique secondaries firm has raised $20 million for Sweetwater Secondaries Fund II, according to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission dated 6 November. On Monday it registered an offshore vehicle linked to Fund II which is targeting $35 million.

Secondaries Investor reported in May last year that Sweetwater was seeking $150 million for Fund II. It is unclear whether the firm raised a Fund I.

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, 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.

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

In June last year Secondaries Investor reported that Gregg Parise, founder of $350 million hedge fund Dorado Capital Management, was joining Sweetwater as a managing partner focused on sourcing and underwriting secondaries and direct deals.

Sweetwater did not return a request for comment.