Why HarbourVest Partners: Interviews, Careers, & Portfolio

HarbourVest Partners Overview

HarbourVest Partners is a private equity fund of funds which is considered to be one of the biggest private equity investment managers in the world.

The firm invests in different types of private equity funds such as leveraged buyout funds and venture capital, and also supports operating companies directly.

Investors in HarbourVest funds are institutional investors – financial institutions, foundations, endowments, public and corporate pension funds.

Harbourvest was founded by Ed Kane and Brooks Zug in 1982 as Hancock Venture Partners – a subsidiary of John Hancock Insurance.

HarbourVest Partners AUM

According to the latest regulatory filings, HarbourVest Partners has $134.5 BB in assets under management as of March 31, 2023.

HarbourVest Partners Interview Process & Questions

Firms can make modifications in their interview process for each candidate. However, when you interview at HarbourVest Partners (or similar firms), you can expect the following:

• Around 4-6 rounds of interviews
• Junior investment professionals supervise the initial rounds, while the senior staff handle the later phase of the interview.
• The whole process can take multiple weeks – unless it’s an on-cycle or on-campus recruiting

Interviews at HarbourVest Partners will be a mixture of a set of questions: fit, behavioral, and technical / investing.

Need help preparing for interviews? My Growth Equity Interview Guide is right for you.

Why HarbourVest Partners

The most common question you’ll receive during interviews is “Why this firm”.

If you’ve done networking prior to your interviews, this is your chance to mention whoever you’ve met and how they’ve positively influenced your decision to apply at their firm.

Also, I would recommend learning more about the firm. A great way to do this is to listen to interviews with its founders, investors, and employees.

To start, here’s an interview with Abigail Rayner, principal, infrastructure and real assets at HarbourVest Partners:

More Interviews

• Richard Hickman, Managing Director, outlines HarbourVest Global Private Equity’s structure and the geographic areas it invests in

HarbourVest Partners Case Study

Case studies almost always show up during interviews at firms like HarbourVest Partners. The reason is firms use case studies to evaluate each candidate’s technical and communication skills – both crucial to investor’s success.

Most case studies revolve around investment recommendations and financial modeling. But for junior roles, cold calling case study may also be required.

For case study preparation, check out my Growth Equity Interview Guide.

HarbourVest Partners Salary & Compensation

According to Glassdoor, HarbourVest Partners offers annual salaries of $102,951 and $124,778 on average to their analysts and associates, respectively. Figures may vary depending on various factors such as location, experience, and education.

Analyst

Associate

From other public sources, recent associates at HarbourVest Partners have earned salaries of $130,000 per year, while there’s no recent data for analyst hires.

HarbourVest Partners Careers, Jobs, & Internships

To see the most recent open roles at HarbourVest Partners, visit our job board which features promising opportunities for them and other growth / VC firms.

HarbourVest Partners Portfolio & Investments

According to Crunchbase, HarbourVest Partners has made 252 investments across 19 funds. Some of their notable deals include Qualifyze, Enable, and Procurify

Notable Transaction: Airspace

Airspace is a company which provides real-time data on every shipment. This allows companies to track the shipments and improve safety, efficiency, and delivery speed.

Aside from real-time data, Airspace also provides notifications and over 16,000 touch points within a shipment. They offer more information than any other provider.

In January 2021, Airspace secured a $38 million from a Series C funding round led by Telstra Ventures and co-lead by HarbourVest Partners. Other participants include Defy Partners, Scale Ventures, Qualcomm Ventures and Prologis Ventures. To date, Airspace has raised a total of $70 million through its three funding rounds.

The CEO of Airspace stated that they plan to use the funds to accelerate their growth and also expand their market reach and services.

Next Steps

HarbourVest Partners is an excellent firm to build your career in finance. If you want to be part of their team, you have to stand out during your interviews. For that, I would recommend my Growth Equity Interview Guide which is a self-paced online course designed to teach you the critical topics such as case study, financial modeling, and many more. Check it out and start learning today!