Welcome Remarks

The 2026 Venture Debt Market Outlook

• Identifying TAM
• Sector growth drivers
• The evolving capital supply landscape
• Regulatory and policy outlook for venture debt, exploring how proposed oversight of private credit could reshape compliance, risk disclosure, lender reporting obligations

John Markell

Managing Partner

Armentum

What Founders and VCs Really Think About Raising Venture Debt

How VCs Actually View Venture Debt

• Venture debt as a strategic tool, not a substitute for equity
• Best used to extend runway between rounds, not to fix a broken business
• Seen as non-dilutive leverage when timing and metrics are strong

What Partners Care About Most

• Runway extension without excessive risk
• Covenants that won’t handcuff the company
• Lender reputation and behavior in downturns

Troy Zander

Partner

Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP

Mike Lederman

Head of Innovation Banking

Western Alliance Bank

Melissa Wasser

Partner

Andreessen Horowitz

Lessons Learned: A Brief History of Notable Businesses That Could Not Sustain Altitude Despite Heavy Venture Debt Backing

• Rapid Rise, Rapid Fall: WeWork, Theranos, MoviePass
• Vision must be backed by viable economics, governance, and operational discipline
• Failures to adapt, evolve, innovate
• Key Venture Debt Takeaways: Sustainable unit economics matter more than valuation
• Hype accelerates ascent; fundamentals determine endurance

Arthur Daemmrich

Professor

Arizona State University

Networking Break

Playing Offense or Defense: Venture Debt Strategy in Today’s Volatile Market

The economy and venture debt sector are experiencing challenging times

• Which is better: an aggressive or wait-and-see approach?
• How macroeconomic and industry headwinds impact venture debt

Is this an opportunity or a crisis for the venture debt community?

• Where new opportunities may emerge as the economy recalibrates
• How investors and lenders should prepare portfolios and platforms
• When to call in outside professionals
• How firms can adapt underwriting, structuring, and portfolio management

Marty Pichinson

Co-Founder & Co-Manager

Sherwood Partners

Charles Charpentier

Partner

Troutman Pepper Locke

Eric Goldberg

Partner

DLA Piper

Bob Eisenbach

Of Counsel

Cooley

Prasant Chunduru

Managing Director, Head of Tech Credit Solutions

HSBC US

Raising Growth Capital in Israel and Beyond

• Israel excels at early-stage funding, but growth capital is more global
• Local institutional participation is increasing but still limited vs. US
• Many growth rounds are led by US, European, or crossover funds

What Growth Investors Look For

• Clear product-market fit at scale
• Predictable, repeatable revenue (ARR visibility)
• Efficient growth metrics (LTV/CAC, burn multiple)

Matt Pangle

Financial Services Associate

Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP

Simon Weintraub

Partner

Arnon Tadmor Levy

Ella Adhannah

Managing Director

Hercules Capital

Lunch

Timing the Raise: Aligning Venture Debt with Equity and M&A Strategy

• How to strategically sequence debt alongside equity rounds, acquisitions, or recapitalizations
• Optimizing liquidity and minimizing dilution
• Venture debt as a strategic bridge, not a substitute, for equity capital
• Using venture debt to extend runway and reach value-creating milestones before dilution
• Venture debt as dry powder for opportunistic M&A or tuck-in acquisitions

Craig Netterfield

Managing Partner

Columbia Lake Partners

Alexander Gorokhovskiy

Managing Director, Deutsche Bank Private Credit & Infrastructure

Deutsche Bank

Brad Pritchard

Senior Managing Director

Structural Capital

Ruslan Sergeyev

Managing Director

Hercules Capital

Jennifer Post

Managing Partner

Thompson Coburn, LLP

Adjacent Credit Strategies

• Litigation finance
• Royalty streams & IP-backed lending
• Sector dives into AI, Life Sciences, Clean Tech & Infrastructure where venture debt capital is flowing
• Expansion beyond traditional venture debt into growth credit, structured equity, and hybrid instruments
• Opportunistic deployment into asset-backed credit (IP, equipment, receivables) within venture ecosystems

Mehak Rashid

Partner

Legal Scale

Michael Balkin

CEO

Horizon Tech Finance

Nick Acimovic

Managing Partner

Jovian Capital Management

Achieving Better Outcomes with Distressed Borrowers

• Distress doesn’t mean failure — it’s an inflection point
• In venture debt, recovery is driven by structure and speed
• The goal is not enforcement — it’s value maximization
• Solo lenders must balance firmness with flexibility
• Diagnose Early, Act Early

Nate McOmber

Managing Director

G2 Capital Advisors

Networking Break

Managing Risk and Recovery: Workouts, Restructurings, and Covenant Enforcement

• Insights on how to navigate distressed credit scenarios
• Ways to implement best practices for managing downside risk in challenging markets
• Early identification of stress through cash burn, runway, and KPI monitoring
• Covenants as early-warning signals, not just enforcement tools
• Aligning with sponsors and boards during restructuring negotiations
• Role of collateral, IP, and guarantees in recovery outcomes

Jonathan Jacobs

Partner

Morrison Foerster

AI in Credit Underwriting: From Buzzword to Competitive Edge

• AI-driven underwriting and risk scoring
• Predictive revenue analytics for SaaS and fintech borrowers
• Reducing early default identification from months to days
• Ethical and regulatory considerations
• Implementation challenges within traditional institutions

Mark Solovy

Co-Head Technology Finance Group

Monroe Capital

David Teten

Managing Partner

Versatile Venture Capital

Cocktail Party