Liquidity Group entered into agreements with respect to approximately $775 million in capital commitments led by by funds and entities managed by affiliates of Apollo. The commitments, which are subject to satisfaction of certain conditions, will include $425 million from Apollo Funds for a credit facility to help Liquidity scale its lending activity for late-stage technology companies, $300 million from MUFG Bank, for a debt fund JV named Mars Growth Capital, investing in future unicorn companies, as well as a $50 million SAFE note investment by Apollo Funds, MUFG Innovation Partners and Spark Capital.
Liquidity Group, founded in 2018, is a credit-oriented fintech platform that invests, syndicates and automates growth and middle-market lending for businesses around the world, providing capital mainly to later-stage technology companies. MUFG’s core banking subsidiary, MUFG Bank, is a key strategic capital partner to Liquidity, having invested equity venture capital in the business as well as formed multiple joint lending ventures.
For Apollo, the new commitments are consistent with its strategy to serve as a capital partner, enabler and strategic investor in specialty lending companies with strong credit underwriting and innovative features such as Liquidity’s data-driven platform for credit formation, diligence and monitoring. Apollo partner, Joshua Black, will also join Liquidity’s board of directors.
“We’re pleased to form this new capital partnership with Liquidity Group to support their growth while helping our investors access attractive yield with strong credit fundamentals,” Bret Leas, Apollo partner and global head of structured corporate credit and ABS, said. “Ron and his team at Liquidity are connecting technology borrowers and credit investors via an innovative, data-driven ecosystem, and we look forward to working with them as they scale the business.”
“The new capital partnership with Apollo and the continued and successful partnership with MUFG is validation of our founding vision to use artificial intelligence to transform the capital markets,” Ron Daniel, co-founder and CEO of Liquidity Group, said. “Our patented technology offers unparalleled insight into private growth companies and enables robust predictions about their future. Working with Apollo will allow us to continue our own expansion, fund more companies and provide reliable returns on investment to our partners. Josh, Jasen and the rest of the Apollo team have proved to be the right partners for this ride with their passion to adopt best of breed solutions.”
“MUFG is welcoming Apollo’s investment to Liquidity Capital. We are aiming to provide various financial services to start-up companies and to the ecosystem as a whole, together with the investing partners,” Fumitaka Nakahama, group head, global corporate and investment banking business group at MUFG, said.
Amit, Pollak, Matalon & Co. served as legal counsel to Liquidity. Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison and Shibolet Law Firm served as legal counsel to Apollo.
