Markets Magazine

This Is the Low-Profile, High-Stakes World of Venture Lending

Making loans to cool startups sounds easy. As Manuel Henriquez of Hercules Capital shows, it's a tricky business.

1511892770_0617P_GO_HERCULES_01 — Photographer: Christie Hemm Klok for Bloomberg Markets

Provide news feedback or report an error

Confidential tip?

Send a tip to our reporters

Site feedback:

Take our Survey

By Jon Asmundsson

November 30, 2017 at 9:00 AM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

This article is part of the December 8, 2017 issue of Markets.

For Manuel Henriquez, the founder and chief executive officer of Hercules Capital Inc., if ever there were a year to remember—or maybe forget—this would be it.

Before May, things had been going pretty well for Hercules, the largest nonbank venture-debt provider. Its shares had risen almost 27 percent in the previous 12 months. Total return, including dividends of $1.24 per share paid out over the same period, was running about 39 percent—more than twice that of the S&P 500 index.