March 31, 2023 | New York City
The Largest Forum Dedicated to Non-Dilutive Financing Strategies for Emerging Growth Companies
The use of venture debt has gained in popularity as emerging growth companies remain private longer and seek creative forms of financing that minimize dilution. Many debt products such as term loans, revenue-based financing, receivables financing, and equipment financing fall under the broad moniker of venture debt, but despite the growing popularity of these products, for many, venture debt remains an unfamiliar form of financing.
The Venture Debt Conference offers a unique opportunity for networking and discussion of non-dilutive loan strategies for VC-backed and emerging growth companies. Hosted by DealFlow Events, this full-day forum addresses the growing interest in using venture debt to complement venture capital and to discuss alternative financing to companies unfamiliar with these investment strategies.
This event draws a broad range of finance professionals including:
DealFlow Events are widely recognized as the dominant networking forums in every market we cover. The Venture Debt Conference brings together the leading professionals focused on non-dilutive investment strategies.
Meet with other thought-leaders in the industry. You can count on the best networking during breaks and at the post-conference cocktail party to maximize your business development.
1Our panelists and presenters are thought leaders in the industry. This is your opportunity to get in front of the industry’s decision-makers.
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This event offers a forum for privately scheduled meetings which you can coordinate using our event app.
Discussion of trends, debt structures and strategies, timing considerations and financing options for emerging growth companies.
4Here are just a few of the unique presentations and panel discussions we’re developing for The Venture Debt Conference:
VP of Capital
Wisetack
Katya Baron is VP of Capital at Wisetack, where she leads the Company’s capital and lending partner relationships.
Katya has over 15 years of experience in asset finance through capital markets, investment banking, structuring and sales & trading roles at sell-side and buy-side financial institutions. Prior to Wisetack, Katya was head of capital markets for Mosaic’s $1+BN portfolio of residential solar loans, establishing the company’s warehouse and whole loan sales facilities and launching a successful de novo securitization program.
Katya began her career at JPMorgan Securities and holds a BA in International Relations from Mount Holyoke College.
Principal
Trilogy/ESW Capital
Brent is has been M&A Principal for Acquisitions & Debt Originations for Trilogy and ESW Capital since May of 2022. Prior to Trilogy and ESW he was at Cadence Bank as a Senior Vice President and Credit Executive from August 2021 to November 2021. Brent spent time from December 2002 to March 2020 at JPMorgan Chase Bank as a Vice President Senior Banker, Senior Vice President - Technology Banking, Executive Director and Credit Executive - Leveraged and Investment Grade North America Corporates. In April 1995 to December 2002 he worked as a Commercial Banking Officer and Vice President, Senior Relationship Manager for Wells Fargo. He received his M.B.A in Banking and Corporate Finance at the Southern Methodist University. He also received his BBA in accounting at the University of Texas of San Antonio.
Managing Director
Decathlon Capital
John Borchers is the Co-Founder and Managing Director at Decathlon Capital Partners, the largest revenue-based financing investment firm in the United States. Borchers founded Decathlon in 2011, to advance the mission of democratizing access to growth-stage capital. Borchers saw that current equity-based funding models were inherently misaligned with the interests of business owners, and that too few companies were able to access growth funding on reasonable terms, with reasonable expectations.
Prior to joining Decathlon Capital, Borchers was a General Partner at Crescendo Ventures, playing a leading role in developing the firm’s international presence in Europe. Borchers also worked in the data warehousing and predictive analytics fields where he held various operational roles including a two-year posting to Sydney, Australia, where he opened the first Asia Pacific office for a U.S.-based data warehousing firm.
Borchers holds an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and a B.S. from the University of Richmond.
Founder and Managing Partner
Alpha Partners
Steve Brotman, an entrepreneur, investor, and fund manager, is the founder and Managing Partner at Alpha Partners. Steve also serves as a Strategic Advisor to the Pritzker Group‘s venture arm, Pritzker Group Venture Capital.
Prior to Alpha Partners, Steve was the co-founder and Managing Director of Greenhill SAVP, Greenhill & Co’s venture capital unit (which was spun out as Tribeca Venture Partners), a technology- and business information services-focused venture capital fund with $100 Million under management. Prior to GSAVP, Steve founded Silicon Alley Venture Partners with $15 million assets under management. At his prior funds, Steve invested in 30 portfolio companies and was among the first institutional investors in LivePerson (Nasdaq: LPSN) and Medidata Solutions (Nasdaq: MDSO).
Steve was also the co-founder of a venture-backed company, AdOne, the pioneer online classified advertising platform. AdOne was Steve’s first entrepreneurial effort, which started life as an assignment in an Entrepreneurship class at Columbia Business School. AdOne signed over one third of the newspaper industry, 500 newspapers, and was acquired by a newspaper consortium led by Hearst. During his entrepreneurial and VC firm career, Steve has been recognized a few times: as a finalist for the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award as well as being named in Crain’s Tech 100, Top 25 Players Shaping Silicon Alley and Top 40 under 40 among New York business leaders.
Steve has previously served on the boards of the MIT Enterprise Forum, Critical Mention, DataSynapse (Observer), Medidata (Observer) and Truveris, among others. Steve has been a mentor with the Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator, Blueprint Health, Startup Health, Columbia Business School Lang and Greenhouse Funds. Steve received a joint M.B.A. / J.D from Washington University / Columbia and a B.A. in economics from Duke University.
Chief Operating Officer and Chief Investment Officer
Horizon Technology Finance
Dan Devorsetz co-founded Horizon Technology Finance Corporation (NASDAQ: HRZN), a public, externally-managed business development company in March 2008 and is its Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer, and Chief Investment Officer, and also serves as a member of the investment committee. Dan joined the manager and investment adviser of Horizon in 2004 and has more than 25 years of credit and portfolio management experience including more than 20 years in venture lending.
Previously, Dan held positions with General Electric Capital Corporation’s Life Science Finance Group, GATX Ventures, Inc., the venture lending subsidiary of GATX Corporation, and Citigroup. Dan serves on the Board of Finance for the Town of Brookfield, Connecticut, and is the Chair of the town’s Audit Committee. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Cornell University and a Master of Business Administration degree from Clark University and is a Chartered Financial Analyst.
Founder, Managing General Partner & Chief Investment Officer
Applied Real Intelligence
Zack Ellison, CFA, CAIA, is the Founder and Managing General Partner of Applied Real Intelligence (“A.R.I.”). A.R.I. is a Los Angeles-based venture debt investment manager focused on providing financing solutions to innovative, high-growth, venture-backed companies in recession-resistant sectors and underserved regions.
Mr. Ellison leads A.R.I.’s investment activities, including sourcing, due diligence, structuring, execution, and portfolio management.
Previously, Mr. Ellison was a loan underwriter, bond and CDS trader, and portfolio manager at three firms with over $1 trillion in assets – Scotia Bank, Deutsche Bank, and Sun Life.
Currently, Mr. Ellison is a Board Member of CFA Society Los Angeles, a Board Member of the Southwest Chapter of the CAIA Association, the West Coast Regional Director of the Hedge Fund Association (HFA), and a member of the Milken Institute’s Young Leaders Circle (YLC).
Mr. Ellison holds an MBA from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business and an MS in Risk Management from NYU Stern. In his personal time, Mr. Ellison is working towards completion of a Doctorate in Business Administration at the University of Florida (Gainesville).
Managing Director
i80 Group
Peter is a Managing Director on the investment team at i80 Group, an investment firm designed to propel the innovation economy forward by empowering growth through bespoke credit solutions. Prior to i80 Group, Peter worked as an investor with a focus on the fintech and proptech sectors with Partners Group, CKC Partners and MicroVest Capital Management. Peter holds an MIB from The Fletcher School.
Partner, Mergers & Acquisitions, Banking & Finance
Orrick
Dolph concentrates his sophisticated practice on private equity investor representation and fund formation as well as representing financial institutions and corporations in privately negotiated debt transactions. Dolph counsels some of the largest public pension plans in the United States and other institutional investors and helps them achieve their business goals with respect to various U.S.-based and international alternative investments (including funds focused on real estate, buy-out, venture capital and mezzanine investment opportunities) as well as sponsors in fund formation.
In addition, Dolph has a broad range of experience in commercial lending transactions, including secured financings, unsecured and asset-based financings, vendor and customer financings, subscription credit facilities, project financing, venture debt financings, letters of credit, receivables purchase financings and leasing. Dolph's clients include various financial institutions, Fortune 500 companies and numerous start-up companies (the latter group of which he represents in dozens of venture debt financing transactions each year for which he is recognized as one of the leading company-side counsel in the San Francisco Bay Area).
Managing Partner
Recurring Capital Partners
Brian Henley is the Managing Partner at Recurring Capital Partners LP, a provider of debt and equity capital for Software as a Service (SaaS) companies based in Austin, TX. He previously served as Executive Vice President of Corporate Development and M&A at Upland Software (UPLD). His experience spans the business spectrum from large corporations to early stage ventures, including building two start-ups that were acquired by public companies. He has actively invested in technology companies as an early stage angel investor and as a manager of an international technology public equity investment fund at Rogge Capital Management. Mr. Henley was the Founder and Chief Executive Officer at InterZine Productions and co-founded Fairway Technologies. He began his career in sales and corporate development at IBM. He holds a B.S. in Industrial Engineering from the University of Arkansas and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.
Founder and Managing Partner
Star Strong Capital
Founder and CIO of direct lending investment firm, focused on opportunities with emerging companies in credit and private equity markets. Emphasis on identifying opportunities and enterprise value by investment in diverse management teams early in their growth cycle.
Senior Managing Director
Hercules Capital
Catherine Jhung is a Senior Managing Director at Hercules and leads origination, venture relationships, and business development for the fund’s Technology and Sustainable/Renewable Groups. Catherine’s investments include AppDirect, Arctic Wolf, Carbon Health, Carwow, C2FO, Convoy, Couchbase (NASDAQ: BASE), DemandBase, Fastly (NYSE: FSLY), Impossible Foods, PivotBio, RocketLab (NASDAQ: RKLB), SingleStore, SeatGeek, Skydio, Thumbtack, Varsity Tutors (NYSE: NRDY), Velo3D (NYSE: VLD), WorldRemit, Wrike (acquired by Vista), Zimperium (acquired by Liberty Strategic Capital), and others.
Before joining Hercules, Catherine spent over 10 years in senior operational roles within startup companies, including sales, business development, research and product management. At Cleantech Group, Catherine ran the company’s data business, where she lead the product, engineering, research and sales teams. Prior to Cleantech Group, Jhung was the Director of Sales at edo Interactive. Prior to edo Interactive, Catherine spent over five years on the executive team at Equilar, the leading research firm for benchmarking executive and board compensation. There, she built and managed the business development and client services divisions from the ground up, growing the business to over 600 clients.
Catherine received an MBA from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley, a BS in Agricultural Economics and a minor in Computer Information Systems from UC Davis.
CFO
Dashlane
David Lapter has spent the last 20 years as CFO of venture backed companies in Europe and the United States. He joined Dashlane, a provider of industry leading password and digital identity management solutions for businesses and consumers, in 2016 to oversee finance, board/investor relations, legal/compliance and data & analytics. Over the past 7 years, he has led the company through its Series C and D equity rounds and several initiatives on the bank and venture debt front.
David was previously CFO at MakeSpace (acquired by Clutter), Fab.com (acquired by PCH International), KickApps (acquired by Piksel) and BuildOnline (acquired by IDOX UK). He started his career in strategy consulting at The Parthenon Group, then moving to venture capital with Upfront Ventures (formerly, Global Retail Partners). David also actively advises a number of NY-based startups and is an investor in Paris-based Sifflet, a leader in full data stack observability, alongside EQT, Mangrove and Bessemer.
David has a BSc in Economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
Managing Partner
Armentum Partners
John has over 15 years technology industry experience having worked as an engineer, project manager and investment banker. He has been involved in numerous debt, equity and merger & acquisition transactions in the technology industry. John previously worked at investment bank Seven Hills Partners in San Francisco, at CIBC World Markets in Toronto and New York in the Technology, Media & Telecom and Debt Capital Markets Groups, and at JP Morgan in New York in the Fixed Income Group. John is also a Licensed Professional Engineer. John received his Master of Business Administration in Finance from the Schulich School of Business at York University and his Bachelor of Science in Engineering and Mathematics from Queen’s University.
Senior VP of Capital Markets Exec. of Investor Relations
Biz2Credit
Prior to joining Biz2Credit, Tom ran Debt Capital Markets and Risk Solutions North America for the Royal Bank of Scotland. He also spent 20 years at Credit Suisse in a number of roles including head of Financial Institutions Debt Capital Markets where he and his team advised and executed financing and liability management transactions on behalf of banks, insurers, and specialty finance companies. He began his career in Structured Product sales at JP Morgan.
Tom received an MBA from the Yale School of Management and a BS from Cornell University.
Co-Head, Technology Finance Group
Monroe Capital
I am a Managing Director, Co-Head of Technology Finance and Head of Venture Debt at Monroe Capital, a premier boutique asset management firm with $15.9 billion of committed and managed capital (as of December 31, 2022), where I am responsible for co-leading relationship sourcing and the origination of new investment opportunities within the software, technology and tech-enabled business services industries. I am also responsible for Monroe's venture debt investments. Prior to joining Monroe, I was a Managing Director with Hercules Capital (NYSE: HTGC), in their Technology Group, where I was responsible for venture debt investments in technology companies. Earlier in my career, I started the venture capital investing and private placement group at GunnAllen Financial, a large national independent broker dealer, where I was responsible for the origination and structuring of new investment opportunities in technology companies. I began my career working as a corporate attorney at K&L Gates after earning a JD from the University of Pennsylvania and BS in Business Administration, summa cum laude, from Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis. I’m currently on the Board of Directors for the Wharton Private Equity and Venture Capital Association.
Chairman, Founder, CEO, and CIO
Runway Growth Capital
David founded Runway Growth Capital in 2015 and is a member of the firm’s investment committee.
David is a seasoned and respected Silicon Valley-based investment executive, with 30 years of experience as a venture capitalist and growth debt lender. As a VC, he has been active in the formation and development of nearly 50 technology companies with 18 IPOs and 14 trade-sales. He was ranked four times by Forbes magazine on their annual Midas List as one of the top 50 venture capitalists; in 2006 he was ranked the #8 VC.
Beginning in 2010, David transitioned from venture capital to growth lending as a Co-Founder of Decathlon Capital Partners, a provider of revenue-based loans to small, fast-growing, bootstrapped companies. His experience at Decathlon opened his eyes to the opportunity to use debt as an alternative to equity to finance the growth of both venture-backed and non-venture backed growth companies. In 2015, he formed what is today Runway Growth Capital to pursue this vision.
Founder
Versatile Venture Capital
David Teten is Managing Partner of Versatile VC and Chair of PEVCTech, an online community focused on helping private equity and venture capital funds make better investments through technology. He was previously a Managing Partner with HOF Capital (now >$1.2b AUM) and a Partner with ff Venture Capital (now >$289m AUM). At both firms, he and his Partners grew AUM over 10x during his tenure. He is Founder of Harvard Business School Alumni Angels of Greater New York, now the largest angel group on the East Coast. David has also advised private equity clients such as Birch Hill Equity Partners, Goldman Sachs Special Situations Group, Icahn Enterprises, LLR Partners, Orascom TMT Investments (Sawiris family office), Real Ventures, Right Side Capital, and other institutional investors.
David was previously a Managing Director with Evalueserve, a 2,500-person global research and analytics company, and Founder and CEO of Circle of Experts, an investment research firm acquired by Evalueserve. He also founded Teten Recruiting, which he sold to Accolo, a recruiting process outsourcing firm. He worked in Bear Stearns’ Investment Banking division in their technology/defense mergers and acquisitions team. He formerly ran an outsourced software development and IT consulting group. David holds a Harvard MBA (Second Year Honors) and a Yale BA in Economics and Psychology.
Managing Partner
Structural Capital
Mr. Tse is a Co-Founder & Managing Partner with Structural Capital and has excelled for over 20 years as an entrepreneur in Financial Services and brings substantial lending and investing experience. As a Co-Founder of Structural Capital, Kai is heavily involved in all aspects of the firm including setting and executing the investment strategy, marketing and capital raising, and hiring key members of the firm from its inception. While at Structural, Kai has invested in and assisted various portfolio companies with capital raising, business development, corporate strategy, and recruiting. Some of the successful portfolio companies Kai has been involved with include Beyond Meat, Beauty Counter, Epic Creations, IMVU, InMobi, Kilopass Semiconductor, Sunfed Ranch, Ephesoft, BYJU’s, Noom, and Manscaped.
Prior to Structural Capital, Mr. Tse was a Managing Director at TriplePoint Capital, a leading venture debt firm in Silicon Valley, where he was instrumental in building and launching the firm. TriplePoint Capital was involved (in many cases with Mr. Tse as lead investor) in financing the growth of breakout companies such as Facebook, YouTube, Riot Games, Gaikai, Ruckus Wireless, Beyond Meat and Krux, among others. Mr. Tse joined TriplePoint Capital in 2005 as a key initial hire shortly after its Founding.
Prior to TriplePoint Capital, Mr. Tse was a Principal at Osprey-GKM Ventures where he started as an associate in 2000 and was promoted to Principal in late 2001 and also helped to manage the CFO function for 2 years. Prior to Osprey, Mr. Tse helped to launch Vcapital, an early internet-based marketplace for entrepreneurs to meet capital sources. He also worked in merchant banking with Banque Paribas and in various capacities with PriceWaterhouseCoopers.
Mr. Tse holds an M.B.A. (2006) from the U.C. Berkeley Haas School of Business and B.S. in Accounting from the University of Illinois (1995). Mr. Tse was granted the CPA certification (1996) and is a CFA charter holder (2000).
Of Counsel
Foley & Lardner LLP
Alidad Vakili is Of Counsel and a business lawyer with Foley & Lardner LLP, based in the firm’s San Francisco office where he is a member of the Transactions Practice Group. Alidad regularly advises his clients at all stages of company growth from formation to exit. Alidad provides business and legal advice to entrepreneurs, founders, startups, emerging growth companies, and investors.
Alidad regularly advises startups, emerging growth companies, and investors on a wide range of issues, including general corporate matters such as formations, corporate governance, as well as debt and equity financing, venture capital and debt financing, and commercial matters across a number of industries, including technology, health care, clean energy, as well as other industries.
Alidad’s experience also includes project finance for renewable energy development and cross-border transactions. Prior to joining Foley, Alidad was counsel in the San Francisco office of a global law firm in the corporate M&A and emerging growth and venture capital practice groups.
CEO
Lighter Capital
Melissa Widner is the CEO of Lighter Capital, the pioneer and leader in revenue based financing for tech start ups and scales ups. Lighter Capital is backed by National Australia Bank, Silicon Valley Bank and Voyager Capital. Melissa has a deep understanding of both the entrepreneur’s journey and the role a funding partner can provide. AS CEO, Melissa led two companies to successful exits returning over a 10x return to her investors. She was the founder and CEO of Silicon Valley based 7Software (acquired by CNQR, acquired by SAP). She was the Managing Director of NAB Ventures, the VC arm of the National Australia Bank where she led the bank’s investments into high growth fintechs, including Lighter Capital.
Melissa is also the co-founder and Chairperson of Sydney based Heads Over Heels, an organization that supports women entrepreneurs running companies with high growth potential.
Melissa served as a lecturer at the University of Washington's Graduate School of Business where she taught courses on venture capital and entrepreneurship. She was previously on the board of the AIC (AVCAL) and has served on the boards of several venture backed technology companies in both the US and Australia.
Melissa holds a Masters degree from Stanford University and a Bachelors degree from the University of Washington.
Partner
Barnes & Thornburg
Troy Zander is the partner-in-charge of the San Diego office of Barnes & Thornburg, an AmLaw 100 law firm with 700+ lawyers across 22 offices in the United States. Troy leads the firm’s Venture Lending Team, principally representing lenders in documenting venture debt financings for technology and life sciences companies.
Chief Marketing Officer
Zap Advisory
Dawn Zappetti is a full stack marketer with deep experience in both performance and brand marketing across the full spectrum of consumer products. She has a unique ability to create both structure and change, recognizing gaps and then creating executable roadmaps to build or redesign as needed to fill them. Dawn is particularly skilled at engaging customers, driving hyper-personalized integrated marketing programs and experiences that create lasting loyalty and value. Marrying performance and analytics with unwavering customer centricity, Dawn creates game changing results.
Dawn Zappetti is currently the Founder and Principal Consultant of ZAP Advisory, an innovative marketing agency that provides clients with the insights needed to develop successful forward thinking business models and actionable change agendas. Prior to ZAP Advisory, Dawn held multiple marketing leadership positions at Citi and most recently served as the Head of Customer Marketing. She also currently serves on the Union Settlement Board of Directors, as both the Vice Chair and the Head of the Development and Communications Committee.
Dawn was born in New York City. She received a BA in Psychology from Cornell University and an MBA from Columbia University. She lives in Manhattan with her husband, Patrick Sullivan, who are proud parents of twin boys Brendan and Owen (22).
237 Park Avenue
New York, NY 10017
Convene at 237 Park Avenue has been called the “venue of the future.” Unlike other event spaces in New York City, this location is purpose-built for professional education and networking.
Our sponsors are thought-leaders in the industry. Corporate sponsorship provides unmatched exposure during a lengthy promotional campaign and the conference itself. Benefits include pre-conference publicity, logo and literature placement, exhibit space, online ad placement, and complimentary registration.
To become a sponsor, contact Charlie Napolitano at (516) 876-8006 extension 20 or charlie@dealflowevents.com.
Call us at (516) 876-8006 or email team@dealflowevents.com.
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