Arc Launches Capital Markets: The First Venture Debt Marketplace for Silicon Valley

Arc, the future of startup finance, today announced Capital Markets, a private debt marketplace that connects premium technology companies with the world’s leading tech-focused lenders to facilitate custom debt transactions. Through Capital Markets, eligible technology companies receive term sheets for up to $250M in debt capital from an exclusive network of pre-qualified lenders, representing $100 billion AUM. Onboarding takes less than 10 minutes, funding terms are provided in 1-7 business days, and customers receive dedicated support from the Arc Capital team throughout the process. There is no cost for startups to receive funding terms from Arc’s private network of Capital Partners.

“The fragmentation of the $30 billion venture debt industry is the unspoken story of the 2023 bank crisis,” said Don Muir, CEO and Co-Founder of Arc. “Venture debt has been dominated by a handful of regional banks for the past 20 years. Today, CFOs don’t know where to turn for startup-friendly debt solutions. While dozens of lenders have stepped up to fill the void, their application processes are offline, disjointed, and operationally onerous meanwhile their approval processes are slow and opaque. Capital Markets is the solution that CFOs have been asking for. We’ve built a contractual network of the world’s most reliable tech lenders representing over $100 billion AUM, which CFOs can unlock in minutes through a frictionless software experience. The result is a streamlined yet comprehensive debt capital raise, resulting in better terms and less dilution for Arc’s customers.”

Capital Markets leverages financial API integrations, artificial intelligence, and other data enrichment layers to ingest, transform, and structure raw financial data. The standardized financial data and credit metrics, including the startup’s “Arc Score,” are surfaced in a secure data room accessible through the Capital Markets platform to streamline the credit underwriting process. Arc then programmatically qualifies the startup for debt capital across its contractual network of lenders and displays a curated selection of funding options based on the startup’s unique financial profile and needs.

Unlike traditional debt capital raises – which are disjointed and manual – founders and CFOs can optimize their company’s debt capital structure with Arc’s software platform in a few clicks. Customers can pair venture debt with a working capital line of credit to strengthen their balance sheet; secure short-term bridge financing while closing an equity round or scaling to profitability; or structure a senior asset-backed loan facility coupled with a mezzanine tranche to meet the unique capital needs of their business.

“Arc was instrumental in helping us close our $60M Series B from a position of strength,” said Vivas Kumar, Founder & CEO of Mitra Chem. “Arc quickly assessed our needs and provided a bridge capital solution that allowed us to remain focused on closing our growth equity round. Through the process, they have proven to be a trusted long-term capital and banking partner that we are excited to work alongside as we scale.”

Lenders who apply to join Capital Markets are meticulously vetted through a white-glove lender onboarding experience. Arc’s internal credit and underwriting team maps the lender’s credit box and standardizes financial credit underwriting metrics, which are used to achieve a high-conviction loan approval decision on an accelerated timeline from each lender. Once onboarded, Arc Capital Partners benefit from a streamlined diligence experience, including frictionless financial data ingestion, AI-driven data room, standardized deposit account control agreements (DACA), and loan management software.

“Arc solves an acute pain point for the thousands of Founders and CFOs who don’t know where to turn for venture debt following the collapse of the regional banking system,” said Charlie Perer, Co-Founder and Head of Originations at SG Credit Partners. “Arc goes the extra mile to understand the businesses that they underwrite and the way they surface deals to lenders. They remove all of the noise and provide a holistic view of the financials of a business via data rooms fueled by real-time data. With just a few clicks, we can drill down into any metric, which enables us to make better-informed lending decisions and ultimately, offer more compelling term sheets.”

The launch of Capital Markets follows the launch of Arc Platinum, the first digital cash management solution built for scaling technology companies. Since launch, hundreds of venture-backed startups have joined Arc from traditional offline banks including J.P. Morgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and Citibank. For the first time, CFOs do not have to choose between the safety of a big bank’s balance sheet and the user experience and speed of a modern B2B SaaS platform.

To learn more about and apply for debt funding via Capital Markets, visit: arc.tech/capital-markets

About Arc
Arc is the future of startup finance. Founded in 2021, Arc provides startups with the financial products they deserve, including cash management and embedded debt capital solutions. The company is based in San Francisco and is backed by Left Lane Capital, NFX, Bain Capital Ventures, Clocktower Technology Ventures, Torch Capital, and Y Combinator, among others. To learn more, visit www.arc.tech.

Note: Arc is a financial technology company, not a bank or an investment advisor. Arc partners with Stripe Payments Company for money transmission services and account services with funds held at Goldman Sachs and Evolve Bank & Trust, Member FDIC. Advisory services are offered through Atomic Invest LLC, an SEC-registered investment advisor, Member SIPC. Atomic Invest was previously known as Helium Advisors LLC. Arc receives compensation as a percentage of assets managed by Atomic Invest for promoting their advisory services. Brokerage services are provided by BNY Mellon Pershing, Member SIPC, through a clearing and custody relationship with Atomic Invest. Atomic Invest manages and executes investments on behalf of customers. Read additional disclosures here.

Contact Information

Austin Beveridge

Head of Marketing

Arc

abeveridge@arc.tech