HarbourVest's Annual ESG Report

Corporate citizenship

We take pride in being engaged and responsible corporate citizens. For HarbourVest, this means being proximate and supportive of the communities in which we work and live, contributing to positive societal impact, and mitigating negative environmental impact.

HarbourVest Gives Back

HarbourVest team members contribute positively to the world we live in by connecting with local organizations that have in-depth knowledge of our community’s needs and challenges and using our unique resources to implement targeted solutions.

Each year I am truly inspired by the stories and the innumerable lives changed on every side of this giving equation.
Katherine McCord
Vice President, Client Reporting – ESG and Community Engagement Lead

Employee service hours

Our Employee Service Hours program grants each full-time colleague the equivalent in hours of two paid days per calendar year to volunteer with non-profit organizations in local communities that are dedicated to achieving social equality.

HarbourVest’s team in Hong Kong volunteered at The Chinese Foundation Secondary School in a session organized by Inspiring Girls which connected female-identifying students with adult role models. The effort has since expanded to create partnerships between students and professionals of all genders.

It was rewarding to inspire students to develop goals free of any gender or cultural stereotype and to aim high in life. Utilizing our own experiences and expertise, we hope to continue partnering together with Inspiring Girls and getting colleagues across APAC offices involved with their local branches.
Kathy Cheung
Assistant Manager of Human Resources

David Cellucci used his Employee Service Hours to volunteer as a counselor at Camp Fatima, north of Boston.

Partnering with my buddy Mark who was born with Down Syndrome and the opportunity to see his excitement when riding horses, driving a pontoon boat, or painting a picture to take home with him was so rewarding. This was my 11th year volunteering with Camp Fatima and using my Employee Service Hours makes taking the time to do something that matters to me easy.
David Cellucci
Learning and Development Manager

Global volunteer weeks

Partnering with local nonprofit partners fighting social inequality, food insecurity, homelessness, climate change, disadvantaged youth and more, HarbourVest team members across the globe came together to donate their time to hands-on volunteering opportunities.

Fall 2022
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A firm-wide focus on hunger and homelessness

In lieu of a physical client gift for attending the HarbourVest 2023 Annual Meeting (AGM), we made monetary donations to The Childhood Trust and The Passage, two organizations fighting against homelessness and hunger in support of the more than 800,000 children living in poverty in London.16 In addition to the AGM donation, hunger and homelessness in our communities have remained a focal point for our giving:
London

Our London office assisted Good Food Matters in the development of a 1.5 acre community garden and kitchen in South London. 

“Good Food Matters is dedicated to growing organic produce for the local community as well as providing cooking classes, food, and meals to local food banks, homeless shelters, and community drop-in centers for those in need. Our team tackled a number of tasks in the garden from clearing vegetable beds in the greenhouses to constructing a new path, building new beds and laying soil for spring planting. Everyone deserves access to fresh fruits and vegetables!” 

Anna Garcia
Senior Associate, Product Marketing

Toronto

Our Toronto office volunteered with WoodGreen Foundation, the largest social services agency in Toronto, and sorted and packed food for the Daily Bread Food Bank, which distributes millions of pounds of food every year to locals in need.

“Since the COVID-19 pandemic, economic inequality has only intensified. We were fortunate enough to be able to help WoodGreen and Daily Bread support low-income families during the highest demand in history.”

Renée Gouveia
Office Manager 

Dublin

Our Dublin office planned and prepared home-cooked meals for families staying at the Ronald McDonald House in Crumlin. 

“Every night, the Ronald McDonald House provides accommodation, support, and a caring environment for families of seriously ill children undergoing medical treatment at Children’s Health Ireland. It was a special experience to come together with my team members to plan, prepare, and serve a warm dinner for our community members in need.”

Cian O’Gorman
Portfolio Risk Associate

Annual holiday partnerships

Every December, HarbourVest colleagues across the globe mobilize to support families in need during the holiday. Through longstanding partnerships with local organizations, regional offices donate toys, holiday decorations, household items, and more. In-kind donations, a new addition to our employee matching gift program, helped us double our impact this past holiday season.

Charitable giving program

Our charitable giving program encourages team members to make individual monetary donations through a partnership with Benevity. Since the program’s launch in 2018, team members have supported over 650 individual non-profit groups worldwide. In 2023, HarbourVest increased the annual matching gift maximum to $2,500 per colleague per calendar year to further increase support for organizations that are important to them.

Boston Children’s Hospital Corporate Cup

HarbourVest colleagues were proud to compete and volunteer in support of our adopted patient sponsor, nine-year-old Aileen, and other young patients in need. Aileen provided our team inspiration and grit, helping them earn 2nd place out of 61 competing teams, with wins in the hula hoop and soccer kicks competitions. HarbourVest was recognized as having the second most volunteers of any participating company and, collectively, the teams participating in the challenge raised nearly $1 million.

J.P. Morgan Corporate Challenge

Colleagues from across the globe participated in the world’s largest corporate running event to raise funds for local organizations. Runners from our Singapore office supported the Rainbow Centre, a group focused on empowering individuals with disabilities, Boston colleagues contributed to the Fifty Years Fund powered by The United Way of Massachusetts Bay, a group dedicated to creating education and career pathways for marginalized youth and young adults, and our London team donated to Centerpoint, the UK’s leading youth homelessness charity.

Supporting a living wage

In June 2022 HarbourVest UK was proud to become an accredited Living Wage Employer. In 2023, we reaffirmed our commitment to the UK Living Wage and incorporated this year’s wage increase into our standards. This commitment applies not only to directly employed staff but also to third-party contracted staff.

The real Living Wage is higher than the government’s minimum or National Living Wage and is an independently calculated hourly rate of pay based on the actual cost of living. The UK Living Wage Foundation calculates the Living Wage each year, announced as part of Living Wage Week.

“A living wage is not a charity, it is the foundation for successful, sustainable, and responsible business.”

UN Global Compact17

Environmental initiatives

We are committed to reducing our impact on the natural world by discovering, creating, and engaging in programs and initiatives that serve to address the needs of our planet and all of its inhabitants.

Carbon emissions strategy

HarbourVest continues to annually measure, reduce, and compensate for our firm’s operational emissions through the purchase of carbon offsets. In 2023, we partnered with ClimeCo to offset our 2022 operational emissions resulting primarily from purchased electricity, waste, and business travel. Through ClimeCo, we provided funding to an independently verified project operating local to our headquarters in Massachusetts: the Greater New Bedford LFG Utilization Project.

The second-largest driver of global warming is methane, a greenhouse gas 28 times more potent than carbon dioxide. Landfills are a major source of methane, which is created when organic material decomposes underground. The Greater New Bedford project is a landfill gas-to-energy plant that has an electric power production capacity of approximately 3.3 megawatts. The captured landfill gas fuels four reciprocating internal combustion engine-generators, producing power for the region’s electric grid while reducing the amount of methane released into the atmosphere by destroying it in the engines.

HarbourVest team members Natasha Buckley, Katherine McCord, and Diana McEachern recently visited the site to meet the engineering team and learn more about the project.

Electric vehicle benefit scheme

HarbourVest instituted an electric vehicle benefit scheme (EVBS) in 2023 which is now offered to all eligible full-time team members throughout the United Kingdom. The EVBS is available through Tusker wherein an electric vehicle along with routine service and maintenance, insurance, replacement tires, road tax (if applicable), and more is provided for a monthly salary deduction. Participants in the EVBS are making a positive impact on the environment by choosing to drive an electric vehicle while taking advantage of benefits including tax and insurance savings.

As we look to the future, we will continue to develop our ESG program to drive positive change, minimize negative impact, and deliver positive outcomes for our clients.

Learn more about our ongoing efforts in corporate citizenship.

Visit harbourvest.com
Disclosure

Important Disclosures:

This material does not constitute an offer or solicitation for any fund sponsored by HarbourVest Partners, LLC (“HarbourVest”) or its affiliates, or any investment services provided by HarbourVest, and may not be relied on in any manner as legal, tax, or investment advice or as an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy an interest in a fund or any other investment product sponsored by HarbourVest. No sale will be made in any jurisdiction in which the offer, solicitation, or sale is not authorized or to any person to whom it is unlawful to make the offer, solicitation or sale. This document includes information obtained from published and non-published sources that HarbourVest believes to be reliable. Such information has not been independently verified by HarbourVest. Unless otherwise specified, all information is current at the time of issue. Any opinions expressed are those of HarbourVest and not a statement of fact. The opinions expressed do not constitute investment advice and are subject to change.

The companies and GPs discussed in this report are intended for illustrative purposes only, do not represent all of the investments made, sold, or recommended for funds or client accounts, and should not be considered an indication of the performance or characteristics of any current or future performance HarbourVest fund or investment strategy. It should not be assumed that an investment in the company or fund sponsored by a GP discussed in this report was or will be profitable. Actual investments will vary for each fund and client and there is no guarantee that a particular client’s account will hold any or all of the investments identified herein.

Any published third-party ratings or rankings discussed herein are not representative of any one client’s experience with HarbourVest and are not indicative of HarbourVest’s future performance. Ratings and rankings have inherent limitations and qualifications, and are not indicative of the experience of any client or investor or of the future performance of any product. There can be no assurance that the universe upon which the awards were based included all investment products within each category that are actually in operation or existence. Unless otherwise specified, all awards shown are based on the one-year period immediately preceding the date listed.

Certain information contained herein constitutes forward-looking statements, which can be identified by the use of terms such as “may”, “will”, “should”, “expect”, “anticipate”, “project”, “estimate”, “intend”, “continue”, or “believe” (or the negatives thereof) or other variations thereof. Due to various risks and uncertainties, including those discussed above, actual events or results or actual performance may differ materially from those reflected or contemplated in such forward-looking statements. As a result, investors should not rely on such forward-looking statements in making an investment decision. Any forecast provided herein is based on HarbourVest’s opinion of the market as of the date of preparation and is subject to change, dependent on future changes in the market. The principles related to sustainable and responsible investing discussed above represent general goals that will not be achieved by investment selected. These goals are not representative of current processes or outcomes for every strategy, and may not be fully realized for all products or client accounts. There can be no assurance any initiatives or anticipated developments described herein will ultimately be successful. The information provided is solely for informational purposes and should not be relied upon in connection with making any investment decision. It should not be assumed that any ESG initiatives, standards, or metrics described herein will apply to each asset in which HarbourVest invests or that any ESG initiatives, standards, or metrics described have applied to each of HarbourVest’s prior investments. ESG is only one of many considerations that HarbourVest takes into account when making investment decisions, and other considerations can be expected in certain circumstances to outweigh ESG considerations. The information provided is intended solely to provide an indication of the ESG initiatives and standards that HarbourVest applies when seeking to evaluate and/or improve the ESG characteristics of its investments as part of the larger goal of maximizing financial returns on investments. Any ESG initiatives described will be implemented with respect to a portfolio investment solely to the extent HarbourVest determines such initiative is consistent with its broader investment goals. Accordingly, certain investments may exhibit characteristics that are inconsistent with the initiatives, standards, or metrics described herein.

Negative Impacts of ESG Investing

All investments carry a certain degree of risk, including possible loss of principal and there is no assurance that an investment will provide positive performance over any period of time. Consideration of ESG factors could increase exposure to certain companies, sectors, regions, countries, or types of investments, which could negatively impact performance to the extent there is underperformance in such companies, sectors, regions, countries, or investments. Applying ESG goals to investment decisions is qualitative and subjective by nature, and there is no guarantee that the criteria utilized by HarbourVest or any judgment exercised by HarbourVest in making an investment decision will reflect the ESG-related beliefs or values of any particular investor or group of investors. In addition, HarbourVest makes investment decisions based on circumstances as they exist at the time the investment is made.

For additional legal and regulatory disclosures related to HarbourVest offices and countries, please refer to  https://www.harbourvest.com/important-office-and-country-disclosures/. 

Professional Investor Definition

“Professional Investor” under the Securities and Futures Ordinance (Cap. 571 of the Laws of Hong Kong) (the “SFO”) and its subsidiary legislation) means:

(a) any recognised exchange company, recognised clearing house, recognised exchange controller or recognised investor compensation company, or any person authorised to provide automated trading services under section 95(2) of the SFO;

(b) any intermediary, or any other person carrying on the business of the provision of investment services and regulated under the law of any place outside Hong Kong;

(c) any authorized financial institution, or any bank which is not an authorised financial institution but is regulated under the law of any place outside Hong Kong;

(d) any insurer authorized under the Insurance Ordinance (Cap. 41 of the Laws of Hong Kong), or any other person carrying on insurance business and regulated under the law of any place outside Hong Kong;

(e) any scheme which-

(i) is a collective investment scheme authorised under section 104 of the SFO; or

(ii) is similarly constituted under the law of any place outside Hong Kong and, if it is regulated under the law of such place, is permitted to be operated under the law of such place,

or any person by whom any such scheme is operated;

(f) any registered scheme as defined in section 2(1) of the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Ordinance (Cap. 485 of the Laws of Hong Kong), or its constituent fund as defined in section 2 of the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes (General) Regulation (Cap. 485A of the Laws of Hong Kong), or any person who, in relation to any such registered scheme, is an approved trustee or service provider as defined in section 2(1) of that Ordinance or who is an investment manager of any such registered scheme or constituent fund;

(g) any scheme which-

(i) is a registered scheme as defined in section 2(1) of the Occupational Retirement Schemes Ordinance (Cap. 426 of the Laws of Hong Kong); or

(ii) is an offshore scheme as defined in section 2(1) of that Ordinance and, if it is regulated under the law of the place in which it is domiciled, is permitted to be operated under the law of such place,

or any person who, in relation to any such scheme, is an administrator as defined in section 2(1) of that Ordinance;

(h) any government (other than a municipal government authority), any institution which performs the functions of a central bank, or any multilateral agency;

(i) except for the purposes of Schedule 5 to the SFO, any corporation which is-

(i) a wholly owned subsidiary of-

(A) an intermediary, or any other person carrying on the business of the provision of investment services and regulated under the law of any place outside Hong Kong; or

(B) an authorized financial institution, or any bank which is not an authorised financial institution but is regulated under the law of any place outside Hong Kong;

(ii) a holding company which holds all the issued share capital of-

(A) an intermediary, or any other person carrying on the business of the provision of investment services and regulated under the law of any place outside Hong Kong; or

(B) an authorized financial institution, or any bank which is not an authorised financial institution but is regulated under the law of any place outside Hong Kong; or

(iii) any other wholly owned subsidiary of a holding company referred to in subparagraph (ii); or

(j) any person of a class which is prescribed by rules made under section 397 of the SFO for the purposes of this paragraph as within the meaning of this definition for the purposes of the provisions of the SFO, or to the extent that it is prescribed by rules so made as within the meaning of this definition for the purposes of any provision of the SFO.

The first of such classes of additional “professional investor”, under the Securities and Futures (Professional Investor) Rules (Cap. 571D of the Laws of Hong Kong), are:

(k) any trust corporation (registered under Part VIII of the Trustee Ordinance (Cap. 29 of the Laws of Hong Kong) or the equivalent overseas) having been entrusted under the trust or trusts of which it acts as a trustee with total assets of not less than HK$40 million or its equivalent in any foreign currency at the relevant date (see below) or-

(i) as stated in the most recent audited financial statement prepared-

(A) in respect of the trust corporation; and

(B) within 16 months before the relevant date;

(ii) as ascertained by referring to one or more audited financial statements, each being the most recent audited financial statement, prepared-

(A) in respect of the trust or any of the trust; and

(B) within 16 months before the relevant date; or

(iii) as ascertained by referring to one or more custodian (see below) statements issued to the trust corporation-

(A) in respect of the trust or any of the trusts; and

(B) within 12 months before the relevant date;

(l) any individual, either alone or with any of his associates (the spouse or any child) on a joint account, having a portfolio (see below) of not less than HK$8 million or its equivalent in any foreign currency at the relevant date or-

(i) as stated in a certificate issued by an auditor or a certified public accountant of the individual within 12 months before the relevant date; or

(ii)  as ascertained by referring to one or more custodian statements issued to the individual (either alone or with the associate) within 12 months before the relevant date;

(m) any corporation or partnership having-

(i) a portfolio of not less than HK$8 million or its equivalent in any foreign currency; or

(ii) total assets of not less than HK$40 million or its equivalent in any foreign currency, at the relevant date, or as ascertained by referring to-

(iii) the most recent audited financial statement prepared-

(A) in respect of the corporation or partnership (as the case may be); and

(B) within 16 months before the relevant date; or

(iv) one or more custodian statements issued to the corporation or partnership (as the case may be) within 12 months before the relevant date; and

(n) any corporation the sole business of which is to hold investments and which at the relevant date is wholly owned by any one or more of the following persons-

(i) a trust corporation that falls within the description in paragraph (k);

(ii) an individual who, either alone or with any of his or her associates on a joint account, falls within the description in paragraph (k);

(iii) a corporation that falls within the description in paragraph (m);

(iv) a partnership that falls within the description in paragraph (m).

For the purposes of paragraphs (k) to (n) above:

  • “relevant date” means the date on which the advertisement, invitation or document (made in respect of securities or structured products or interests in any collective investment scheme, which is intended to be disposed of only to professional investors), is issued, or possessed for the purposes of issue;
  • “custodian” means (i) a corporation whose principal business is to act as a securities custodian, or (ii) an authorised financial institution under the Banking Ordinance (Cap. 155 of the Laws of Hong Kong); an overseas bank; a corporation licensed under the SFO; or an overseas financial intermediary, whose business includes acting as a custodian; and
  • “portfolio” means a portfolio comprising any of the following (i) securities; (ii) certificates of deposit issued by an authorised financial institution under the Banking Ordinance (Cap, 155 of the Laws of Hong Kong) or an overseas bank; and (iii) except for trust corporations, cash held by a custodian.

Institutional Investor / Accredited Investor Definition

An institutional investor as defined in Section 4A of the SFA and Securities and Futures (Classes of Investors) Regulations 2018 is:

(a) the Singapore Government;

(b) a statutory board as may be prescribed by regulations made under section 341 of the SFA, as prescribed in the Second Schedule of the Securities and Futures (Classes of Investors) Regulations 2018;

(c) an entity that is wholly and beneficially owned, whether directly or indirectly, by a central government of a country and whose principal activity is —

(i) to manage its own funds;

(ii) to manage the funds of the central government of that country (which may include the reserves of that central government and any pension or provident fund of that country); or

(iii) to manage the funds (which may include the reserves of that central government and any pension or provident fund of that country) of another entity that is wholly and beneficially owned, whether directly or indirectly, by the central government of that country;

(d) any entity —

(i) that is wholly and beneficially owned, whether directly or indirectly, by the central government of a country; and

(ii) whose funds are managed by an entity mentioned in sub‑paragraph (c);

(e) a bank that is licensed under the Banking Act 1970;

(f) a merchant bank that is licensed under the Banking Act 1970;

(g) a finance company that is licensed under the Finance Companies Act 1967;

(h) a company or co‑operative society that is licensed under the Insurance Act 1966 to carry on insurance business in Singapore;

(i) a company licensed under the Trust Companies Act 2005;

(j) a holder of a capital markets services licence;

(k) an approved exchange;

(l) a recognised market operator;

(m) an approved clearing house;

(n) a recognised clearing house;

(o) a licensed trade repository;

(p) a licensed foreign trade repository;

(q) an approved holding company;

(r) a Depository as defined in section 81SF of the SFA;

(s) a pension fund, or collective investment scheme, whether constituted in Singapore or elsewhere;

(t) a person (other than an individual) who carries on the business of dealing in bonds with accredited investors or expert investors;

(u) a designated market‑maker as defined in paragraph 1 of the Second Schedule to the Securities and Futures (Licensing and Conduct of Business) Regulations;

(v) a headquarters company or Finance and Treasury Centre which carries on a class of business involving fund management, where such business has been approved as a qualifying service in relation to that headquarters company or Finance and Treasury Centre under section 43D(2)(a) or 43E(2)(a) of the Income Tax Act 1947;

(w) a person who undertakes fund management activity (whether in Singapore or elsewhere) on behalf of not more than 30 qualified investors;

(x) a Service Company (as defined in regulation 2 of the Insurance (Lloyd’s Asia Scheme) Regulations) which carries on business as an agent of a member of Lloyd’s;

(y) a corporation the entire share capital of which is owned by an institutional investor or by persons all of whom are institutional investors;

(z) a partnership (other than a limited liability partnership within the meaning of the Limited Liability Partnerships Act 2005) in which each partner is an institutional investor.

An accredited investor as defined in Section 4A of the SFA and Securities and Futures (Classes of Investors) Regulations 2018 is:

(i)  an individual —

(A) whose net personal assets exceed in value $2 million (or its equivalent in a foreign currency) or such other amount as the Authority may prescribe in place of the first amount;

(B) whose financial assets (net of any related liabilities) exceed in value $1 million (or its equivalent in a foreign currency) or such other amount as the Authority may prescribe in place of the first amount, where “financial asset” means —

(BA) a deposit as defined in section 4B of the Banking Act 1970;

(BB) an investment product as defined in section 2(1) of the Financial Advisers Act 2001; or

(BC) any other asset as may be prescribed by regulations made under section 341; or

(C) whose income in the preceding 12 months is not less than $300,000 (or its equivalent in a foreign currency) or such other amount as the Authority may prescribe in place of the first amount;

(ii)  a corporation with net assets exceeding $10 million in value (or its equivalent in a foreign currency) or such other amount as the Authority may prescribe, in place of the first amount, as determined by —

(A) the most recent audited balance sheet of the corporation; or

(B) where the corporation is not required to prepare audited accounts regularly, a balance sheet of the corporation certified by the corporation as giving a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the corporation as of the date of the balance sheet, which date must be within the preceding 12 months;

(iii) A trustee of a trust which all the beneficiaries are accredited investors; or

(iv) A trustee of a trust which the subject matter exceeds S$10 million; or

(v) An entity (other than a corporation) with net assets exceeding S$10 million (or its equivalent in a foreign currency) in value. “Entity” includes an unincorporated association, a partnership and the government of any state, but does not include a trust; or

(vi) A partnership (other than a limited liability partnership) in which every partner is an accredited investor; or

(vii) A corporation which the entire share capital is owned by one or more persons, all of whom are accredited investors.

Continuation solutions encompass a host of transaction types in which a GP secures interim liquidity and/or additional primary capital for their LPs in a strongly performing asset, or set of assets, that the GP will continue to own and control. Specifically, they include continuation funds, new funds created by GPs for the purpose of acquiring the asset(s) that continue to be managed by the same GP and capitalized by one or several secondary buyers, or equity recapitalizations involving a direct equity or structured equity investment into a portfolio company. These transactions can also include a parallel investment from the GP’s latest fund into that same pool of assets (a “cross-fund trade”).