Smart, Adaptive Capital

Steve leads the Technology Group at Hercules with more than 16 years of operational and structured finance experience. He has led over $1.2 billion in capital investments at Hercules and has worked with breakout companies such as Box, Lightspeed, IronPlanet, MachineZone and Trulia. Steve has been involved with early stage startups with passionate founders and a great concept as well as billion dollar revenue businesses looking to finance their next big market. Prior to Hercules, Steve was a strategic member of Lightcross, a silicon photonics startup, where he led the product management team. Before joining Lightcross, he was a principal at Comdisco Ventures.

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April is a Managing Director with more than 15 years of venture banking experience. Prior to joining Hercules, April served as Senior Vice President and Managing Director, US for MMVF, a Toronto-based venture debt fund. Prior to that, April served as Senior Vice President and Managing Director of the Mid-Atlantic Technology and Life Sciences division with Comerica Bank. Earlier in her career, she was Executive Director of the Potomac KnowledgeWay Project, and Senior Fellow for Regional Economic Development at George Mason University's Institute for Public Policy. April has received numerous honors for her involvement in the tech community, including Lifetime Achievement Awards from the Northern Virginia Technology Association and Women in Technology. She has been named to the Washingtonian’s list of 100 most powerful women as well as a Tech Titan. April holds a Ph.D. in Public Policy and Administration from Saint Louis University and a B.A. and Masters in Urban and Regional Planning from The George Washington University.

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Kevin Zeidan has more than 20 years of experience in the innovation sector working with VCs, start-ups and public companies. Kevin has forged solid relationships with top-tier VC firms, banks, debt funds, and C-level executives because of his commitment to bring value and financial intelligence to the venture and technology communities. Specialties: venture debt, senior/junior lien and payment terms, working capital, MRR lines of credit, no covenant growth capital loans, bridge loans, venture capital, relationship management, banking, and finance Kevin is currently a Managing Director at Hercules Capital where he is focused on originating, executing and managing new investment opportunities. Prior to his current role at Hercules Capital, Kevin spent the last 20 years of his career split between Comerica Bank and Silicon Valley Bank (SVB). Kevin spent a vast majority of his tenure at these respective banks being actively responsible for developing new business relationships with Technology and Life Science companies as well as providing business and financial advice to his portfolio companies and network. Kevin earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with an emphasis in International Finance and Management from the University of San Francisco.

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John Eggbeer is a Managing Director in the Technology group working in the DC office. He first joined Hercules Capital as an associate in October 2011 and is focused on deal origination, underwriting and portfolio monitoring of debt and equity investments in the mid-Atlantic, Southeast and Midwest regions. Prior to joining Hercules, he worked as an associate at MMV Financial, a Toronto Canada based venture lending firm. He began his career as an analyst in the Comerica mid-Atlantic Technology and Life Science office focused on lending solutions for venture backed technology companies. Eggbeer graduated from the University of Richmond’s Robins School of Business with a BS in Business Administration.

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Roy is a Managing Director in the Technology Group and a co-founder of Hercules. He has more than 30 years of operating and finance experience with technology companies. Before joining Hercules, Roy was a Vice President at GrandBanks Capital, a venture capital firm and a founding principal of VantagePoint Structured Investments, a debt fund affiliated with VantagePoint Venture Partners. Prior to that Roy co-founded Imperial Bank’s Emerging Growth Industries’ Boston office, where he focused specifically on debt financing for venture-backed companies. Roy’s operational experience includes roles as the Vice President of Finance and CFO to technology companies. He began his career at IBM in research and development, and is author of a patent for asynchronous communication systems. Roy is currently an Advisory board member, and sits on the investment funding committee of Northeastern University's student-led IDEA start-up incubator program. He has served in the past as a member of the board of trustees and Treasurer for the Mad River Glen Ski Cooperative. Roy holds a Bachelor’s of Science in Electrical Engineering and an M.B.A. from the University of Michigan.

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Jeff joined Hercules Technology Growth Capital in 2019 as a Managing Director out of the Boston office focusing on Technology and Sustainability Investments. Prior to Hercules, Jeff was a Managing Director/SVP with Square1 Bank, a division of Pacific Western Bank, acting as a New Business Development officer driving new client/prospect lead generation throughout New England and Nationally acting as an “ambassador” to entrepreneurs and the start-up ecosystem through his work in various organizations within the startup ecosystem. Jeff has been professionally involved in the financial industry on the investment and banking decision side for over 25 years working with VCs and start-ups as a lender, investor, advisor and consultant. Jeff previously spent over 15 years at Lighthouse Capital Partners driving new deal origination in its Technology, Healthcare and Clean Technology practices both in Menlo Park, CA and Cambridge, MA. While at Lighthouse, Jeff was involved with and provided over half a Billion Dollars in debt commitments to over 80 different companies throughout the U.S. and Canada through highly structured and creative venture debt facilities. Jeff holds a Bachelor’s in Business Administration from Ohio University and an MBA from Loyola University – Chicago.

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Tom Harris is a Managing Director in Hercules’ Technology Group at our Palo Alto offices, and brings more than 17 years of financing, syndications and technology investment banking experience to the firm. Tom joins Hercules after several years at Silicon Valley Bank, most recently as a Managing Director in the Syndications group, where he led more than $4 billion in syndicated senior and subordinated facilities for leading technology companies. Prior to SVB, he spent 6 years on BofA Merrill Lynch’s Investment Banking team, with more than $22bn of lead software M&A, LBO and IPO transactions completed, and more than $10bn in lead leveraged loan and bond transactions closed. Prior to BofA Merrill Lynch, he spent 8 years in high yield origination and capital markets at TD Securities in New York. Tom holds an MBA with honors from Columbia Business School and a BS in Finance and Economics from the Stern School of Business at NYU.

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Catherine is a Managing Director of Business Development at Hercules. 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 bachelor’s in Agricultural Economics and a minor in Computer Information Systems from UC Davis.

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Lesya is a Managing Director, Portfolio Management at Hercules Capital with over 10 years of structured finance and investment experience. Prior to joining Hercules in 2012, Lesya worked with two early stage venture capital firms: Nourish Capital, a start-up fund in San Francisco focused on investing in early stage consumer retail businesses, and Hopewell Ventures, an equity fund in Chicago primarily focused on high-growth businesses across a broad range of industries in the Midwest. Prior to that, Lesya worked as a Corporate Credit Monitoring Manager for Raiffeisen Bank Ukraine, a subsidiary of Raiffeisen Zentralbank Austria. She began her career in product management at Rockwell Automation. Lesya received a B.S. in Computer Engineering with a Mathematics minor from Marquette University. She was a recipient of a full international scholarship sponsored by the United States Information Agency/Freedom Support Act program.

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Wade Lin is a Principal in the Technology Group at the Palo Alto office. Wade was previously with Wells Fargo Capital Finance’s technology finance group where he underwrote senior secured financings for leveraged buyouts, mergers & acquisitions, dividend recapitalizations, and working capital to private and public software companies. From 2010 to 2013, Wade was an analyst with the loan restructuring group at Wells Fargo. He began his career as an analyst in the Technology Banking Group at United Commercial Bank. Wade holds a BA in Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley.

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Greg, a seasoned executive with more than 10 years of financial services experience, is a Principal responsible for business development in the technology market. Most recently, Greg served as Vice President at East West Bank, where he helped found and build the late-stage technology banking practice. Prior to East West, he was a Vice President in Silicon Valley Bank’s corporate finance division. Greg began his financial services career as an analyst in Bridge Bank’s technology banking group. He has also worked as a management consultant and economic analyst intern for the Ministry of the Economy of Luxembourg. Peterson is a CFA charterholder and received a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Cornell University.

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Charlie Wehr is a Vice President working in the Boston office, focused on a broad range of technology sectors, including enterprise software, digital media, information security, and life sciences, among others. Charlie comes to Hercules after nearly 6 years at Bridge Bank, where he was most recently a Vice President and Relationship Manager in the Technology Banking Division. Prior to that, Charlie was a Senior Consultant at Grant Thornton for 3 years. Charlie received a B.A. in Public Policy Studies & Economics from Duke University, and a M.A. in Applied Economics from The John Hopkins University. He also holds a graduate certificate in Financial Management from The John Hopkins University, Carey Business School.

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Michael joined Hercules Capital as an analyst intern in January 2007 and was promoted to the role of Associate in October 2009. In April 2011, Michael was promoted to Vice President and currently focuses on debt and equity investments in the Life Science and Technology sectors. Prior to Hercules, he held positions with Credit Suisse HOLT as an equity research analyst and with Bristol-Myers Squibb as a global sourcing and supplier management analyst. Michael graduated from Northeastern University with a B.S. in Finance.

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Michael Plato joins Hercules from Investment Banking at US Capital, where he led a lower-middle market, tech-focused deal team. Prior to investment banking, Michael was a founder of RENEW and of BidNetwork USA, and early in his career was a Diplomat with the US Government $20b AUM Overseas Private Investment Corporation. Michael has a BA from Michigan State University and MBA from Johns Hopkins University.

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Raj is a Managing Director in the Technology group. He has more than 25 years of investment experience in high-technology sectors. Raj is especially interested in opportunities in AI/ML, software infrastructure and healthcare IT. Prior to joining Hercules, Raj was an Executive at Bulger Partners where he advised private equity clients on M&A strategy & deal diligence.  Previously, Raj was a Managing Director in GE Capitals’ Sponsor Finance (TMT) group, and a top ranked sell-side equity analyst at SGCowen, where he covered technical/infrastructure software, and semiconductor sectors.  Raj was a WSJ “Best on the Street” winner 3 times. Raj holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Business at Northwestern; a Masters in Electrical Engineering from Cornell University, and a BS in Electrical Engineering from The University of Illinois.

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