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Venture Debt

Extend your runway.
Keep your equity.

Get Started
Lending alongside top investors
+ more

John Andrew Entwistle

Founder & CEO, Wander

Mercury Capital is beyond impressive. They are faster, easier to work with, and offer terms just as competitive — if not more — than the most established players. They’ve redefined the industry.

Venture debt boosts your fundraise

Supercharge growth
Minimize dilution
Extend runway
Reach a higher valuation

Designed by founders

Mercury’s venture debt is built with high-growth startups in mind.

First-class terms

We offer straightforward payback plans, minimal dilution, and competitive interest rates.

For the long run

We’re here through it all. We can chat about refreshing your loan with your next VC round.

Sector-agnostic

We lend to VC-funded companies across stages and industries, even pre-product.

We’ve modernized the application process

If you’ve raised venture capital recently or are thinking about raising it soon, you may be a good fit for Mercury Venture Debt.

Get Started

01

See if you're eligible

Complete our simple, confidential questionnaire to find out if your company is a good fit.

02

Kick off diligence

We only need four documents to get started, and you can upload them directly to your Venture Debt dashboard.

03

Customize your terms

Expect transparency — we’ll work with you to structure your term sheet in accordance with your priorities.

Venture debt, reimagined

Our tech-enabled process is engineered to help you manage your capital with ease, all from a single dashboard.

Easy access to your funds

Request withdrawals and see how much capital you have left in just a few clicks.

Dedicated relationship managers

Get 1:1 support from our relationship managers, who are experienced founders themselves.

Loan Management Dashboard

Quality capital with banking to match*

Mercury lets you manage your hard-earned capital with ease. Get FDIC-insured bank accounts with features designed to help you keep an eye on your runway and plan for growth.Learn more about Mercury
Mercury is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking services provided by Choice Financial Group and Evolve Bank & Trust®; Members FDIC.

Got more questions?

What is venture debt?
Venture debt is a term loan issued to startups that have raised venture capital within the past year. While traditional commercial loans focus on cash flow and can be hard to access for startups, Mercury Venture Debt focuses primarily on the strength of your VC investors and founding team, as well as your startup’s potential for growth.
Why would I raise venture debt?
Venture debt can extend your runway with minimal dilution, giving you more time to reach milestones, fund growth, and can act as an insurance policy to avoid down rounds.
How does venture debt work?
Once we agree on terms, we’ll finalize them in a loan agreement. You can withdraw your money from your Mercury account at any time during your interest-only period, which can span up to 18 months. After that, you’ll have a payback period. In total, our loans run up to 48 months.Many founders apply to refinance and refresh their loan after they have raised their next equity round.
What if I’ve already taken venture debt from another provider?
It’s not uncommon for companies to refinance their venture debt with a new provider. If you have recently raised an equity round or are planning to do so in the near future, we may be able to offer fresh terms and resize the loan based on your current needs.
Do you have more information about venture debt and term sheets?
Read our guide to venture debt for startups
What is the cost of Mercury Venture Debt?
We charge an origination fee to process your loan application. We also charge interest and receive a small warrant, or the right to purchase equity from your common stock.Unlike some providers, we do not charge a prepayment penalty, back-end fees, or final payment fees.
What types of companies do you back?
We lend to U.S.-incorporated companies that have raised venture capital within the past 12 months and companies that are planning to raise venture capital soon.We are industry-agnostic and fund a wide range of companies — from pre-product and pre-revenue to later-stage.
Will venture debt make my startup unappealing to VCs?
No. In fact, some of the biggest companies in the world have taken venture debt in tandem with venture capital. Many VC firms recommend venture debt to companies as a way to avoid a down round, extend their runway, and hit milestones.We lend alongside top VC firms, including Andreessen Horowitz, Founders Fund, and Floodgate Fund.
What if I don’t qualify for Mercury Venture Debt?
We also offer other financing options that might be a better fit for your stage and business model. Log in and navigate to mercury.com/capital to see all our capital offerings.

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