Phillip Gross and Robert Atchinson met as investment analysts at the
Harvard University endowment in the mid-1980s. In the 1990s, some Harvard faculty and alumni criticized the institution for paying multi-million dollar performance bonuses to some Harvard Management employees. In part due to such scrutiny, the pair left Harvard to form their own firm, Adage Capital Management. The firm has only had to refund its fees on a few occasions. Adage has made
private equity investments in
startups and early stage companies, including
Forter,
GitLab,
Gopuff,
HawkEye 360 and
Tanium. Adage manages assets primarily for tax-exempt institutions. In 2015, Adage was reported to be one of the world's top 10 largest hedge funds after its
assets under management doubled in the last four years. However Adage received poor scores for transparency and
investor relations as the firm was noted to be extraordinarily secretive and did not give out much information to investors or the media. ==References==