TEL AVIV, Israel & NEW YORK & TOKYO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Liquidity Group (or “Liquidity”) today announced that it has entered into agreements with respect to approximately $775 million in capital commitments year-to-date 2022, led by funds and entities managed by affiliates of Apollo (NYSE: APO). The commitments, which are subject to satisfaction of certain conditions, will include $425 million from Apollo Funds for a credit facility to help Liquidity scale its lending activity for late-stage technology companies, $300 million from MUFG Bank (NYSE: MUFG), for a debt fund JV named Mars Growth Capital, investing in future unicorn companies, as well as a $50 million SAFE note investment by Apollo Funds, MUFG Innovation Partners and Spark Capital.
Liquidity Group, founded in 2018, is a credit-oriented fintech platform that invests, syndicates and automates growth and middle market lending for businesses around the world, providing capital mainly to later-stage technology companies. MUFG’s core banking subsidiary, MUFG Bank, is a key strategic capital partner to Liquidity, having invested equity venture capital in the business as well as formed multiple joint lending ventures.
For Apollo, the new commitments are consistent with its strategy to serve as a capital partner, enabler, and strategic investor in specialty lending companies with strong credit underwriting and innovative features such as Liquidity’s data-driven platform for credit formation, diligence, and monitoring. Apollo Partner, Joshua Black, will also join Liquidity’s Board of Directors.
“We’re pleased to form this new capital partnership with Liquidity Group to support their growth while helping our investors access attractive yield with strong credit fundamentals,” said Bret Leas, Apollo Partner and Global Head of Structured Corporate Credit & ABS. “Ron and his team at Liquidity are connecting technology borrowers and credit investors via an innovative, data-driven ecosystem, and we look forward to working with them as they scale the business.”
“The new capital partnership with Apollo and the continued and successful partnership with MUFG is validation of our founding vision to use artificial intelligence to transform the capital markets,” said Ron Daniel, Co-Founder and CEO of Liquidity Group. “Our patented technology offers unparalleled insight into private growth companies and enables robust predictions about their future. Working with Apollo will allow us to continue our own expansion, fund more companies, and provide reliable returns on investment to our partners. Josh, Jasen and the rest of the Apollo team have proved to be the right partners for this ride with their passion to adopt best of breed solutions.”
“MUFG is welcoming Apollo’s investment to Liquidity Capital. We are aiming to provide various financial services to start-up companies and to the ecosystem as a whole, together with the investing partners,” says Fumitaka Nakahama, Group Head, Global Corporate & Investment Banking Business Group, MUFG.
Liquidity has integrated machine learning and real-time data and performance monitoring across its platform to enhance, automate and expedite processes across the full credit investment lifecycle. Since inception, Liquidity has committed more than $1 billion in capital to fast-growing companies, including Etoro, Zetwerk & Homer.
Amit, Pollak, Matalon & Co. served as legal counsel to Liquidity. Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP and Shibolet Law Firm served as legal counsel to Apollo.
About Liquidity
Founded in 2018, the Liquidity Group is a global capital market credit automation company and fund manager providing growth capital through funds focused on the US, Asia, Europe and the Middle East. Liquidity Group’s subsidiary fund, Singapore-based Mars Growth Capital, and its partner MUFG [NYSE:MUFG] jointly handle the company’s South East Asia activity. It combines real-time data with proprietary machine learning technology to offer tailored financing that matches a company’s future growth. Liquidity Group operates three main divisions: Analysis, Capital, and Market Syndication, which together enable global lenders a complete cycle of scaled and quick credit deployment. www.liquiditygroup.com
About Apollo
Apollo is a global, high-growth alternative asset manager. In our asset management business, we seek to provide our clients excess return at every point along the risk-reward spectrum from investment grade to private equity with a focus on three business strategies: yield, hybrid, and equity. For more than three decades, our investing expertise across our fully integrated platform has served the financial return needs of our clients and provided businesses with innovative capital solutions for growth. Through Athene, our retirement services business, we specialize in helping clients achieve financial security by providing a suite of retirement savings products and acting as a solutions provider to institutions. Our patient, creative, and knowledgeable approach to investing aligns our clients, businesses we invest in, our employees, and the communities we impact, to expand opportunity and achieve positive outcomes. As of December 31, 2021, Apollo had approximately $498 billion of assets under management. To learn more, please visit www.apollo.com.
About MUFG
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Inc. (MUFG) is one of the world’s leading financial groups. Headquartered in Tokyo and with over 360 years of history, MUFG has a global network with approximately 2,500 locations in more than 50 countries. The Group has about 170,000 employees and offers services including commercial banking, trust banking, securities, credit cards, consumer finance, asset management, and leasing. The Group aims to “be the world’s most trusted financial group” through close collaboration among our operating companies and flexibly respond to all of the financial needs of our customers, serving society, and fostering shared and sustainable growth for a better world. MUFG’s shares trade on the Tokyo, Nagoya, and New York stock exchanges. For more information, visit https://www.mufg.jp/English.