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 located in Palo Alto, CA, as well as through its additional offices in Boston, MA, New York, NY, Bethesda, MD, San Diego, CA, 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 (“BDC”) under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”). From incorporation through December 31, 2005, the Company was subject to tax as a corporation under Subchapter C of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”). Effective January 1, 2006, the Company elected to be treated for tax purposes as a Regulated Investment Company (“RIC”) under Subchapter M of the Code (see “Note 6 - Income Taxes”).

The Company does not currently use Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) derivatives. However, to the extent that it uses CFTC derivatives in the future, it intends to do so below prescribed levels and will not market itself as a “commodity pool” or a vehicle for trading such instruments. 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 and in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States of America (“U.S. GAAP”). These subsidiaries are taxable entities and are not consolidated with Hercules for income tax purposes. The Company's taxable subsidiaries may generate income tax expense, or benefit, and tax assets and liabilities as a result of their ownership of certain portfolio investments.

In May 2020, Hercules Adviser LLC (the “Adviser Subsidiary”) was formed as a wholly owned Delaware limited liability subsidiary of the Company to provide investment advisory and related services to investment vehicles (“Adviser Funds”) owned by one or more unrelated third-party investors (“External Parties”). The Adviser Subsidiary receives fee income for the services provided to the Adviser Funds. The Company was granted no-action relief by the staff of the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) to allow the Adviser Subsidiary to register as a registered investment adviser under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, as amended (“Advisers Act”).