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“In the 23 years that I’ve been involved with Hamilton Lane,” observed Hartley Rogers, the firm’s Executive Co-Chairman, “the size and scale of the private markets have expanded enormously. Because we are a major player in the private markets, we’ve expanded along with it.” During a visit to Israel this week, Rogers met with leading members of Israel’s financial sector, Hamilton Lane’s institutional clients, and his local team, headed by Limor Beker, and sat for an interview with the Post to discuss the increasing appeal of Private Market Investing both in Israel and around the world, and Hamilton Lane’s investments in Israel.
Hamilton Lane is one of the world’s largest allocators to private markets and a leading firm in the field, having recently surpassed $1 trillion in assets under management and supervision. It operates 23 offices worldwide and employs hundreds of investment professionals and analysts, serving thousands of global investors, including leading global pension funds.
Rogers said that Hamilton Lane’s exceeding $1 trillion in assets underscores the attractiveness of private markets as an investment option for both institutional investors, who have historically been the largest investors, and individual investors, who are increasingly attracted to private market investing. Hamilton Lane allocates approximately $30 billion annually to leading funds and companies worldwide across a broad range of sectors, giving the firm access to some of the most sought-after investment opportunities globally.
He noted that the Israeli market has played an important role in the firm’s growth. “I came here for the first time in early 2005 when we opened our Israel office, and saw that Israel was a very sophisticated, well-educated, technically competent, and interesting place, and the Bachar Reform had introduced Israel’s markets to international private market investing.We had the chance to come in and talk to Israeli institutions about investing – not just outside of Israel – but also investing in private markets and what that really meant for them.”
Rogers had accumulated extensive international experience with Morgan Stanley before investing in Hamilton Lane. “When I came in, I led a management buyout of the firm. And I came in with Cascade Investment, Bill Gates’ family office,” said Rogers. “I really believed in private equity as a good asset class for everyone – not just for American investors. Part of our goal coming into Hamilton Lane was to take the idea outside and to the world.”
Hamilton Lane is among the largest global investors in Israel in the fields of venture capital, private equity, and technology, with cumulative investments exceeding $1.3 billion, of which approximately 75% are in venture capital and growth investments. These investments reflect long-term confidence in the Israeli economy, local innovation, and Israel’s generation of entrepreneurs and technologists.
Since the October 7 attacks and the war that followed, the firm has invested approximately $370 million in Israel across 22 separate investments—during a period of security and economic uncertainty—reflecting deep confidence in the resilience of the Israeli economy and its ability to continue growing even in challenging times.
Rogers said that the Israeli investment community is unique in its level of sophistication and trust, qualities necessary in the world of private markets. “I think private markets require a level of sophistication because they require a level of trust. Private markets function, for the vast majority of the assets, in drawdown funds where you’re giving someone your money in a closed-end format, for 10 or 12 years. There’s a tremendous level of trust required. In order to have that kind of trust, you have to be sophisticated about legal systems, about disclosure, about your ability to analyze, and about your ability to assess reputation. The Israeli world was very much set up for that.” He added that “Israel is a very strong player in the global private markets ecosystem, and will continue to be a strong player.”
Beker, who has headed the Israeli office of Hamilton Lane since 2005, pointed out that the firm’s leaders have consistently expressed support for Israel since October 7, noting that Rogers had traveled to Israel in January of 2024 and January of 2025 in the midst of the war. “I cannot tell you how many times our teams have been here, during the war, making investments in Israeli companies when no one else was coming. Our CEO, Juan Delgado, visited six times throughout the war. The Israeli clients see that. You can’t fool Israelis. It means something. Israel is a very big and important part of Hamilton Lane,” said Beker.
Focusing on the theme of the firm’s attractiveness for private investors, Rogers explains, “Private markets are challenging because they are private. Therefore, the ability to review public information and evaluate managers, deals, and strategies is challenging because the information is not publicly available. Firms like ours that have a tremendous amount of data access and the tools to put on top of the data, offer a real value to people who want to invest in private markets because we have the understanding of them, who’s good, who’s not good, strategies, structures, deals, and portfolio construction.”
“We’re a multi-manager,” explained Beker. “We invest in deals alongside top managers in each one of the categories, whether it’s private equity, venture and growth, credit, or infrastructure.”
Rogers concluded the interview by discussing ways in which high net worth individuals can begin investing in private markets, such as the the firm’s Evergreen funds, which are considered convenient and easy to operate, as they can be invested in directly through banks in Israel and globally (via ISIN), through a one-time transfer of the total investment amount and without additional cash drawdowns over the investment period.
Hamilton Lane was among the earliest managers to specialize in Evergreen funds, which is reshaping private market investing for both high-net-worth investors and institutional investors worldwide.
Written in collaboration with Hamilton Lane.