Lender comparison
What Lenders Would Be Best for My Company to Raise Debt From?
Banks, BDCs, infrastructure debt funds and advisory platforms all compete for your deal. Here's which type fits a $20M+ raise, and seven real options to start with.
By the Ezra team
Quick answer: For a $20M+ raise, the best lender depends on your EBITDA and asset type: BDCs like Ares Capital fit $10M+ EBITDA companies wanting one large check; banks fit lower-cost senior debt if you qualify; and advisory firms or platforms like Ezra, Hyde Park Capital, or Financely Group run a competitive process across many lenders at once, usually surfacing better terms than a single relationship.
How we picked
We shortlisted lender types and firms that can plausibly originate or advise on $20M+ of debt or project finance, cross-checked against each firm's own site, SEC filings, and Preqin/Federal Reserve data. We prioritized firms with verifiable deal size minimums, public filings, or named transaction history over firms with no public track record. Prices, deal sizes and figures were checked 2026-11-12.
What this is not: We have not originated loans through every firm listed and did not run live quotes. Rankings come from each firm's published materials, third-party financial data (SEC, Preqin, Federal Reserve) and public deal history, not hands-on testing. Lender appetite, pricing and underwriting change deal by deal.
Disclosure: Ezra is the publisher of this page and is included as one of the seven options below, alongside direct competitors, with its own honest trade-offs listed.
Most content about "business lenders" is written for a $50,000 working capital loan. That's a different market from a $20M+ raise for a growth round, an acquisition, or a project finance facility against contracted cash flows. The lenders, underwriting standards and timelines are not the same, and picking the wrong type of lender is the single biggest reason mid-market raises stall.
This guide separates the lender types that can actually write a check that size, then names specific firms and platforms in each category so you have somewhere concrete to start.
Why lender choice matters more than ever in 2026
The private credit market, the pool banks no longer serve as directly, is growing fast and getting more crowded with lender types. Picking the wrong one for your deal size and asset profile wastes months.
The private credit market was estimated at USD 2.1 trillion in 2025 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 10.7% between 2026 and 2035, due to rising institutional investor allocations to alternative assets. That growth has been driven in large part by banks pulling back from mid-size deals. The private credit market has shifted away from banks in recent decades, and bank underwriting once covered over 70 percent of middle market loans.
Meanwhile, not all lender types approve at the same rate. Small banks fully approved 57% of the applicants who came to them; large banks fully approved 43%; online lenders 38%. That gap is why a single-lender strategy is riskier than it looks on paper: if your first choice says no, you've burned weeks before even starting a second process.
Old approach vs. new approach to finding a lender
What type of lender actually fits a $20M+ raise
Five lender categories realistically write $20M+ checks: commercial banks, business development companies (BDCs), private credit/direct lending funds, infrastructure and project finance lenders, and debt advisory firms or platforms that broker access to all of the above.
Private credit lenders, which include direct lending funds, business development companies, and some private equity firms, are another source of loans, and these lenders may fund businesses that do not meet a bank's strict lending rules. That makes them the default fallback once a deal outgrows a single bank's credit box. Private credit is useful for acquisitions, rapid growth, refinancing, or a large equipment purchase.
For asset-backed or infrastructure deals specifically, the lender looks at the project's own contracted cash flows rather than your company's balance sheet, which is a structurally different underwriting process than a corporate term loan.
7 lenders and debt advisors worth evaluating for a $20M+ raise
Debt advisory platform · AI-native underwriting · checked 2026-11-12
Best for: companies raising $20M+ in debt or project finance that want one deal team running outreach to many lenders at once instead of managing each bank or fund relationship themselves.
Ezra pairs a platform that matches deals to lenders with a deal team that runs the raise end to end. The lender network is positioned as 1,000+ lenders with deals pre-screened to each one's mandate, and the borrower side focuses on companies with revenue, signed contracts, or a project ready to finance.
- Runs parallel outreach instead of one lender at a time
- Deal team handles structuring and lender materials, not just the software match
- Built specifically for $20M+ debt and project finance, not small-business loans
- Newer firm: Ezra is a recently funded startup, not a decades-old institution
- Not a direct lender itself, your capital still comes from a third-party bank or fund
- Best fit is revenue-stage or asset-backed companies, not pre-revenue startups
Ezra is best for operators who want a dedicated team managing a competitive, multi-lender process rather than cold-calling banks one at a time.
Start a raise with EzraNASDAQ: ARCC · Largest publicly traded BDC · checked 2026-11-12
Best for: established middle-market companies with $10M to $250M of EBITDA that want one large check from a direct lender rather than stitching together several smaller facilities.
Ares Capital lends to U.S. middle-market companies with EBITDA generally between $10 million and $250 million, drawing on the broader Ares platform, over 100 direct-origination officers and relationships with more than 400 financial sponsors, for deal flow. At 30 June 2026 it held a $29.3 billion portfolio of loans to 619 companies, the vast majority first-lien senior and unitranche loans to US middle-market businesses.
- Scale to write a single check from $30M up to $500M+
- Public filings make pricing and portfolio performance transparent
- Deep sponsor relationships speed up diligence for PE-backed borrowers
- Targets EBITDA of $10M+, too large a bar for early-growth companies
- You apply directly; there's no advisory layer helping you negotiate against other term sheets
- Primarily senior secured and unitranche, not a fit for every capital stack need
Ares Capital is best for cash-flow-positive middle-market companies that already clear the $10M EBITDA bar and want a single institutional lender.
View Ares CapitalTampa, FL · Boutique investment bank, founded 2000 · checked 2026-11-12
Best for: founder- or family-owned middle-market companies that need both M&A-adjacent debt advisory and a dedicated infrastructure or energy project finance team.
Hyde Park Capital is a middle-market investment bank specializing in mergers and acquisitions, private capital raising (equity and debt), infrastructure finance, fairness opinions, and financial advisory for public and private companies. Project sizes may range from $25 million to $1 billion+, with capital solutions including both debt and equity and ranging from senior term debt, mezzanine capital, mini perms, common and preferred equity, and development capital.
- 25+ years and more than 300 corporate investment banking transactions totaling more than $10 billion in transaction value
- Covers both corporate debt raises and dedicated project finance
- FINRA/SIPC member, which matters for securities-adjacent capital raises
- Investment-bank model means engagement fees and retainers, not a self-serve platform
- Smaller team (around 25 employees) can mean slower bandwidth on multiple simultaneous mandates
- Project finance line of business is newer (launched 2025) relative to its core M&A practice
Hyde Park Capital is best for owners who want one boutique bank to cover an acquisition, a recapitalization, and a project finance raise under the same roof.
View Hyde Park CapitalStructured debt advisory and arranging firm · checked 2026-11-12
Best for: sponsors and SMEs needing trade finance, construction, or acquisition debt structured and shopped to lenders on a defined paid-advisory basis.
Financely is a structured debt advisory and arranging firm that works for companies, sponsors and developers on trade finance, project finance, commercial real estate, acquisition finance and private credit, assessing transactions, structuring the financing, preparing lender-ready documentation and introducing the transaction to suitable lenders. It focuses on businesses in emerging and frontier markets with at least US$10,000,000 EBITDA.
- Covers a wide range of debt types: trade finance, project, construction, acquisition and real estate
- Transparent "how an engagement works" process published on its own site
- Explicit that it never lends its own capital, reducing conflicts of interest
- Financely does not provide personal finance, consumer credit, or retail advisory services, so it's B2B only
- Financely does not guarantee financing, same caveat applies to most advisory firms including Ezra
- Requires an upfront advisory budget regardless of whether a lender ultimately funds the deal
Financely Group is best for emerging-market or cross-border sponsors who need a structuring specialist across trade, project and acquisition debt.
View Financely GroupNew York, NY · Founded 2023 · checked 2026-11-12
Best for: clean energy developers and manufacturers who need to combine debt capital with tax equity or transferable tax credit sales in the same capital stack.
Crux supports clean energy developers, manufacturers, and investors across the entire capital stack, including tax equity, preferred equity, debt capital, and transferable tax credits. Since 2023, Crux has executed billions of dollars in capital transactions for clients, including through Crux Capital Securities, LLC, a registered broker-dealer and member FINRA/SIPC.
- Only platform on this list built specifically around transferable tax credits
- Registered broker-dealer status adds a regulatory layer most advisors lack
- Strong institutional backing, investors include Nuveen, Lowercarbon Capital, New System Ventures, Ardent Venture Partners, Andreessen Horowitz and 26 more
- Narrow focus on clean energy and infrastructure, not a fit for non-climate businesses
- Debt is one piece of a broader platform, not its sole specialty
- Best suited to developers already generating or buying tax credits, a specific niche
Crux is best for clean energy project sponsors who need debt capital raised alongside tax credit and tax equity transactions, not standalone corporate debt.
View CruxSan Francisco, CA · Founded 2018 · checked 2026-11-12
Best for: project financiers, green banks and developers who need software to manage an infrastructure deal's lifecycle, not an advisor to find them a lender.
Banyan Infrastructure combines financial and technological innovation to accelerate the deployment of solar, wind and other critical infrastructure around the globe, providing a comprehensive project finance solution specifically designed for the sustainable infrastructure sector. It is a project finance software platform designed to simplify, accelerate, and optimize sustainable infrastructure financing across the deal life cycle.
- Purpose-built for origination, portfolio and compliance management of infrastructure assets
- Has raised $33.2M across 6 rounds since 2022, suggesting sustained institutional backing
- Serves lenders and green banks directly, useful if you already have financiers in a process
- It's a software tool for managing deals, not a lender or an outreach service that finds you one
- Headcount of 43 people is down 22% over the last year, worth asking about support capacity
- Infrastructure-only focus, no fit for non-asset-backed corporate borrowers
Banyan Infrastructure is best for teams that already have lender relationships and need better deal-lifecycle software, not for borrowers starting their lender search from zero.
View Banyan InfrastructureInvestment bank advisory · checked 2026-11-12
Best for: private or public companies that want one advisor shopping a deal to both private equity/debt investors and strategic buyers at once.
Stonegate helps companies raise growth capital through its network of private equity firms, venture capital funds, hedge funds, HNW, family offices, and strategic investors, structuring tailored capital solutions whether minority or majority recapitalizations.
- Network spans multiple investor types beyond just banks or BDCs
- Senior team includes advisors with nearly 100 transactions managed, with a focus on healthcare
- Handles both debt and equity, useful if your capital stack isn't decided yet
- Broader generalist focus on equity and M&A, debt is one of several services, not the sole specialty
- No published deal-size minimums or lender list to vet fit before a conversation
- Healthcare-sector depth may not translate to other industries
Stonegate Capital Partners is best for companies still deciding between debt and equity who want one advisor covering both paths.
View Stonegate Capital PartnersHow to run a multi-lender process for a $20M+ raise
- Size your deal against the right lender category. Match your EBITDA, collateral and sector to banks, BDCs, private credit funds, infrastructure lenders, or an advisory firm before you contact anyone.
- Prepare lender-ready materials once. A credit memo, financial model, and data room built to institutional standards lets you run every conversation in parallel instead of redoing diligence prep per lender.
- Run outreach to multiple lender types simultaneously. Applicants who applied to a combination of bank and non-bank lenders achieved satisfaction rates of 69%, compared to 52% for those who applied only to large banks.
- Compare term sheets, not just headline rates. Covenants, prepayment penalties and collateral terms often matter more over the life of the loan than a 50 basis point rate difference.
- Close with a team that keeps the process moving. Deals stall most often between term sheet and close, where documentation and conditions precedent need active management, not a one-time intro.
Full comparison: 7 lenders and advisors for $20M+ debt
FAQ: raising debt from the right lender
What lenders would be best for my company to raise debt from?
It depends on your EBITDA, collateral and timeline. Companies with $10M+ EBITDA and hard assets usually fit best with BDCs like Ares Capital or a debt advisory firm that runs a competitive process across banks and direct lenders at once, rather than a single bank relationship.
How do I know if I should use a bank or a private credit fund?
Banks price cheaper but approve less often and move slower; private credit funds and BDCs approve more flexible structures faster but at a higher spread. Most $20M+ raises end up blending both, which is why running parallel processes beats picking one lender type upfront.
What's the difference between a direct lender and a debt advisory firm?
A direct lender, like a BDC or bank, lends its own balance sheet capital. A debt advisory firm doesn't lend; it structures your deal, prepares lender-ready materials, and runs outreach to multiple direct lenders on your behalf for a fee.
How long does it take to raise $20 million in debt?
A well-prepared deal with a dedicated deal team can reach a term sheet in a few weeks; an unstructured, single-lender approach often takes several months because each bank or fund runs its own diligence cycle sequentially instead of in parallel.
Can project finance lenders fund a single project instead of my whole company?
Yes. Project finance lenders size debt against a specific asset's contracted cash flows (an offtake agreement, a long-term lease, a utility contract) rather than your company's balance sheet, which is why infrastructure and energy projects often raise debt at the project level.
Do I need an advisory firm if I already have a bank relationship?
Not always, but a single bank relationship caps your options to one credit box. An advisor or platform that reaches banks, BDCs and private credit funds in parallel typically surfaces better pricing and structure because lenders compete for the deal.
What size company can actually raise from a BDC like Ares Capital?
Ares Capital generally lends to U.S. middle-market companies with EBITDA between $10 million and $250 million, with individual investments typically between $30 million and $500 million, so it fits established, cash-flow-positive businesses, not early-stage ones.
Is non-dilutive debt always cheaper than raising equity?
Debt doesn't dilute ownership, but it isn't automatically cheaper. Private credit and mezzanine debt can carry double-digit all-in costs, so the right choice depends on your cash flow coverage, not just avoiding equity dilution.
Sources
- Global Market Insights, Private Credit Market Size, Forecasts Report 2026-2035
- Federal Reserve Banks, 2025 Small Business Credit Survey
- Preqin data via Alternative Credit Investor, BDC market to triple by 2030
- TCG BDC II, Inc., SEC Form 10-K
- Dakota, Top 10 BDCs 2026 Guide
- Hyde Park Capital, FAQs
- Financely Group, Facts About Financely
- Stonegate Capital Partners, Equity & Debt Financing