Q1 ’26 Venture Debt BDC Analysis

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Each quarter, we dig into the filings to track what’s actually happening in the venture/growth debt market. Here’s what Q1 told us.

The Quarter at a Glance

Across the six BDCs we track, aggregate principal grew $606M quarter over quarter to $21.12B (+2.95%). 54 new borrowers entered the portfolio ($1.28B in new commitments) while 23 exited ($798M). Aggregate fair value rose $254M (+1.25%), though the growth was uneven: OTF contracted $145M in fair value and RWAY contracted $31M, with the remaining four BDCs more than offsetting those declines.

But the bigger story is underneath the headline. At year-end, most of these portfolios were valued near what was originally lent — a sign of confidence. That flipped in Q1: all six BDCs now carry their loans below original cost. HTGC, which was the lone BDC carrying a small premium at year-end, moved to a discount. RWAY and OTF saw the largest moves. HRZN was the only BDC to see improvement, with new draws funding at close to full value. On the deployment side, HTGC was the most active (+$298M on principal / 14 new borrowers), TPVG matched that count with 14 new names skewing international, while RWAY added just one and let several mid-sized names exit the portfolio.

New Deal Activity

New originations totaled $1.28B across 54 borrowers — but the economics varied widely depending on deal size.

Source: Q1 2026 Loan Tape. All-in rates estimated from stated spreads over SOFR/Prime.

A few deals illustrate the Q1 pricing spectrum. OTF’s largest new commitment — Conservice Midco ($212.4M, S+4.50%, Feb 2033, no PIK, no exit fee) — is the cleanest institutional structure in the cohort: tight spread, pure cash interest, no back-end. Matterhorn Finco followed at $189.6M and S+5.50% (Mar 2033).

Move down the size spectrum and the structures diversify. HTGC added Maze Therapeutics ($28M, Prime+0.95% with a 7.95% floor and 6.45% Exit Fee), Electric Hydrogen ($30.5M across two tranches, Prime+2.25% with a 10.75% floor, 1.25% PIK, and 4.25–5.95% Exit Fees), and Aryaka Networks ($28.4M, Prime+1.80% with a 9.30% floor, 1.25% PIK, and 6.73% Exit Fee) — classic venture-debt structures with Prime-floor protection, small PIK components, and meaningful back-end fees.

HRZN’s largest new origination, Pelthos Therapeutics ($30M across 4 Term Loan tranches all maturing January 31, 2031), priced at Prime+3.75% with a 10.50% floor and a 5.00% Exit Fee — a textbook example of HRZN’s exit-fee-driven model. TRIN added Monteris Medical ($32.9M, Prime+4.3% with an 11.0% floor and a 4.0% Exit Fee) and Cala Health ($25M, Prime+1.5% with a 10.0% floor, a 1.5% PIK component, and a 4.5% Exit Fee).

TPVG’s new originations skewed offshore, with two of the top three in the UK (Prodigy Investments at $43.3M and Luminary Roli at $35.5M) and a heavy mix of international names. Prodigy carries a 7.30% cash rate plus 5.98% PIK plus a 2.50% Exit Fee — a 13.3% contractual yield with ~45% of the coupon deferred. RWAY added a single new name, HR Pharmaceuticals ($5.6M, Health Care Equipment & Services), its lightest origination quarter in the cohort.

The pattern from Q4 still holds: pricing maps to deal size. OTF is writing $50M+ tickets at S+4–7% all-in, no exit fee, no PIK. HTGC and HRZN are putting on $10–30M paper around 10–11% with selective PIK and 2–7% exit fees.

Credit Quality: Discounts Widening

The table below shows how the shift broke down by lender.

Source: Q1 2026 vs. Q4 2025 fair value vs. amortized cost across debt portfolios.

OTF’s move was driven by several large positions (Intelerad Medical $163M, Relativity ODA $137M, EresearchTechnology $80M) exiting the portfolio, with what remained marked lower.

TPVG’s discount widened a further 96 bps to –10.5%, driven by markdowns on European positions including Frubana (three tranches marked to roughly 30¢ on the dollar) and MA Micro.

HRZN was the lone improver, with its discount narrowing 15 bps to –1.4% even as the portfolio grew nearly 15% on principal.

Non-accrual data — loans where the borrower is no longer making payments — tells the same split-cohort story. RWAY moved Marley Spoon SE ($68.4M cost / $37.5M FV) and Blueshift Labs ($31.6M cost / $14.5M FV) onto non-accrual this quarter, lifting non-accrual fair value from 0.25% of the book at year-end to 6.09% at March 31. TRIN’s non-accrual cost basis nearly doubled to $41.2M (1.1% of the debt portfolio, up from 0.7%) after adding a fifth company. The other four were essentially flat — HTGC stable at 0.2% of portfolio, HRZN steady at three positions, TPVG holding at four companies, and OTF improving slightly as $14M of cost moved off non-accrual.

The widening is modest in absolute terms — four of the six BDCs still carry discounts of less than 2.5% — but the broad direction is negative, and combined with the increase in PIK utilization on new originations, may suggest lenders are pricing in more risk per dollar deployed.

What’s Ahead: 2026 Maturity Wall

Stripping out the Q1 maturities that have already cleared, $878M in principal across all six BDCs matures in the rest of 2026 — with another $1.65B due in 2027.

Source: Q1 2026 Loan Tape maturity dates.

HTGC carries the largest absolute maturity wall — $318M this year, another $675M in 2027 — but at $4.5B total portfolio, that’s manageable refinancing volume. RWAY has the most concentrated near-term wall: 15.6% of the book matures in the rest of 2026 and another 17.9% in 2027. TPVG’s 2027 wall is also notable at 26.1% of the book — the highest single-year concentration in the cohort. With the portfolio marked at a –10.5% discount, how those refis are repriced will be a useful data point on where the market is clearing for mid-size venture debt.

Lender Positioning

The aggregate numbers mask significant divergence in lender posture heading into Q2.

OTF’s portfolio grew on principal (+$114M) but contracted on fair value (−$145M) as large positions paid down or refinanced out. The 9 new commitments totaled $647M — Conservice at S+4.5%, Matterhorn at S+5.5%, Vestwell at S+7.0% — while Checkmarx was trimmed from $148M to $120M, consistent with a quarter of repositioning rather than growth.

HTGC was the most active deployer (14 new borrowers, $177M new principal, +7.0% QoQ growth) and continued to lean on its exit-fee engine — most new originations carried 2–7% exit fees on top of stated rates. The credit picture softened slightly: fair value flipped from a +0.4% premium to a –0.5% discount, but there’s no obvious red flag in any single position.

TPVG grew principal +11.1% QoQ on 14 new borrowers, with international originations (UK and Germany) driving most of the new volume. But the debt portfolio’s FV/Cost discount continued to widen (–10.5%, –96 bps QoQ) on European exposure, led by Frubana (three tranches marked to roughly 30¢ on the dollar) and MA Micro.

TRIN added 9 new borrowers across its target sectors (medical devices, SaaS, biotech) and posted a modest 23 bps widening in fair-value discount. Equipment financing continues to anchor the platform — ServiceTrade, Astranis, Impulse Space, and AST & Science all remain top positions with multi-tranche exposure. The portfolio looks healthy, though equipment financing economics bear watching if base rates continue to fall.

RWAY had the quietest quarter in the cohort. The Marley Spoon SE position remains the largest single exposure (5 tranches totaling $68M, marked at roughly 55¢ on the dollar under European consumer pressure). Autobooks ($34.6M, S+7.50% with an 11.77% floor and a 3.75% Exit Fee) carries one of the wider spreads in the book — a structure that typically reflects concentrated risk on a single credit.

HRZN’s smaller portfolio (~$682M) grew the fastest in percentage terms (+14.8% QoQ on principal, +14.2% on fair value). Most of the growth came from follow-on funding to existing borrowers and 7 new names across biotech, medical devices, and sustainability, all funding at close to full value — with Pelthos Therapeutics ($30M) the largest new addition. HRZN’s discount actually narrowed 15 bps, a quality-of-growth signal worth noting in a quarter where the rest of the cohort marked down. The Monroe Capital merger remains the structural catalyst to watch; until it closes, HRZN’s growth is constrained by balance sheet capacity.