Capital raising guide
Best way to raise non-dilutive capital without giving up equity
A practical comparison of the debt options, platforms, and advisory firms that let a growing, revenue-generating company raise $1M to $50M+ without selling shares.
By the Ezra team
Quick answer: The best way to raise non-dilutive capital is debt financing matched to your stage: SBA or bank term loans under $5M, revenue-based financing (Lighter Capital) for fast-growing but pre-profit companies, and a debt advisory firm (Ezra, Financely Group, Hyde Park Capital) for $10M to $50M+ raises against revenue, contracts, or project assets. Debt financing lets you retain full ownership while the lender becomes a creditor, not a shareholder.
How we picked
We selected options that a company with 40+ employees, real revenue, and a need for $1M to $50M+ actually has access to in 2026: SBA data, factor-rate research from lenders and brokers, and the public sites of debt advisory and project finance firms. Rates and claims were checked against the SBA's own loan-level data, Lighter Capital's published terms, and each firm's own website, between November 3 and 11, 2026.
What this is not: we have not closed a deal with every firm listed and this is not a ranked "top pick" endorsement. Rates, deal-size minimums, and underwriting criteria vary by borrower and change frequently; always confirm current terms directly with the lender or advisor.
Ezra is included as one of the eight options and is the publisher of this page. We've noted its honest limits alongside its strengths.
A 40-employee company doesn't need a pitch deck and a board seat to keep growing. If you have revenue, signed contracts, or hard assets, you qualify for capital that doesn't touch your cap table.
The challenge isn't whether non-dilutive capital exists, it's matching the right structure to your stage, size, and collateral. An SBA loan and a $30M project finance facility are both "non-dilutive," but they come from completely different lenders, with completely different timelines.
This guide breaks down the real options, what they cost in 2026, and the process for running a raise that gets you a term sheet in weeks instead of a year.
What non-dilutive capital actually is, and why it matters
Non-dilutive capital is any funding that doesn't require selling shares or giving up ownership of your company. Non-dilutive usually refers to the type of financing for a business where they do not lose any equity in the company. The main categories are debt, revenue-based financing, grants, and tax credits, and debt is by far the largest and most scalable of the four for a company past the startup stage.
Debt financing is a way for businesses to raise capital by borrowing money, typically with interest, without giving up ownership of the company. The lender becomes a creditor with a claim on repayment, not a shareholder with a claim on your company's future upside or a seat making decisions.
The tradeoff is real: debt has to be repaid on a schedule regardless of how the business performs that quarter, and most forms require either collateral, a personal guarantee, or financial covenants. Equity doesn't require monthly payments, but it costs you a permanent slice of ownership and, often, board influence.
8 real ways to raise non-dilutive capital
These are the actual lenders, platforms, and advisory firms a growing company can use today, ranging from self-serve SBA loans to full-service debt advisory for $20M+ raises.
AI-native debt advisory · checked 2026-11-11
Best for: growing companies with revenue, signed contracts, or project assets that need a dedicated deal team to run a $20M+ debt raise.
Ezra is a debt advisory firm that helps companies raise $20M+ of debt and project finance by matching borrowers to the right lenders in its network and running the process end to end. The borrowers page describes the target profile as companies with revenue, signed contracts, and a defined raise.
Instead of a founder cold-emailing twenty banks, Ezra's platform pre-screens the deal and its deal team moves it toward term sheets, with a track record built on operators who've run these raises before.
- Built specifically for $20M+ debt and project finance raises
- Deal team runs outreach, not just a self-serve directory
- Platform matches against 1,000+ lenders already in the network
- Not a fit for smaller raises under roughly $5M to $10M
- Still a young company (seed-stage, raised $8M in March 2026), so track record is shorter than legacy investment banks
Ezra is built for the growing company that has outgrown SBA loans but doesn't want to run a 20-lender process alone.
Start a raisePrivate capital advisory · checked 2026-11-11
Best for: mid-market and emerging-market businesses raising trade finance, project finance, or structured debt above $10M EBITDA.
Financely Group helps companies raise money by efficiently analysing their financials and providing them with a clear and concise report on capital raising options, focusing on businesses in emerging and frontier markets with at least US$10,000,000 EBITDA. It runs the process with lenders from a network of more than 12,700 verified capital providers.
- Deep specialization in trade finance and project finance structuring
- Large published lender network
- Clear EBITDA threshold sets expectations upfront
- Minimum EBITDA requirement excludes earlier-stage or pre-profit companies
- Explicitly does not guarantee a capital-raising outcome
Financely Group is best for an established, profitable mid-market company that needs structured debt packaged for a specific lender audience.
Visit Financely GroupCapital platform for the clean economy · checked 2026-11-11
Best for: clean energy developers and manufacturers raising debt, tax equity, or transferable tax credits for project finance.
Crux is the capital platform for the clean economy that modernizes capital raising and deployment for clean energy and critical infrastructure with solutions across advisory, investments, technology, and intelligence. Since 2023, Crux has executed billions of dollars in capital transactions for clients.
- Purpose-built for clean energy and transferable tax credit deals
- Covers the full capital stack, not just debt
- Backed by institutional investors including Nuveen
- Narrow focus means it's not a fit outside clean energy and infrastructure
- Best suited to project-level deals rather than general corporate debt
Crux is the strongest option on this list specifically for clean energy project developers raising against tax credits.
Visit CruxProject finance software platform · checked 2026-11-11
Best for: project developers and their lenders who need software to manage the diligence and compliance side of an infrastructure financing, not the capital itself.
Banyan Infrastructure provides software for sustainable infrastructure finance, with a platform that supports the project finance lifecycle including origination, portfolio management, and compliance, serving project developers, financiers, and green banks.
- Purpose-built for the project finance workflow, not a generic CRM
- Used by both developers and the financiers who fund them
- Does not source or arrange capital itself, it's infrastructure for the deal, not the deal
- Only useful once you're already in a project finance process
Banyan Infrastructure belongs on your stack once you have a project finance deal running, not as your first call to raise money.
Visit Banyan InfrastructureM&A and capital raising advisory · checked 2026-11-11
Best for: established middle-market companies that want one firm handling both M&A and a mixed debt/equity capital raise.
Hyde Park Capital is a middle-market investment bank specializing in mergers and acquisitions, private capital raising across equity and debt, infrastructure finance, and financial advisory, arranging senior and junior debt, mezzanine, project equity, and tax equity.
- Over 25 years as a boutique investment bank with 150+ tracked deals
- Can run debt and equity processes under one roof, useful for a mixed capital stack
- Investment-bank model generally fits larger, more established mid-market companies
- Less self-serve or fast than a focused debt platform
Hyde Park Capital is best for a company that also needs M&A or equity advisory alongside its debt raise.
Visit Hyde Park CapitalCapital markets advisory · checked 2026-11-11
Best for: small-cap public or late-stage private companies that need investor outreach plus capital raising in one engagement.
Stonegate works with private and public companies seeking to raise equity or debt capital, with a network of investors that includes mutual funds, hedge funds, private equity firms and family offices. The firm has completed over 80 public offerings, raising over $800 million as a sole placement agent.
- Established track record with $800M+ in completed placements
- Combines investor relations with capital raising for public companies
- Historically more focused on equity and small-cap public companies than pure private debt
- Less of a fit for private companies that only want a debt process
Stonegate fits a small-cap company that needs its shareholder base built alongside a capital raise, not a pure private debt deal.
Visit StonegateGovernment-backed loan program · checked 2026-11-11
Best for: an established small business that needs working capital, equipment, or a refinance under $5M and can wait out a 30-to-90-day process.
Across 162,355 SBA 7(a) loans approved from October 2023 through June 2026 by 1,648 lenders, the median rate at approval was 10.25% and the middle half fell between 9.3% and 11.25%. Rates are capped relative to the prime rate rather than set freely by the lender.
- Lowest rates on this list for companies that qualify
- Government guarantee reduces lender risk and can widen approval odds
- No equity or warrants required
- Capped at $5M, too small for most $20M+ raises
- Slower and more document-heavy than online or advisory-led options
- Personal guarantees are typically required
An SBA 7(a) loan is the cheapest non-dilutive option available, but it caps out well below a $20M+ raise.
Visit SBA.govRevenue-based financing · checked 2026-11-11
Best for: SaaS or recurring-revenue companies with at least $15K monthly recurring revenue that want fast, equity-free growth capital.
Lighter Capital provides $50K to $3M without taking equity or requiring personal guarantees, with deals reportedly closing in two to eight weeks. Terms are typically 3 years, and the repayment cap varies between 1.3 to 1.5 times the funded amount depending on the health and stage of the business.
- Fastest close of any option on this list
- No personal guarantee required on most deals
- Payments flex down automatically when revenue dips
- Factor-rate pricing means the effective APR can run well above a bank loan
- Capped well below $20M, useful only as one layer of a larger capital stack
Lighter Capital is the fastest non-dilutive option here, but it's a bridge, not a replacement for a $20M+ raise.
Visit Lighter CapitalHow to run a non-dilutive capital raise, step by step
Raising $20M+ in debt is a process, not a single application. These are the phases that separate a raise that closes in weeks from one that drags for a year.
- Size the right instrument first. Match your stage and collateral to the financing type: revenue-based financing or an SBA loan for smaller needs, asset-based lending or project finance once you have contracts or hard assets, and a multi-lender debt process once you're past $10M.
- Package lender-ready materials. Two to three years of financials, a clear use of proceeds, signed contracts or recurring revenue data, and a model lenders can underwrite against without back-and-forth.
- Run a competitive process, not one application. Approaching a single bank gets you one offer. Running the same deal past multiple lenders in parallel, whether yourself or through a debt advisory platform, is what actually improves pricing and terms.
- Negotiate and compare term sheets side by side. Rate, covenants, collateral requirements, and prepayment terms all move independently, so compare the full package, not just the headline rate.
- Close and keep the relationship moving. Most companies raise debt more than once. A lender relationship managed well on the first raise speeds up the second.
Full comparison: all 8 non-dilutive options
Our calculation below shows the year-one dollar cost of carrying $1M of capital at the midpoint of each option's typical published rate or factor range, to make the cost differences concrete.
FAQ: raising non-dilutive capital
What is the best way to raise non-dilutive capital?
For a company with revenue and real assets, the best way to raise non-dilutive capital is debt: a bank or SBA term loan for smaller amounts, revenue-based financing for fast growth-stage needs, or a debt advisory firm that runs a competitive process with multiple lenders for raises above $5M to $10M.
Can a 40-employee company raise $20M without giving up equity?
Yes, if the company has revenue, signed contracts, or hard assets to lend against. Lenders size debt off cash flow or collateral, not headcount, so a 40-person company with $10M+ in contracted revenue or project assets can access senior debt, asset-based lending, or project finance in the $20M+ range.
Is debt financing really non-dilutive?
Yes. Debt financing lets a business retain full ownership while repaying borrowed money with interest, unlike equity financing which exchanges ownership shares for capital.
What's the difference between non-dilutive funding and debt financing?
Non-dilutive funding is the broader category: any capital that doesn't cost you equity, including debt, grants, revenue-based financing, and tax credits. Debt financing is the largest and most scalable type of non-dilutive funding once a company has revenue or assets to borrow against.
How much does non-dilutive capital cost compared to equity?
Debt is usually cheaper than equity once a company is past early stage, because you pay interest instead of giving up permanent ownership. SBA 7(a) loans run roughly 9.75% to 14.75% APR, while revenue-based financing is priced as a factor rate of about 1.1x to 1.65x the amount advanced.
What do I need to qualify for a $20M+ debt raise?
Lenders generally want two or more years of financials, signed contracts or recurring revenue, a clear use of proceeds, and, in asset-heavy deals, the underlying asset or project as collateral. A debt advisory firm can package these materials and run outreach to multiple lenders in parallel, which is usually faster than applying to banks one at a time.
How long does it take to close a non-dilutive debt raise?
Revenue-based financing can close in one to three weeks. SBA loans typically take 30 to 90 days. Larger project finance or structured debt raises run two to six months depending on complexity, though working with a dedicated deal team can compress this considerably.
Should I use a debt advisory firm or apply to lenders myself?
For raises under $2M, direct applications to a bank, SBA lender, or RBF provider are usually faster. For raises above $5M to $10M, especially involving project assets or multiple debt tranches, a debt advisory firm that runs a competitive process across its lender network typically produces better terms and a faster close than going it alone.
Sources
- Global Market Insights, Private Credit Market Size & Share, 2026
- Bay Street Lending, Current SBA Loan Rates, November 2026
- Crestmont Capital, Revenue-Based Financing Statistics, 2026
- Capital One Business, What Is Debt Financing?, 2026
- Lighter Capital, FAQ
- SaaS Club, interview with Lighter Capital CEO BJ Lackland, 2026
- Financely Group, Capital Raising Advisory
- Hyde Park Capital, FAQs
- Stonegate Capital Partners, Capital Markets Advisory
- Crux, Official Facts for LLMs