Runway Growth Credit Fund, a provider of growth loans to both venture and non-venture backed companies seeking an alternative to raising equity, provided an operational and portfolio update for Q1/21.

“Investment activity continued at pace during the first quarter. We completed $53.3 million in loans to, and other investments in, new and existing portfolio companies during the first quarter. We are seeing strong interest in our life sciences vertical and demand for growth loans in the technology sector is increasing,” David Spreng, CEO of Runway Growth, said. “In a year challenged by economic uncertainty, market volatility and financial hardship, we are pleased with the level of investment activity during the first quarter and our continuing support of entrepreneurs and sponsors. We continue to diversify and, during the first quarter, we expanded our portfolio with $546.6 million in loan principal outstanding to 22 companies across multiple technology and life sciences sectors in North America and the United Kingdom.”

Runway Growth funded seven loans during Q1/21, including two investments in new portfolio companies and five follow-on investments in existing portfolio companies, including:

• A $25 million senior secured term loan commitment to Allurion Technologies, $15 million of which was funded at close. Founded in 2009, Allurion is a medical device company that developed and sells an intragastric balloon and 360-degree weight loss platform.
• A $20 million senior secured term loan commitment to Bombora, the entirety of which was funded at close. Founded in 2014 and based in New York City, Bombora is a marketing technology and data company that aggregates and provides purchase intent data to business-to-business marketers. Bombora created a data co-operative with more than 4,300 publishers to aggregate proprietary audience data.
• $15 million in additional funding to existing portfolio company Vero Biotech.
• $3.3 million in advance to four existing portfolio companies.

During Q1/21, Runway Growth experienced the following partial liquidity events totaling $15.5 million:

• In March, 3DNA, doing business as NationBuilder, prepaid its outstanding principal balance of $8.1 million, including interest and fees.
• In March, in conjunction with the Ouster merger into Colonnade Acquisition, a special purpose acquisition company, Runway Growth Credit Fund exercised its warrant in Ouster and received approximately 1.2 million shares of Ouster common stock. During the quarter, Ouster repaid its outstanding principal balance of $7.4 million, including interest and fees.

“We are gradually seeing a return to normalcy in our markets. We expect loan demand to continue to grow throughout the year,” Spreng said. “During 2021, we expect that the fund’s loan commitments originated since beginning operations in December 2016 will continue to increase. We are actively seeking new investment opportunities and are engaging with entrepreneurs and sponsors to deliver new capital to support growth and help them achieve their goals.”

Runway Growth Capital is the investment advisor to Runway Growth Credit Fund, a provider of growth loans to companies seeking an alternative to raising equity. The fund provides senior term loans of $10 million to $50 million to companies primarily based in the United States and Canada. The Runway Growth Credit Fund is a closed-end investment fund that has elected to be regulated as a business development company under the Investment Company Act of 1940.