Pomona Capital

Pomona Capital

Michael Granoff founded Pomona Capital in 1994, establishing the firm as an early specialist in the then-nascent private equity secondary market. The New York-based manager built its reputation on a dual mandate: committing capital to primary private equity partnerships while simultaneously acquiring existing LP interests from investors seeking early liquidity. This twin-engine structure let Pomona source deal flow across multiple market cycles, from the dot-com unwind through the 2008 financial crisis and into the current era of GP-led continuation vehicles. The firm deploys capital across buyout, growth equity, and venture capital, with a mix of primary fund commitments, direct secondaries, and co-investments. Pomona targets diversified industry exposure in the United States and Europe. Known secondaries transactions include the 2015 purchase of a $170 million portfolio of fund stakes from a European financial institution (per Bloomberg, 2015), and the 2017 closing of Pomona Capital IX, a $1.8 billion dedicated secondary fund. The firm has also historically committed to venture funds managed by firms such as Benchmark and Sequoia Capital, gaining indirect exposure to companies like Uber and Airbnb. Pomona is part of a broader institutional platform; it operates as an affiliate of Voya Investment Management, which provides distribution and operational infrastructure. This relationship, which dates to 2005, anchors Pomona within a larger insurance-owned asset management ecosystem while preserving its independent investment committee. The firm manages approximately $13.8 billion in assets. It invests through commingled secondary funds, separately managed accounts, and a publicly listed vehicle — Pomona Investment Fund — that provides accredited investors access to its private equity secondary strategies. Pomona sits at the intersection of two structural trends: the growing volume of LP-led secondary sales and the maturation of GP-led continuation vehicles. Its longevity in the secondary market — predating the wave of secondary specialists that launched in the 2010s — gives it a proprietary database of historical pricing and manager performance that newer entrants cannot easily replicate. That information advantage, combined with a permanent capital base through its Voya affiliation, allows Pomona to underwrite complex secondary transactions at scale without relying on fund-by-fund fundraising cycles.