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The Venture Codex

Hercules Capital

1 North B Street, Suite 2000, San Mateo, CA, 94401, United States

Overview

Hercules is a non-bank lender to venture capital-backed companies at all stages of development in a broadly diversified variety of technology, life sciences, and sustainable and renewable technology industries. With over a decade of experience in venture debt, Hercules is uniquely positioned to create innovative financing solutions that perfectly fit within a company's existing capital structure and map to its business objectives. Recognized as the industry leader, Hercules understands the flexibility these types of companies need and has the experience to work closely with them, even through challenging times, to help them reach critical milestones. Hercules' deep sector expertise, geographic presence, and strong capital base have made Hercules the lender of choice for more than 480 innovative companies.

Total investments
78
Lead investments
42
Investments · 12mo
9
Active investors
9

Sector focus

  • Commercial Lending
  • Financial Services
  • Lending
  • Venture Capital
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Investment portfolio

  • Beren Therapeutics

    Participated · Debt Financing · Jun 2026

    Beren Therapeutics P.B.C. is a founder-led biotech focused on discovery, development, and commercialization of cyclodextrin-based therapies that address defective intracellular cholesterol trafficking. Its lead program, adrabetadex, is under Priority Review by the U.S. FDA with a PDUFA target action date of November 17, 2026, and has been studied in clinical trials and expanded access programs since 2021. The company has built patient access and family support initiatives and intends to prepare for a potential U.S. commercial launch if adrabetadex is approved. Beren describes itself as a public benefit company that integrates patient, caregiver, clinician, and health-system needs into development and access planning. The recent $300 million financing package is intended to support commercial readiness and long-term care infrastructure and aims to position the company to be financially self-sustaining through potential commercialization. Beren is headquartered in Thousand Oaks, California.

  • TravelPerk

    Participated · Debt Financing · Jun 2026

    Perk is an AI-native platform that combines travel, spend and events into an integrated product experience, automating bookings, expenses, invoice processing and event management. Founded in 2015, the company says it is trusted by more than 12,000 companies worldwide, including On Running, Breitling and Fabletics. In 2025 Perk crossed $300 million in annualized revenue and reported 48% year-over-year revenue growth, alongside gross margins that expanded from about 40% to the mid-70s over three years. The company recently launched its integrated travel and spend platform and plans an upcoming U.S. launch of its integrated spend product. Perk intends to use new capital to accelerate investment in product, technology and AI and to support continued global expansion. The business emphasizes strong unit economics and a pathway to profitability in the short term.

  • Hermeus

    Participated · Debt Financing · Apr 2026

    Hermeus develops hypersonic unmanned aircraft and pursues rapid prototyping and flight testing to accelerate aircraft maturation. The company has flown multiple demonstrators, including a recent demonstrator about the size of an F-16 and an earlier, smaller demonstrator, and is working on a third aircraft iteration aimed at supersonic performance. Hermeus shifted from developing an in-house engine to modifying Pratt & Whitney’s F100 engine via a relationship with RTX/Pratt & Whitney to speed testing and reduce technical risk. The startup is expanding manufacturing capabilities and hiring—its staff is approaching roughly 300 employees—to support hardware production and iterative builds. Financially, the company recently raised $200 million in equity and $150 million in debt, valuing it at $1 billion, to fund growth and continued flight-test programs.

  • Intercom

    Led · Debt Financing · Mar 2026

    Founded in 2011, Intercom offers a software platform that lets businesses embed AI-driven chat agents directly into their products to handle customer queries and support. Its flagship agent, Fin, is positioned as a full help-desk solution trained on billions of proprietary customer-experience datapoints by a 60-person in-house AI team. The company recently disclosed that it has surpassed $400 million in annual recurring revenue, with Fin alone on track to hit $100 million in revenue and to double again in the near term. Intercom plans to deepen its product line with new AI customer agents that act not only as support reps but also as sellers, advisers and teachers. Looking ahead, the company intends to hire 650 employees across Dublin, London, Berlin, Sydney, Chicago and San Francisco to accelerate this roadmap. Intercom has previously weathered internal controversy over DE&I policy shifts and significant employee turnover but continues to scale its AI capabilities aggressively.

  • Tenpoint Therapeutics

    Participated · Debt Financing · Jan 2026

    Tenpoint Therapeutics, Ltd. is a global commercial biotech company focused on rejuvenating vision in the aging eye. Its lead product, YUVEZZI™ (carbachol and brimonidine tartrate ophthalmic solution 2.75% / 0.1%), is the first and only dual-agent eye drop approved for presbyopia, a condition that affects about 128 million people in the United States and roughly 2 billion worldwide. The company plans to launch YUVEZZI in early Q2, supported by a leadership team with extensive ophthalmology experience. Tenpoint emphasizes real-world needs by partnering closely with eye-care professionals to bring innovative treatments to market. Financially, the firm recently bolstered its balance sheet with $85 million in Series B equity financing and a $150 million non-dilutive term loan facility, bringing in both new and existing blue-chip investors. This capital positions Tenpoint to execute a large-scale commercial rollout while continuing to build its pipeline of therapies for the aging eye.

Team

  • Scott Bluestein

    Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer

    LinkedIn
  • Roy Y. Liu

    Managing Director / Co-founder

    LinkedIn
  • John Eggbeer

    Managing Director

    LinkedIn
  • Steve Kuo

    Senior Managing Director and Group Head - Technology

    LinkedIn