# EQUIAM

EQUIAM is a Private Equity based in San Francisco, United States.

## Overview

- **Organization type:** Private Equity
- **Headquarters:** San Francisco, United States
- **Region:** North America
- **Address:** San Francisco, CA, United States
- **Founded:** 2019
- **Assets under management:** Undisclosed
- **Website:** equiam.com
- **LinkedIn:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/equiam

## Regulatory record

- **Reports private funds:** No

## About

EQUIAM is a direct secondary investment manager specializing in late-stage technology companies. We systematically screen thousands of private companies, rigorously underwrite, then execute high-conviction direct secondary transactions. The opportunity is massive: $1.5 trillion locked in private markets, with employees and early investors increasingly seeking liquidity before traditional exits. Track Record: • 90+ investments since 2018 • 40+ exits • 1.86x DPI for Private Tech 30 Fund I (99th percentile per Cambridge Associates) What Makes Us Different: We combine proprietary algorithms with fundamental analysis to systematically screen 3,000+ Series B+ companies. Speed matters. We execute in 2-3 weeks. While traditional growth funds have $50M+ transaction minimums, we write $1-10M checks, capturing opportunities others can't be bothered with. Currently raising Private Tech 30 Fund II, targeting ~30 positions of Tier 1 VC-backed companies with clear paths to public markets. Founded by seasoned investors from Algebra Capital ($1.5B AUM), JP Morgan, Bridgewater, Tribe, and the early Forge team.

## Sectors

- Enterprise Software
- FinTech
- AI/ML
- Mobility & Transportation
- Digital Health
- Cybersecurity
- SpaceTech
- Robotics & Automation
- ClimateTech
- InsurTech
- Real Estate
- Media & Entertainment
- AgriTech & FoodTech
- Industrial Tech
- Energy Transition & Renewables

## People

- Ziad Makkawi — Founder & CEO
- John Zic — Founding Partner
- Arin Nazarian — Partner
- Joe Day — Partner
- Yusef Alexandrine — Chief Operating Officer

## Questions

### Who runs investment decisions at EQUIAM?

Founder and CEO Ziad Makkawi chairs EQUIAM's Investment Committee. He is joined by Founding Partner John Zic, who built the systematic screening model, and Partners Arin Nazarian and Joe Day, who lead deal execution and quantitative analysis. Makkawi also sits on the investment committees of the Dubai Future District Fund and advises the $200 million Indian growth fund Playbook.

### How does EQUIAM source its positions?

EQUIAM sources primarily through direct secondary transactions, partnering with brokerage platforms Forge, Caplight, Setter, and Hiive, alongside bulge-bracket secondary desks at Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, UBS, and Macquarie. It also accesses proprietary flow through other GP relationships and direct employee or HR networks, screening a mapped universe of more than 2,600 Series B+ companies.

### What is the difference between EQUIAM's two fund strategies?

The Private Alpha strategy covers the broad venture universe of roughly 3,000 Series B+ companies with wider outcome dispersion. The Private Tech 30 strategy concentrates on approximately 30 of the 100 largest U.S. private tech companies, each requiring more than $100 million in trailing-twelve-month confirmed revenue and Tier 1 VC backing, targeting a 12–36 month IPO horizon.

### Does EQUIAM participate in fund commitments or only direct deals?

EQUIAM executes both. The firm reports a sourcing split of approximately 70 to 80 percent secondary transactions and 20 to 30 percent primary investments as of its latest fund. Most secondaries involve purchasing employee or early-investor stakes directly, closing $1 million to $10 million positions within two to three weeks.

### How is EQUIAM's due diligence different from other secondary buyers?

EQUIAM requires 100 percent access to company financials before committing; it then models four to six probability-weighted scenarios for each share class on the cap table. The firm deploys proprietary tooling and automation to confirm a margin of safety and only bids when the price clears against those exit scenarios, leading to an all-cash, no-holdback close.

### What is EQUIAM's known track record?

EQUIAM states it has invested in 90 companies and achieved more than 30 exits since 2018. Its Private Tech 30 Fund I reports a 1.86x DPI, which the firm places in the 99th percentile of venture returns, according to its own disclosures. The firm does not publicly release full fund-level IRR or TVPI figures.

### What sectors does EQUIAM explicitly avoid?

EQUIAM describes itself as sector-agnostic, executing where systematic screening identifies mispriced opportunities. Its stated investment themes include financial infrastructure, intelligence layer, cloud and compute, and frontier technologies, with no explicit negative sector exclusions published.

## Related profiles

- [Equentia Natural Resources](https://altss.com/profile/equentia-natural-resources)
- [Equicapita](https://altss.com/profile/equicapita)

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Last updated: 2026-06-03T20:00:00.000Z

Canonical page: https://altss.com/profile/equiam

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