I worked at a VC fund that raised ~$50 million from LPs, but was able to put ~3X that amount (~$150 million) to work. How is that possible?
It’s due to the SBIC program run by the U.S. Small Business Administration. Have you heard of it? If you’re raising a VC fund, PE fund, or FoF, you need to know about this 👇🏻
💰 For select, vetted private equity and VC funds (including fund-of-funds) they provide a debt-like instrument — a debenture — which allows those funds to ~2X their check size.
📈 The program reached $53 billion in combined private capital and SBA leverage in FY 2025.
🚀 They’ve recently launched with the United States Department of War an extension to the program (called SBICCT) that’s focused on critical technologies like defense, AI, and more. You may recognize some of the names below, who are part of the 1st cohort of this program 👇🏻 like:
Ridgeline
Dauntless Ventures
Snowpoint Ventures
Acequia Capital
ONE Bow River
BY Capital
Special thanks to Igor Taber of Cortical Ventures for bringing this enhancement of the SBIC program to my attention. And to John Levy and Oded Weiss for having hired me at said VC fund early in my career. Wouldn’t be doing what we do at Venture5 if it weren’t for them opening the door for me back in the day!
How a VC Fund Can Scale AUM (Without Raising More)
