Hercules' Parag Shah to Highlight Growing Importance Of Debt Financing at The Deal's Healthcare Symposium

PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Hercules Technology Growth Capital, Inc. (NASDAQ: HTGC), a leading specialty finance company providing growth capital to venture capital-backed technology and life science companies, today announced that Parag Shah, Senior Managing Director and Group Head, Life Sciences, will be presenting at The Deal's Healthcare Symposium later this week.

Mr. Shah will be participating on the panel, Creative, Sustainable Financing Techniques, at 9:45 a.m. on Wednesday, March 21 at The Westin New York at Times Square. The event is a one-day symposium designed to highlight the strategies and perspectives of the leading investors and dealmakers who are having significant success in the biotechnology, drug discovery and medical device sectors.

Mr. Shah brings significant biotechnology and finance experience and expertise to the panel and, in particular, will add insight into venture debt financing and its role within traditional venture capital financing for life science companies.

"Venture debt or growth capital financing was not utilized broadly by life science companies 10 to 15 years ago," Mr. Shah says. "The evolution of the investment model has come to include debt investing as a supplementary method for early stage, mid-stage private and small-cap public life science companies seeking additional less-dilutive financing. As such, it now represents an important alternative financing means for companies irrespective of where they are in their lifecycle."

Mr. Shah notes that companies use Hercules' venture debt financing for specific purposes, such as a complement to raising private or public equity capital. Recently, he says there has been an increase in life science companies using venture debt to fund the acquisition of intellectual property or technology, ongoing clinical trials and, ultimately, product launches.

About Hercules Technology Growth Capital, Inc.:

Founded in December 2003, Hercules Technology Growth Capital, Inc. is a NASDAQ traded specialty finance company providing debt and equity growth capital to technology-related companies at all stages of development. The Company primarily finances privately-held companies backed by leading venture capital and private equity firms and also may finance certain publicly-traded companies. Hercules' strategy is to evaluate and invest in a broad range of ventures active in technology and life science industries and to offer a full suite of growth capital products up and down the capital structure to prospective clients ranging from early-stage growth to expansion stage companies. The Company's investments are originated through its principal office located in Silicon Valley, as well as additional offices in the Boston, Boulder and Chicago areas. Providing capital to publicly-traded or privately-held companies backed by leading venture capital and private equity firms involves a high degree of credit risk and may result in potential losses of capital.

For more information, please visit www.HTGC.com. Companies interested in learning more about financing opportunities should contact info@HTGC.com, or call 650.289.3060.

Forward Looking Statements:

The statements contained in this release that are not purely historical are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements including, without limitation, the risks, uncertainties and other factors we identify from time to time in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Although we believe that the assumptions on which these forward-looking statements are reasonable, any of those assumptions could prove to be inaccurate and, as a result, the forward-looking statements based on those assumptions also could be incorrect. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements contained in this release are made as of the date hereof, and Hercules assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements for subsequent events.

Source: Hercules Technology Growth Capital, Inc.

Released March 20, 2007