Moody Aldrich Partners, a privately held investment firm in Boston, has reached an agreement with Wilshire Funds Management, a business unit of Wilshire Associates, to assist in the development of its open architecture hedge fund seeding platform called MAP Harvest Fund.  

Wilshire will assist with key aspects of the platform including investment manager and operational due diligence, risk management, separate account platform services and distribution support.
 
MAP Harvest Fund is a private equity fund that provides acceleration capital to promising, newly independent hedge fund investment teams. The Harvest team, with input from Wilshire, acts as an adviser to its seeded partners to assist in building out investment and key administrative functions that are critical to attract institutional assets. 

The Harvest platform also provides access to a global distribution network and marketing resources to drive direct asset growth in the seeded firms.  The long-term goal is maturation and eventual independence of the seeded hedge funds. 
 
The Harvest Fund intends to provide investors with exposure to multiple layers of economics including investment performance of skilled emerging managers, revenue sharing, equity-like interest in seeded managers and marketing fees, all within a structured format with underlying liquidity.  Investors also benefit from venture rights including daily transparency, capital recycling, and capacity and put rights.

Wilshire’s separate account platform integrates administration, audit, reporting, and risk management monitoring. 
 
JJ Wilczewski, managing director, Wilshire Associates, says: “We have spoken to many seed platforms about a potential relationship and MAP Harvest stood out because of their reputation as a first-class firm as well as our recognition of their principals’ experience and success building businesses. We look forward to helping the Harvest Fund deliver a robust, transparent and best in class offering to their clients.”  

Chris Kelley, managing partner of MAP Harvest Fund, says: “Our investors will benefit from Wilshire’s knowledge of a broad range of client needs and preferences and the academic underpinnings and robust R&D that inform a deep understanding of capital markets, product development and risk management.”