Kreos Capital
Europe's longest-established growth and venture debt provider, now part of BlackRock, lending from around £4m upwards to venture-backed technology and healthcare companies across twenty-two countries.
What they do
Kreos has lent to European and Israeli growth companies since 1998, deploying more than €5.7bn across over 750 transactions, and became part of BlackRock's European private debt business in 2023. Its seventh fund runs to €1.25bn, with tickets from around €2m to €100m. Facilities are sized on revenue growth, recurring revenue and the size of the equity round rather than on earnings, with security that can include intellectual property, and warrants alongside the coupon. The London team numbers around forty-five.
Where they fit in a lower-mid-market raise
Depth and longevity are the argument. A company likely to need several rounds of debt over its life is dealing with a lender that has been through multiple cycles and has institutional capital behind it, and the wide ticket range means the relationship does not have to be replaced as the business grows. Technology and healthcare are both core, which is rarer than it sounds.
Where they are not the fit
Borrowers are expected to be venture or growth-equity backed, and the practical floor is around €2m. Anything outside technology and healthcare is off-piste. Diligence takes longer than the revenue-based lenders that decide off data feeds, so a company needing money in a fortnight should look elsewhere. Terms include warrants and fees on top of interest.
Published terms
- Pricing
- Not published
- Speed to terms
- Not published
- Sponsored or sponsorless
- VC/growth-equity-backed companies - lends alongside or after equity rounds
- Where they lend
- Europe + Israel (22 countries); London-based ~45-person team; UK a core market
- How they decide
- In-house Kreos investment team within BlackRock European Private Debt; relationship + VC-ecosystem origination; institutional credit governance; delegated authority not published
- Covenants
- Covenant-lite
- Search funds and ETA
- No published route for search-fund or first-time acquirer borrowers
As published by the lender and last reviewed June 2026. Terms quoted on a deal are set by the credit, not by a published band.
What rules a deal out
Stated limits, taken from Kreos Capital’s own published criteria. A limit is where a lender starts from, not where it always ends: several of these move on a strong enough credit.
- Outside technology & healthcare off-piste
- VC/growth-equity-backed profile expected
- €2m (~£1.7m) practical floor
- Sized on growth/ARR not EBITDA
- No appetite in adult, crypto, gambling, non-vc-backed early-stage or weapons
How they sit against the category
- Its published ceiling of £85m is among the 6 highest of the 46 private-credit funds here.
- Like 31 of the 46, it publishes no indicative price — a margin comes from a conversation, not a page.
Counted across the 46 private-credit & direct-lending funds in this directory, on what each one publishes. What a lender discloses and what it will do are different things.
Questions this page answers
How large a facility does Kreos Capital write?
Published facilities run £4m to £85m. A band is what a lender states it will do, not what it will do on a given credit.
Does Kreos Capital lend to search funds or ETA buyers?
Not on the published evidence. Kreos Capital publishes no route for search-fund or first-time acquirer borrowers. A searcher's route to a lender usually runs through the quality of the target and the equity behind it.
Does Kreos Capital lend to companies without a private-equity sponsor?
Not on the published evidence. Kreos Capital lends alongside institutional equity or sponsor backing rather than to unbacked borrowers.
Where does Kreos Capital lend?
Europe + Israel (22 countries); London-based ~45-person team; UK a core market.
What covenants does Kreos Capital set?
Covenant-lite. A covenant package is negotiated on the facility; the published style is where the negotiation starts.
On the record
2024: Kreos Capital VII final close €1.25bn (vs €1.2bn target; 40% larger than predecessor) — largest EMEA venture & growth-debt fund; joined BlackRock EMEA debt platform (Funds Europe / Private Equity Wire.
August 2023: BlackRock completed ~$400m acquisition of Kreos; all employees to BlackRock Private Markets, same growth-debt strategy (ir.blackrock.com / Calcalist.
Sources: kreoscapital.com · funds-europe.com · privateequitywire.co.uk
This profile is a curated reference note drawn from public sources, not financial advice or a recommendation. Appetite and terms change; a lender's fit for a given credit is established by approaching it, not inferred from a page.