Description of Business |
12 Months Ended |
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Dec. 31, 2023 | |
| Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract] | |
| Description of Business |
1. Description of Business
Hercules Capital, Inc. (the “Company”) is a specialty finance company focused on providing senior secured loans to high-growth, innovative venture capital-backed and institutional-backed companies in a variety of technology, life sciences, and sustainable and renewable technology industries. The Company sources its investments through its principal office, which was located in Palo Alto, CA until February 12, 2024 and in San Mateo, CA thereafter and presently, as well as through its additional offices in Boston, MA, New York, NY, Bethesda, MD, San Diego, CA, Denver, CO, and London, United Kingdom. The Company was incorporated under the General Corporation Law of the State of Maryland in December 2003.
The Company is an internally managed, non-diversified closed-end investment company that has elected to be regulated as a Business Development Company under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended. From incorporation through December 31, 2005, the Company was subject to tax as a corporation under Subchapter C of the Code. Effective January 1, 2006, the Company elected to be treated for U.S. federal income tax purposes as a regulated investment company (“RIC”) under Subchapter M of the Code (see “Note 6 – Income Taxes”).
The Company is not registered with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”). The Company has claimed an exclusion from the definition of the term “commodity pool operator” under the Commodity Exchange Act (“CEA”), pursuant to Rule 4.5 under the CEA. The Company is not, therefore, subject to registration or regulation as a “commodity pool operator” under the CEA.
Hercules Capital IV, L.P. (“HC IV”) is our wholly owned Delaware limited partnership that was formed in December 2010. HC IV received a license to operate as a Small Business Investment Company (“SBIC”) under the authority of the Small Business Administration (“SBA”) on October 27, 2020. SBICs are subject to a variety of regulations concerning, among other things, the size and nature of the companies in which they may invest and the structure of those investments. Hercules Technology SBIC Management, LLC (“HTM”), is a wholly owned limited liability company subsidiary of the Company, which was formed in November 2003 and serves as the general partner of HC IV.
The Company has also established certain wholly owned subsidiaries, all of which are structured as Delaware corporations or Limited Liability Companies (“LLCs”), to hold portfolio companies organized as LLCs (or other forms of pass-through entities). These subsidiaries are consolidated for financial reporting purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States of America (“U.S. GAAP”). Certain of the subsidiaries are taxable and not consolidated with Hercules for income tax purposes and may generate income tax expense, or benefit, and tax assets and liabilities as a result of their ownership of certain portfolio investments.
The Company formed Hercules Capital Management LLC and Hercules Adviser LLC in 2020 as wholly owned Delaware limited liability subsidiaries. The Company was granted no-action relief by the staff of the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) to allow Hercules Adviser LLC (the "Adviser Subsidiary") to register as a registered investment adviser under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, as amended (“Advisers Act”). The Adviser Subsidiary provides investment advisory and related services to investment vehicles (“Adviser Funds”) owned by one or more unrelated third-party investors (“External Parties”). The Adviser Subsidiary is owned by Hercules Capital Management LLC and collectively held and presented with Hercules Partner Holdings, LLC, which separately wholly owns the general partnership vehicles to each of the Adviser Funds.
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