RWAYZ Runway Growth Finance Corporation

As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 7, 2025

Securities Act File No. 333-

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UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

FORM N-2 REGISTRATION STATEMENT

UNDER

THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933 ☒

Pre-Effective Amendment No. ☐

Post-Effective Amendment No. ☐

RUNWAY GROWTH FINANCE CORP.

(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in Charter)

205 N. Michigan Ave., Suite 4200

Chicago, Illinois 60601

(Address of Principal Executive Offices)

(312) 698--6902

(Registrant’s Telephone Number, including Area Code)

R. David Spreng

c/o Runway Growth Finance Corp. 205 N. Michigan Ave., Suite 4200

Chicago, Illinois 60601

(Name and Address of Agent for Service)

WITH COPIES TO:

Stephani M. Hildebrandt, Esq.

Eversheds Sutherland (US) LLP

700 Sixth Street, NW

Washington, DC 20001

Tel: (202) 383-0100

Fax: (202) 637-3593

Securities Act File No. 333-

Approximate date of commencement of proposed public offering: As soon as practicable after the effective date of this Registration Statement.

☐Check box if the only securities being registered on this Form are being offered pursuant to dividend or interest reinvestment plans.

☒Check box if any securities being registered on this Form will be offered on a delayed or continuous basis in reliance on Rule 415 under the Securities Act of 1933 (“Securities Act”), other than securities offered in connection with a dividend reinvestment plan.

☒Check box if this Form is a registration statement pursuant to General Instruction A.2 or a post-effective amendment thereto.

☐Check box if this Form is a registration statement pursuant to General Instruction B or a post-effective amendment thereto that will become effective upon filing with the Commission pursuant to Rule 462(e) under the Securities Act.

☐Check box if this Form is a post-effective amendment to a registration statement filed pursuant to General Instruction B to register additional securities or additional classes of securities pursuant to Rule 413(b) under the Securities Act.

It is proposed that this filing will become effective (check appropriate box):

☐when declared effective pursuant to Section 8(c) of the Securities Act.

If appropriate, check the following box:

☐This [post-effective] amendment designates a new effective date for a previously filed [post-effective amendment] [registration statement].

☐This Form is filed to register additional securities for an offering pursuant to Rule 462(b) under the Securities Act, and the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering is:

☐This Form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(c) under the Securities Act, and the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering is:

☐This Form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(d) under the Securities Act, and the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering is:.

Check each box that appropriately characterizes the Registrant:

☐Registered Closed-End Fund (closed-end company that is registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940 (“Investment Company Act”)).

☒Business Development Company (closed-end company that intends or has elected to be regulated as a business development company under the Investment Company Act).

☐Interval Fund (Registered Closed-End Fund or a Business Development Company that makes periodic repurchase offers under Rule 23c-3 under the Investment Company Act).

☒A.2 Qualified (qualified to register securities pursuant to General Instruction A.2 of this Form).

☐Well-Known Seasoned Issuer (as defined by Rule 405 under the Securities Act).

☒Emerging Growth Company (as defined by Rule 12b-2 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Exchange Act”).

☐If an Emerging Growth Company, indicate by check mark if the Registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 7(a)(2)(B) of Securities Act.

☐New Registrant (registered or regulated under the Investment Company Act for less than 12 calendar months preceding this filing).

The Registrant hereby amends this Registration Statement on such date or dates as may be necessary to delay its effective date until the Registrant shall file a further amendment which specifically states that this Registration Statement shall thereafter become effective in accordance with Section 8(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 or until the Registration Statement shall become effective on such date as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, acting pursuant to said Section 8(a), may determine.

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SUBJECT TO COMPLETION, DATED FEBRUARY 7, 2025

PROSPECTUS

$250,000,000

RUNWAY GROWTH FINANCE CORP.

Common Stock

Preferred Stock

Warrants

Subscription Rights

Debt Securities

We are a specialty finance company focused on providing senior secured loans to high-growth potential companies in technology, healthcare, business services, financial services, and select consumer services and products in other high-growth industries.

We invest in senior secured term loans and other senior debt obligations and may on occasion invest in second lien loans. We have and continue to expect to acquire warrants and other equity securities from portfolio companies in connection with our investments in loans to these companies. Our investment objective is to maximize our total return to our stockholders primarily through current income on our loan portfolio, and secondarily through capital appreciation on our warrants and other equity positions, by providing our portfolio companies with financing solutions that are more flexible than traditional credit and less dilutive than equity.

We are a closed-end management investment company that has elected to be regulated as a business development company (“BDC”) under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended. We have elected to be treated, and intend to qualify annually, as a regulated investment company (“RIC”) under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”) for U.S. federal income tax purposes. As a BDC and a RIC, we are required to comply with certain regulatory requirements.

We are externally managed by our investment adviser, Runway Growth Capital, LLC (“Runway Growth Capital”). Runway Growth Capital was formed in 2015 to pursue an investment strategy focused on providing growth financing for dynamic, late and growth stage companies.

We are an “emerging growth company,” as defined in Section 2(a) of the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), and are subject to reduced public company reporting requirements and are taking advantage of the extended transition period provided in Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act.

We may offer, from time to time, in one or more offerings or series, up to $250,000,000 of our common stock, preferred stock, debt securities, subscription rights to purchase shares of our common stock, and/or warrants representing rights to purchase shares of our common stock, preferred stock or debt securities (collectively, the “securities”). The preferred stock, debt securities, subscription rights and warrants offered hereby may be convertible or exchangeable into shares of our common stock. The securities may be offered at prices and on terms to be described in one or more supplements to this prospectus. You should read this prospectus and the applicable prospectus supplement carefully before you invest in our securities.

In the event we offer common stock, the offering price per share of our common stock less any underwriting discounts or commissions will generally not be less than the net asset value per share of our common stock at the time we make the offering. However, we may issue shares of our common stock pursuant to this prospectus at a price per share that is less than our net asset value per share (i) in connection with a rights offering to our existing shareholders, (ii) with the prior approval of the majority of our outstanding voting securities or (iii) under such other circumstances as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) may permit.

The securities may be offered directly to one or more purchasers, including existing stockholders in a rights offering, or through agents designated from time to time by us, or to or through underwriters or dealers. Each prospectus supplement relating to an offering will identify any agents or underwriters involved in the sale of the securities, and will disclose any applicable purchase price, fee, discount or commissions arrangement between us and our agents or underwriters or among our underwriters or the basis upon which such amount may be calculated. See “Plan of Distribution.” We may not sell any of the securities pursuant to this Registration Statement through agents, underwriters or dealers without delivery of this prospectus and a prospectus supplement describing the method and terms of the offering of such securities.

Our common stock is traded on the Nasdaq Global Select Market (“Nasdaq”) under the symbol “RWAY.” On February 5, 2025, the last reported sales price of our common stock on Nasdaq was $11.51 per share. The net asset value per share of our common stock at September 30, 2024 (the last date prior to the date of this prospectus for which we reported net asset value) was $13.39.

Investing in our securities involves a high degree of risk, including credit risk, the risk of the use of leverage and the risk of dilution, and is highly speculative. In addition, shares of closed-end investment companies, including BDCs, frequently trade at a discount to their net asset values. If our shares of our common stock trade at a discount to our net asset value, it will likely increase the risk of loss for purchasers in an offering made pursuant to this prospectus or any related prospectus supplement. Before investing in our securities, you should read the discussion of the material risks of investing in our securities, including the risk of leverage and dilution, in “Risk Factors” beginning on page 18 of this prospectus or otherwise incorporated by reference herein and included in, or incorporated by reference into, the applicable prospectus supplement and in any free writing prospectuses we have authorized for use in connection with a specific offering, and under similar headings in the other documents that are incorporated by reference into this prospectus.

This prospectus describes some of the general terms that may apply to an offering of our securities. We will provide the specific terms of these offerings and securities in one or more supplements to this prospectus. We may also authorize one or more free writing prospectuses to be provided to you in connection with these offerings. The accompanying prospectus supplement and any related free writing prospectus may also add, update, or change information contained in this prospectus. You should carefully read this prospectus, the accompanying prospectus supplement, any related free writing prospectus and the documents incorporated by reference herein, before investing in our securities and keep them for future reference. We also file periodic and current reports, proxy statements and other information about us with the SEC. This information is available free of charge by contacting us at 205 N. Michigan Ave., Suite 4200, Chicago, IL 60601, calling us at (312) 698-6902 or visiting our corporate website located at https://runwaygrowth.com/document-center/. The SEC also maintains a website at http://www.sec.gov that contains this information. Information on our website or the SEC’s website is not incorporated into or a part of this prospectus.

Neither the SEC nor any state securities commission has approved or disapproved of these securities or determined if this prospectus is truthful or complete. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.

This prospectus may not be used to consummate sales of securities unless accompanied by a prospectus supplement.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

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ABOUT THIS PROSPECTUS

This prospectus is part of a registration statement that we have filed with the SEC, using the “shelf” registration process. Under this shelf Registration Statement, we may offer, from time to time, in one or more offerings, up to $250,000,000 of our common stock, preferred stock, debt securities, subscription rights to purchase shares of our common stock, and/or warrants representing rights to purchase shares of our common stock, preferred stock or debt securities, on terms to be determined at the time of the offering. See “Plan of Distribution” for more information.

This prospectus provides you with a general description of the securities that we may offer. Each time we use this prospectus to offer securities, we will provide a prospectus supplement that will contain specific information about the terms of that offering. We may also authorize one or more free writing prospectuses to be provided to you that may contain material information relating to these offerings. In a prospectus supplement or free writing prospectus, we may also add, update, or change any of the information contained in this prospectus or in the documents we have incorporated by reference into this prospectus. This prospectus, together with the applicable prospectus supplement, any related free writing prospectus, and the documents incorporated by reference into this prospectus and the applicable prospectus supplement, will include all material information relating to the applicable offering. To the extent that any statement that we make in a prospectus supplement is inconsistent with statements made in this prospectus or in documents incorporated by reference in this prospectus, the statements made or incorporated by reference in this prospectus will be deemed modified or superseded by those made in the prospectus supplement. Before buying any of the securities being offered, please carefully read this prospectus, any accompanying prospectus supplement, any free writing prospectus and the documents incorporated by reference in this prospectus and any accompanying prospectus supplement.

This prospectus may contain estimates and information concerning our industry, including market size and growth rates of the markets in which we participate, that are based on industry publications and other third-party reports. This information involves many assumptions and limitations, and you are cautioned not to give undue weight to these estimates. We have not independently verified the accuracy or completeness of the data contained in these industry publications and reports. However, we acknowledge our responsibility for all disclosures in this prospectus. The industry in which we operate is subject to a high degree of uncertainty and risk due to a variety of factors, including those described or referenced in the section titled “Risk Factors,” that could cause results to differ materially from those expressed in these publications and reports.

This prospectus includes summaries of certain provisions contained in some of the documents described in this prospectus, but reference is made to the actual documents for complete information. All of the summaries are qualified in their entirety by the actual documents. Copies of some of the documents referred to herein have been filed or incorporated by reference, or will be filed or incorporated by reference, as exhibits to this Registration Statement of which this prospectus is a part, and you may obtain copies of those documents as described in the section titled “Available Information.”

You should rely only on the information included or incorporated by reference in this prospectus, any prospectus supplement or in any free writing prospectus prepared by us or on our behalf or to which we have referred you. We have not authorized any dealer, salesperson or other person to provide you with different information or to make representations as to matters not stated in this prospectus, in any accompanying prospectus supplement or in any free writing prospectus prepared by us or on our behalf or to which we have referred you. We take no responsibility for, and can provide no assurance as to the reliability of, any other information that others may give you. If anyone provides you with different or inconsistent information, you should not rely on it. This prospectus, any accompanying prospectus supplement and any free writing prospectus prepared by us or on our behalf or to which we have referred you do not constitute an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, any securities by any person in any jurisdiction where it is unlawful for that person to make such an offer or solicitation or to any person in any jurisdiction to whom it is unlawful to make such an offer or solicitation. You should not assume that the information included or incorporated by reference in this prospectus, in any accompanying prospectus supplement or in any such free writing prospectus is accurate as of any date other than their respective dates. Our financial condition, results of operations and prospects may have changed since any such date. To the extent required by law, we will amend or supplement the information contained or incorporated by reference in this prospectus and any accompanying prospectus supplement to reflect any material changes to such information subsequent to the date of the prospectus and any accompanying prospectus supplement and prior to the completion of any offering pursuant to the prospectus and any accompanying prospectus supplement.

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PROSPECTUS SUMMARY

This summary highlights some of the information included elsewhere in this prospectus or incorporated by reference. It is not complete and may not contain all of the information that you may want to consider before investing in our securities. You should carefully read the entire prospectus, the applicable prospectus supplement, and any related free writing prospectus, including the risks of investing in our securities discussed in the section titled “Risk Factors” in the applicable prospectus supplement and any related free writing prospectus, and under similar headings in the other documents that are incorporated by reference into this prospectus and the applicable prospectus supplement. Before making your investment decision, you should also carefully read the information incorporated by reference into this prospectus, including our financial statements and related notes, and the exhibits to the Registration Statement of which this prospectus is a part. Throughout this prospectus we refer to Runway Growth Finance Corp. as “we,” “us,” “our” or the “Company,” and to “Runway Growth Capital LLC,” our investment adviser, as “Runway Growth Capital” or “Adviser.”

Runway Growth Finance Corp.

We are a specialty finance company focused on providing senior secured loans to high-growth potential companies in technology, healthcare, business services, financial services, and select consumer services and products in other high-growth industries. Our goal is to create significant value for our stockholders and the entrepreneurs we support by providing high-growth potential companies with hybrid debt and equity financing that is more flexible than traditional credit and less dilutive than equity. We are managed by Runway Growth Capital, an experienced provider of growth financing for dynamic, late and growth stage companies. Our investment objective is to maximize our total return to our stockholders primarily through current income on our loan portfolio and secondarily through capital gains on our warrants and other equity positions. As of September 30, 2024, we had an investment portfolio of $1.1 billion at fair value, and a net asset value of $13.39 per share.

We are structured as an externally managed, non-diversified closed-end investment company that has elected to be regulated as a business development company (“BDC”) under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “1940 Act”). We have also elected to be treated as a regulated investment company (“RIC”) under Subchapter M of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”). While we currently qualify and intend to qualify annually to be treated as a RIC, no assurance can be provided that we will be able to maintain our tax treatment as RIC. See “Certain U.S. Federal Income Tax Considerations.”

Our Adviser

We are externally managed by Runway Growth Capital. Runway Growth Capital was formed in 2015 to pursue an investment strategy focused on providing growth financing for dynamic, late and growth stage companies. David Spreng, our Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President, formed our Adviser following a more than 25-year career in venture capital investing and lending. Runway Growth Capital has 29 employees across three offices in the United States, including five investment professionals focused on origination activities and ten focused on underwriting and managing our investment portfolio. Our Adviser consistently demonstrates a credit first culture while maintaining, what we believe, is an admirable reputation among borrowers for industry knowledge, creativity, and understanding of the challenges often faced by late and growth stage companies.

In January 2025, Runway Growth Capital was acquired by certain private investment funds advised by BC Partners Credit and Mount Logan Capital Inc. pursuant to its minority investment. BC Partners Credit was launched in February 2017, with a focus on identifying attractive credit opportunities in any market environment, often in complex market segments. The platform leverages the broader firm’s deep industry and operating resources to provide flexible financing solutions to middle-market companies across Business Services, Industrials, Healthcare and other select sectors. Mount Logan Capital Inc. is an alternative asset management and insurance solutions company that is focused on public and private debt securities in the North American market and the reinsurance of annuity products, primarily through its wholly owned subsidiaries Mount Logan Management LLC and Ability Insurance Company, respectively. Mount Logan Capital Inc. also actively sources, evaluates, underwrites, manages, monitors and primarily invests in loans, debt securities, and other credit-oriented instruments that present attractive risk-adjusted returns and present low risk of principal impairment through the credit cycle.

Runway Growth Capital’s senior executive team has on average more than 34 years of experience, and its investment professionals, including origination and underwriting, have on average 23 years of experience. Our Adviser has built its team with investment professionals who have deep industry experience, a track record of successful originations and outcomes across the venture debt and venture and private equity spectrums, along with rich experience in working with and understanding high-growth companies from both an investor’s and an operator’s perspective.

Runway Growth Capital is registered as an investment adviser with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, as amended (together with the rules and regulations promulgated thereunder, the “Advisers Act”). Subject to the overall supervision of our board of directors (the “Board”), our Adviser manages our day-to-day operations and provides us with investment advisory services pursuant to the third amended and restated investment advisory agreement, dated January 30, 2025 (the “Advisory Agreement”). Pursuant to the Advisory Agreement, we pay Runway Growth Capital a fee for its investment advisory and management services consisting of two components: a base management fee and an incentive fee. The cost of the base management fee and incentive fee are each borne by our stockholders. See “Management and Other Agreements.”

Runway-Cadma I LLC Joint Venture

Effective March 6, 2024, the Company entered into a joint venture agreement with Cadma Capital Partners LLC (“Cadma”) to create and co-manage Runway-Cadma I LLC (the “JV”). The JV may invest in secured loans to growth-stage companies that have been originated by the Company. The Company and Cadma have equal ownership of the JV and each committed to provide $35.0 million of the total $70.0 million in equity capital. All portfolio decisions and generally all other actions in respect of the JV must be approved by the board of managers of the JV, consisting of an equal number of representatives of the Company and Cadma. Capital contributions are called from the Company and Cadma on a pro-rata basis based on their total capital commitments.

Our Administrator

We have entered into an amended and restated administration agreement (the “Administration Agreement”) with Runway Administrator Services LLC (the “Administrator”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Runway Growth Capital, pursuant to which our Administrator is responsible for furnishing us with office facilities and equipment and provides us with clerical, bookkeeping, recordkeeping and other administrative services at such facilities. Pursuant to the Administration Agreement, we pay our Administrator an amount equal to our allocable portion (subject to the review of our Board) of our Administrator’s overhead resulting from its obligations under the Administration Agreement, including rent and the allocable portion of the cost of our Chief Compliance Officer and Chief Financial Officer and their respective staffs. For more information, see “Management and Other Agreements.”

Oaktree Strategic Relationship

In December 2016, we and Runway Growth Capital entered into a strategic relationship with Oaktree Capital Management, L.P. (“Oaktree”). Oaktree is a leading global investment management firm focused on less efficient markets and alternative investments. Oaktree, together with its affiliates, emphasizes an opportunistic, value-oriented and risk-controlled approach to investments in distressed debt, corporate debt (including high-yield debt and senior loans), control investing, real estate, convertible securities and listed equities. In 2019, Brookfield Corporation (f/k/a Brookfield Asset Management Inc.) (“Brookfield”) acquired a majority economic interest in the business of Oaktree and its affiliates. Oaktree and its affiliates operate as an independent business with Brookfield, with their own product offerings and investment, marketing and support teams. Brookfield is a leading global alternative asset manager with over a 100 year history and over $1 trillion of assets under management (inclusive of Oaktree and its affiliates) across a broad portfolio of real estate, infrastructure, renewable power, credit and private equity assets.

OCM Growth Holdings (“OCM Growth”), an affiliate of Oaktree, purchased an aggregate of 14,571,334 shares of the Company’s common stock for an aggregate purchase price of $219.3 million in the Company’s Initial Private Offering and Second Private Offering. As of December 31, 2024, OCM Growth owned 10,779,668 shares, or approximately 29% of the Company’s outstanding shares. Pursuant to an irrevocable proxy, certain shares of our common stock held by OCM Growth must be voted in the same proportion that the Company’s other stockholders vote their shares. Of the 10,779,668 shares of the Company’s common stock owned by OCM Growth, 10,294,926 shares, or approximately 28% of the Company’s outstanding shares, are subject to this proxy voting arrangement.

In connection with OCM Growth’s commitment, the Company entered into a stockholder agreement, dated December 15, 2016, with OCM Growth, pursuant to which OCM Growth has a right to nominate a member of the Board of Directors for election for so long as OCM Growth holds shares of the Company’s common stock in an amount equal to, in the aggregate, at least one-third (33%) of OCM Growth’s initial $125.0 million capital commitment. Catherine Frey, serves on the Board of Directors as OCM Growth’s director nominee as an independent director. Further, to the extent OCM Growth’s share ownership falls below one-third of its initial $125 million capital commitment under any circumstances, OCM Growth will no longer have the right to appoint a director nominee and will use reasonable efforts to cause such nominee to resign immediately (subject to his or her existing fiduciary duties).

Our Portfolio

From the commencement of operations in December 2016 through September 30, 2024, we made total commitments of $2.8 billion to fund investments in 82 portfolio companies, invested $2.2 billion in debt and equity investments, excluding U.S. Treasury Bills, and realized 47 investments. Of the $2.8 billion total commitments since inception, 31% are related to upsizes from existing borrowers. As of September 30, 2024, our debt investment portfolio consisted of 49 debt investments in 32 portfolio companies with an aggregate fair value of $1.0 billion, while our equity portfolio consisted of 66 warrant positions in 46 portfolio companies, eleven preferred stock positions in four portfolio companies, six common stock positions in six portfolio companies, and three equity investments in three companies with an aggregate fair value of $62.2 million.

As of September 30, 2024, 100%, or $1.0 billion, of our debt investment portfolio at fair value consisted of senior term loans and 98.6% of our debt investments were secured by a first lien on all or a portion of the tangible and intangible assets of the applicable portfolio company. The debt investments in our portfolio are generally not rated by any rating agency. If the individual debt investments in our portfolio were rated, they would generally be rated below “investment grade.” Securities rated below investment grade are often referred to as “high yield” securities and “junk bonds,” and are considered “high risk” and speculative in nature compared to debt instruments that are rated investment grade.

Certain of the loans we make to portfolio companies have financial maintenance covenants, which are intended to protect lenders from adverse changes in a portfolio company’s financial performance. Venture lenders, in general, focus on a limited set of key financial performance metrics, including minimum liquidity, performance to plan, and investor abandonment, in lieu of a full set of financial performance covenants that do not meaningfully assess the risk of companies at the stage of development of companies in which venture lenders typically invest. As such, many of our loans could be considered covenant-lite by traditional lending standards. We have made and may in the future make or obtain significant exposure to “covenant-lite” loans, which generally are loans that do not require a borrower to comply with financial maintenance covenants. Generally, covenant-lite loans permit borrowers more opportunity to negatively impact lenders because their covenants are incurrence-based, which means they are only tested and can only be breached following certain actions of the borrower, rather than by a deterioration in the borrower’s financial condition. Accordingly, because we make and have exposure to covenant-lite loans, we may have less protection from borrower actions and may have a greater risk of loss on such investments as compared to investments in or exposure to loans with financial maintenance covenants.

As of September 30, 2024, we had a total of $260.4 million in unfunded commitments which was comprised of $231.0 million to provide debt financing to our portfolio companies and $29.4 million in unfunded commitments to provide equity financing to the JV. As of September 30, 2024, we had approximately $67.3 million of available unfunded commitments to portfolio companies that are eligible to be drawn based on achieved milestones and $29.4 million in unfunded capital commitments to the JV. We believe that our available cash balances, availability under our Credit Agreement with KeyBank National Association (as amended, the “Credit Agreement”) provides sufficient funds to cover our unfunded commitments as of September 30, 2024.

For the three and nine months ended September 30, 2024, our debt investment portfolio had a dollar-weighted annualized yield of 15.9% and 15.5%, respectively. For the three and nine months ended September 30, 2023, our debt investment portfolio had a dollar-weighted annualized yield of 18.3% and 16.0%, respectively. We calculate the yield on dollar-weighted debt investments for any period measured as (1) total related investment income during the period divided by (2) the daily average of the fair value of debt investments outstanding during the period, including any debt investments on non-accrual status. As of September 30, 2024, our debt investments had a dollar-weighted average term of 58 months at origination and a dollar-weighted average remaining term of 33 months, or approximately 2.8 years. As of September 30, 2024, substantially all of our debt investments had a committed principal amount of between $6.0 million and $85.0 million and pay cash interest at annual interest rates of between 8.0% and 14.8%.

The following table shows our dollar-weighted annualized yield by investment type for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2024 and September 30, 2023:

Investment Strategy and Approach

Our investment objective is to maximize total return to our stockholders primarily through current income on our loan portfolio and secondarily through capital appreciation on our warrants and other equity positions. We typically invest in senior secured term loans and other senior debt obligations and may on occasion invest in second lien loans. We generally receive warrants and/or other equity securities from portfolio companies in connection with our investments in loans to these companies.

We focus on lending to late and growth stage companies in technology, healthcare , business services, financial services, and select consumer services and products in other high-growth industries.

We are typically the sole lender to our portfolio companies and do not actively syndicate the loans we originate to other lenders nor do we participate in syndications built by other lenders.

We originate our investments through two strategies: Sponsored Growth Lending and Non-Sponsored Growth Lending. In addition to our core strategy of providing Sponsored Growth Lending and Non-Sponsored Growth Lending, we may also opportunistically participate in the secondary markets for investments that are consistent with our broader investment strategy.

We seek to construct a balanced portfolio with diversification among sponsored and non-sponsored transactions, diversification among sponsors within the Sponsored Growth Lending strategy, diversification among industry, geography, and stage of development, all contributing to a favorable risk-adjusted return for the portfolio viewed as a whole. Borrowers tend to use the proceeds of our financing to invest in sales and marketing, expand capacity of the overall business or refinance existing debt.

Sponsored Growth Lending. Our Sponsored Growth Lending strategy generally includes loans to late and growth stage companies that are already backed by established venture capital firms. Our Sponsored Growth Lending strategy typically includes the receipt of warrants and/or other equity from these venture- backed companies.

We believe that our Sponsored Growth Lending strategy is particularly attractive because the loans we make typically have higher investment yields relative to lending to larger, more mature companies and usually include additional equity upside potential. We believe our Sponsored Growth Lending strategy:

Non-Sponsored Growth Lending. Our Non-Sponsored Growth Lending strategy generally includes loans to late and growth stage, private companies that are funded directly by entrepreneurs and founders, or companies that no longer require institutional equity investment (which may selectively include publicly traded companies). We refer to these target borrowers as “non-sponsored growth companies”.

Generally, financing available to these non-sponsored companies is predicated on the underlying value of the business’s assets, in an orderly liquidation scenario, and/or the entrepreneur’s own personal financial resources. These options frequently provide insufficient capital to fund growth plans and do not consider the underlying enterprise value of the business which may be substantial relative to the value of tangible assets deployed in the business. We are frequently the only senior lender to non-sponsored growth companies and evaluate business fundamentals, the commitment of the entrepreneur and secondary sources of repayment in our underwriting approach.

As a BDC, we are generally limited in our ability to invest in any portfolio company in which Runway Growth Capital or any of its affiliates currently has an investment or to make any co-investments with our investment adviser or its affiliates without an exemptive order from the SEC, subject to certain exceptions. On August 10, 2020, as amended on August 30, 2022, we, Runway Growth Capital, and certain other funds and accounts sponsored or managed by Runway Growth Capital were granted an exemptive order (the “Order”) that permits us greater flexibility than the 1940 Act permits to negotiate the terms of co-investments if our Board determines that it would be advantageous for us to co-invest with other accounts sponsored or managed by Runway Growth Capital or its affiliates in a manner consistent with our investment objective, positions, policies, strategies and restrictions as well as regulatory requirements and other pertinent factors. We believe that the ability to co-invest with similar investment structures and accounts sponsored or managed by Runway Growth Capital or its affiliates provides additional investment opportunities and the ability to achieve greater diversification. Under the terms of the Order, a majority of our independent directors are required to make certain determinations in connection with a co-investment transaction, including that (1) the terms of the proposed transaction are reasonable and fair to us and our stockholders and do not involve overreaching of us or our stockholders on the part of any person concerned and (2) the transaction is consistent with the interests of our stockholders and is consistent with our investment objective, positions, policies, strategies and restrictions as well as regulatory requirements and other pertinent factors.

Market Opportunity

We believe that the market environment is favorable for us to continue to pursue an investment strategy primarily focused on late stage and high-growth companies in technology, healthcare, business services, financial services, and select consumer services and products in other high-growth industries.

Focus on Innovative Companies Across a Variety of High-Growth Industries

Diversified high-growth potential industries: We target companies active in industries that support high- growth potential. Our Sponsored Growth Lending strategy is focused on the largest industry sectors where venture capital investors are active, primarily technology, healthcare, business services, financial services, and select consumer services and products in other high-growth industries. These sectors’ continued growth is supported mostly by ongoing innovation and performance improvements in specific products as well as the adoption of innovative technologies and services across virtually all industries in response to competitive pressures. Term debt has been a loan product used by many of the largest, most successful venture-backed companies.

Annual Venture Capital Activity — Deal Volume ($ in billions) and Deal Count

Source:   Pitchbook-NVCA Venture Monitor data, Q4 2024

Sponsored and Non-Sponsored Lending Represents an Attractive Source of Funding

Sponsored Growth Lending: An attractive market opportunity exists for a lender that invests in secured loans to late and growth stage companies that have not yet achieved profitability. Sponsored growth lending provides an attractive source of funds for venture-backed companies, their management teams, and their equity capital investors, as it:

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Non-Sponsored Growth Lending: An attractive market opportunity exists for a lender that invests in secured loans to late and growth stage companies that have reached profitability and need long-term growth capital but do not want the challenges that come with selling equity to venture capital or private equity firms. Non-Sponsored Growth Lending often provides all or some of the following benefits to our borrowers:

Large and Growing Market for Debt Financing to Venture Capital-Backed Companies

Healthy, stable venture environment: Approximately 15,250 companies received venture capital financing in 2024, according to the Pitchbook-NVCA Venture Monitor, a quarterly report published jointly by NVCA and Pitchbook on venture capital activity (“Pitchbook-NVCA”). Despite the broader economic challenges of 2024, we anticipate the market for borrowers will gradually improve over the coming quarters. The venture debt lending market, as defined in the Q4 2024 Pitchbook-NVCA Venture Monitor, is estimated at $53.3 billion or roughly 25.5% of total U.S. venture capital deal value in.

Annual Venture Capital Activity — Deal Volume ($ in billions) and Deal Count

Source: Pitchbook-NVCA Venture Monitor data, Q4 2024.

Growing pool of target companies: The time from initial venture capital investment to transaction exit of such investment, either by an initial public offering or merger and acquisition transaction, compressed slightly over the last couple of years but increased in 2024. According to the Pitchbook-NVCA Q4 2024 Venture Monitor, in 2024 the average number of years from initial venture investment to initial public offering of a U.S. venture capital-backed company was 6.3 years, and the average number of years from

initial venture investment to merger and acquisition transaction was 4.6 years. Exit transactions are a small proportion of companies financed by venture capital each year. As a result, the pool of target companies has grown larger with increased demand for private capital.

Highly Fragmented, Underserved Market with High Barriers to Entry

Unfulfilled demand and limited competition: Many viable venture-backed companies have been unable to obtain sufficient growth financing from traditional lenders, such as commercial banks or asset-based finance companies, because traditional lenders normally underwrite to tangible asset values and/or operating cash flows. If such firms do provide financing, their loans normally contain financial performance covenants stipulating tangible asset coverages or setting standards of operating performance that do not apply to our target companies. Because sponsored growth lending and non-sponsored growth lending require specialized underwriting and investment structures that fit the distinct characteristics of venture-backed companies and non-sponsored growth companies, more traditional lending approaches largely do not apply to these companies. We also believe that our relationship-based approach to investing helps us to assess and manage investment risks and determine appropriate pricing for our debt investments in portfolio companies.

Competitive Advantages

We believe we are well positioned to address the market for growth lending in a manner that will result in a competitive advantage over other established sponsored growth lenders. We believe our competitive strengths and key differentiators include:

Experienced, Proven Management Team Supported by a Deep Bench of Dedicated Investment Professionals.

The senior investment professionals of Runway Growth Capital have over 23 years of experience as venture capitalists and lenders who have developed a disciplined, repeatable approach to investing and managing investments in high-growth potential businesses. We believe that the experience, relationships and disciplined investment and risk management processes of Runway Growth Capital’s investment professionals are a competitive advantage for us.

Our President and Chief Executive Officer, David Spreng, who is also the founder, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer of Runway Growth Capital, has a unique combination of experience as a senior executive of a $20 billion asset management firm and over 30 years as a venture capital equity and debt investor. Mr. Spreng has been a leader in applying risk management processes to investing in equity and debt of small, fast-growing, private companies. Our Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer, Thomas Raterman, has more than 30 years of corporate finance, investment banking, private equity and financial executive management experience with rapidly growing entrepreneurial companies. Greg Greifeld, Managing Director, Deputy Chief Investment Officer and Head of Credit at Runway Growth Capital, has over 16 years of lending, venture capital, and investment management experience.

Runway Growth Capital has a broad team of professionals focused on every aspect of the investment lifecycle. Runway Growth Capital has origination, underwriting and portfolio monitoring teams that manage and oversee the investment process from identification of investment opportunity through negotiations of final term sheet and investment in a portfolio company followed by active portfolio monitoring. The team members serving investment management and oversight functions have significant operating experience and are not associated with origination functions to avoid any biased views of performance. This structure helps originators focus on identifying investment opportunities while other team members continue building relationships with our portfolio companies.

Provide Capital to Robust, High-Growth Venture-backed Companies. We believe we are favorably positioned within the venture lending ecosystem, targeting primarily growth focused technology and life sciences companies. We believe the technology and life sciences industries are among the most attractive industries within the venture lending space, primarily representing large, addressable markets with strong and consistent growth. According to the Q4 2024 Pitchbook NVCA Venture Monitor and Pitchbook-NVCA industry classifications, venture capital deal volume for technology totaled approximately $183.8 billion in 2024, representing a 12.0% CAGR from 2014 to 2024. Venture capital deal volume for life science totaled approximately $36.3 billion in 2024, representing a 9.6% CAGR from 2014 to 2024. We believe companies within these industries can often be characterized as having asset-light business models, attractive recurring revenue streams and strong growth trajectories.

We invest across industries to diversify risk and deliver more stable returns. The investment professionals at Runway Growth Capital have extensive experience investing in the industries on which we focus, including technology, healthcare, business services, financial services, and select consumer services and products in other high-growth industries. Our ability to invest across diverse industries is supported by our Sponsored Growth Lending strategy and relationships with leading venture firms, who are generally

industry experts in the areas in which they invest. We are able to leverage our relationships across equity providers, lenders, and advisers to source deals within the venture industry.

We believe we are able to access opportunities to finance companies that are both backed by venture capital sponsors as well as through direct lead generation and other relationships. While many growth lenders focus solely on sponsored lending, we believe we are differentiated in our approach by offering both sponsored growth lending and non-sponsored growth lending that are secured by the assets of many of the most dynamic, innovative and fastest growing companies in the United States.

Robust Disciplined Investment Process and Credit Analysis. Runway Growth Capital’s senior investment professionals draw upon their substantial experience, including operating, lending, venture capital and growth investing, to manage the underwriting investment process. Credit analysis, which is a fundamental part of our investment process, is driven by our credit-first philosophy and utilizes the core competencies the team has developed. A strong assessment of underwriting transactions often enables development of structure and pricing terms to win deals and produce strong returns for risks taken versus other lenders that take a more formulaic approach to the business.

We believe the focused and disciplined approach that Runway Growth Capital applies to our lending strategy enables us to deliver strong, consistent returns to our investors. As of September 30, 2024, our debt portfolio is 98.6% first lien senior secured. Of our $2.2 billion total funded commitments since inception, our cumulative gross loss rate, as a percentage of total commitments since inception, has been 0.88% and our net losses, as a percentage of total commitments since inception, has been 0.71%. On average, our portfolio companies have raised $132.7 million of equity proceeds relative to our average loan commitment size of $41.3 million. To achieve this, we do not follow an “index” strategy or a narrowly focused approach, and we do not lend only to those companies that are backed by a specific set of sponsors. We believe that careful selection among many opportunities will yield the optimal portfolio results within both sponsored and non-sponsored lending opportunities - although we do expect the sponsored segment to represent the majority of the portfolio for the foreseeable future.

We maintain rigorous underwriting, monitoring and risk management processes across our portfolio, which is underpinned by our two main lending principles, first the ability to price risk and second the ability to measure and track enterprise value. Our investment process differs from many of our competitors in that we have a dedicated credit team, separate from the origination team that manages the underwriting process. Unlike many of our competitors, we underwrite the company and the loan separately and spend significant time analyzing the enterprise value of the company and potential upside from the equity component of the transaction.

Proprietary Risk Analytics Return Optimization. Over the past 20 years, Runway Growth Capital’s senior investment professionals have iterated upon and built out an extensive due diligence process, which has resulted in the proprietary risk analysis used today. Mr. Spreng has overseen the development of a risk management model that helps to identify, analyze and mitigate risk within individual portfolio companies in the venture capital space. The model utilized by us today examines a consistent set of more than 30 quantitative and qualitative variables in four main risk areas (market, technology, management and financing) to generate a composite risk ranking for each portfolio company.

Flexible, Opportunity-Specific Pricing and Structure. Runway Growth Capital’s comprehensive analysis assesses all factors and does not rely on any one criterion above or more than others. For example, we do not seek to provide financing to every early-stage company backed by top-tier venture firms, but only to those companies that, in our opinion, possess the most favorable risk and return characteristics for our investments. We seek to understand the attractiveness of each opportunity on its own merits. The quality of the venture investors involved is important, but it is only one component of our decision-making process. Within our Non-Sponsored Growth Lending strategy, we expect that many companies will have positive earnings before interest expense, income tax expenses, depreciation and amortization (“EBITDA”) but have been unable to access sufficient capital to fund current growth opportunities. We believe that gaining a comprehensive picture of an opportunity based on Runway Growth Capital’s defined assessment factors allows us to be more flexible, to identify price and structure inefficiencies in the debt market, better support our portfolio companies, and to maximize loan and warrant returns, while minimizing losses. In our Sponsored and Non-Sponsored Growth Lending strategies, we target our loan to be less than 25% of enterprise value at inception.

Strong Reputation and Deep Relationships. Runway Growth Capital’s senior investment professionals enjoy reputations as innovative thought leaders, ingrained in the fabric of the venture community. Runway Growth Capital’s senior investment professionals have been active in venture capital investing, private lending, growth equity investing, corporate finance, and investment banking for more than two decades and are viewed as trustworthy partners to both management and venture investors as well as entrepreneurs. Our investment professionals’ experience has often encouraged private companies to work with a lender that can manage challenges and deviations from plans that often arise in developing companies.

Runway Growth Capital’s senior investment professionals also have established a network of relationships over two decades with various venture capital firms, venture banks, institutional investors, entrepreneurs and other venture capital market participants, which has allowed Runway Growth Capital to develop a variety of channels for investment originations and referrals. These investment professionals maintain ongoing dialogue with a number of venture capital firms across the country, leverage a suite of technologies to identify potential borrowers and often seek to be the first contact for new investment opportunities.

Use of Leverage

As a BDC, we are generally required to meet an asset coverage ratio, defined under the 1940 Act as the ratio of our gross assets (less all liabilities and indebtedness not represented by senior securities) to our outstanding senior securities, equal to 200% (or 150% if certain conditions are met) after each issuance of senior securities. On October 28, 2021, the Board approved a proposal that permits us to reduce our asset coverage ratio to 150%. On June 16, 2022, our stockholders approved the reduced asset coverage ratio at our 2022 annual meeting of stockholders. The reduced asset coverage ratio of 150% became effective upon receiving stockholder approval.

Credit Facility

On May 31, 2019, the Company entered into a Credit Agreement with KeyBank National Association, acting as administrative agent and syndication agent and the other lenders party thereto, which initially provided the Company with a $100.0 million commitment, subject to borrowing base requirements (as amended and restated from time to time, the “Credit Facility”). As of September 30, 2024, the Company had $550.0 million in total commitments available under the Credit Facility, subject to an accordion feature that allows the Company to increase the total commitments under the Credit Facility up to $600.0 million. The availability period under the Credit Facility expires on April 20, 2025 and is followed by a one-year amortization period. The stated maturity date under the Credit Facility is April 20, 2026, unless extended.

Borrowings under the Credit Facility bear interest on a per annum rate equal to the Adjusted Term SOFR plus an applicable margin rate that ranges from 2.95% to 3.35% per annum depending on the Company’s leverage ratio and number of eligible loans in the collateral pool. The Credit Facility provides for a variable advance rate of up to 65% on eligible term loans. The Company also pays an unused commitment fee that ranges from 0.25% to 1.00% per annum based on the total unused lender commitments under the Credit Facility.

The Credit Facility is collateralized by all eligible investment assets held by the Company. The Credit Facility contains representations, warranties, and affirmative and negative covenants customary for secured financings of this type, including certain financial covenants such as a consolidated tangible net worth requirement and a required asset coverage ratio.

For the three and nine months ended September 30, 2024, the weighted average outstanding principal balance was $273.0 million and $248.1 million, respectively, and the weighted average effective interest rate was 8.55% and 8.54%, respectively. For the three and nine months ended September 30, 2023, the weighted average outstanding principal balance was $250.3 million and $298.0 million, respectively, and the weighted average effective interest rate was 8.07% and 7.99%, respectively.

2026 Notes

On December 10, 2021, the Company entered into a master note purchase agreement, completing a private debt offering of $70.0 million in aggregate principal amount of 4.25% interest-bearing unsecured Series 2021A Senior Notes due 2026 (the “December 2026 Notes”) to institutional accredited investors (as defined in Regulation D under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”)). The December 2026 Notes were issued in two closings: the initial issuance of $20.0 million closed on December 10, 2021 and the second issuance of $50.0 million closed on February 10, 2022. On April 13, 2023, the Company completed the first supplement to the master note purchase agreement, resulting in an additional private debt offering of $25.0 million in aggregate principal amount of 8.54% interest-bearing unsecured Series 2023A Senior Notes due 2026 (the “April 2026 Notes”) to institutional accredited investors (as defined in the Securities Act). The December 2026 Notes and the April 2026 Notes (collectively the “2026 Notes”) are subject to a 1.00% increase in the respective interest rates in the event that, subject to certain exceptions, the 2026 Notes cease to have an investment grade rating or receive an investment grade rating below the Investment Grade (as defined in the master note purchase agreement). The 2026 Notes are general unsecured obligations of the Company that rank pari passu with all outstanding and future unsecured unsubordinated indebtedness issued by the Company.

December 2026 Notes

The December 2026 Notes bear an interest rate of 4.25% per year and are due on December 10, 2026, unless redeemed, purchased or prepaid prior to such date by the Company or its affiliates in accordance with their terms. Interest on the December 2026 Notes will be due semiannually in arrears on June 10 and December 10 of each year.

Aggregate costs in connection with the December 2026 Notes issuance were $1.0 million, and were capitalized and deferred. As of September 30, 2024 and December 31, 2023, unamortized deferred financing costs related to the December 2026 Notes were $0.4 million and $0.6 million, respectively.

April 2026 Notes

The April 2026 Notes bear an interest rate of 8.54% per year and are due on April 13, 2026, unless redeemed, purchased or prepaid prior to such date by the Company or its affiliates in accordance with their terms. Interest on the April 2026 Notes will be due semiannually in arrears on April 13 and October 13 of each year.

Aggregate costs in connection with the April 2026 Notes issuance were $0.4 million, and were capitalized and deferred. As of September 30, 2024 and December 31, 2023, unamortized deferred financing costs related to the April 2026 Notes were $0.2 million and $0.3 million, respectively.

2027 Notes

July 2027 Notes

On July 28, 2022, the Company issued and sold $80.5 million in aggregate principal amount of 7.50% interest-bearing unsecured Notes due 2027 (the “July 2027 Notes”) under its shelf Registration Statement on Form N-2. The July 2027 Notes were issued pursuant to the Base Indenture dated July 28, 2022 (the “Base Indenture”) and First Supplemental Indenture, dated July 28, 2022 (together with the Base Indenture, the “Indenture”), between the Company and the Trustee, U.S. Bank Trust Company, National Association.

The July 2027 Notes bear an interest rate of 7.50% per year and are due on July 28, 2027. Interest on the 2027 Notes will be due quarterly in arrears on March 1, June 1, September 1 and December 1 of each year. The July 2027 Notes may be redeemed in whole or in part at any time or from time to time at the Company’s option on or after July 28, 2024, at a redemption price of $25 per July 2027

Note plus accrued and unpaid interest payments otherwise payable for the then-current quarterly interest period accrued to the date fixed for redemption. The July 2027 Notes are general unsecured obligations of the Company that rank pari passu with the Company’s existing and future unsecured, unsubordinated indebtedness.

Aggregate costs in connection with the July 2027 Notes issuance, including the underwriter’s discount and commissions, were $2.7 million, and were capitalized and deferred. As of September 30, 2024 and December 31, 2023, unamortized deferred financing costs related to the July 2027 Notes were $1.5 million and $1.9 million, respectively.

August 2027 Notes

On August 31, 2022, the Company issued and sold a private debt offering of $20.0 million in aggregate principal amount of 7.00% interest-bearing unsecured Series 2022A Senior Notes due 2027 (the “August 2027 Notes”) to HCM Master Fund Limited.

The August 2027 Notes bear an interest rate of 7.00% per year and are due on August 31, 2027, unless redeemed, purchased or prepaid prior to such date by the Company or its affiliates in accordance with their terms. Interest on the August 2027 Notes will be due semiannually in arrears on February 15 and August 15 of each year. The August 2027 Notes are general unsecured obligations of the Company that rank pari passu with all outstanding and future unsecured unsubordinated indebtedness issued by the Company.

Aggregate costs in connection with the August 2027 Notes issuance were $0.7 million, and were capitalized and deferred. As of September 30, 2024 and December 31, 2023, unamortized deferred financing costs related to the August 2027 Notes were $0.4 million and $0.5 million, respectively.

December 2027 Notes

On December 7, 2022, the Company issued and sold $51.75 million in aggregate principal amount of 8.00% interest-bearing unsecured Notes due 2027 (the “December 2027 Notes”) under its shelf Registration Statement on Form N-2. The December 2027 Notes were issued pursuant to the Base Indenture and Second Supplemental Indenture, dated December 7, 2022, between the Company and the Trustee, U.S. Bank Trust Company, National Association.

The December 2027 Notes bear an interest rate of 8.0% per year and are due on December 28, 2027. Interest on the December 2027 Notes will be due quarterly in arrears on March 1, June 1, September 1, and December 1 of each year. The December 2027 Notes may be redeemed in whole or in part at any time or from time to time at the Company’s option on or after December 31, 2024, at a redemption price of $25 per December 2027 Note plus accrued and unpaid interest payments otherwise payable for the then-current quarterly interest period accrued to the date fixed for redemption. The December 2027 Notes are general unsecured obligations of the Company that rank pari passu with the Company’s existing and future unsecured, unsubordinated indebtedness.

Aggregate costs in connection with the December 2027 Notes issuance, including the underwriter’s discount and commissions, were $1.9 million, and were capitalized and deferred. As of September 30, 2024 and December 31, 2023, unamortized deferred financing costs related to the December 2027 Notes were $1.2 million and $1.5 million, respectively.

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FEES AND EXPENSES

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FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS

Information regarding our financial highlights is incorporated by reference herein from our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and our most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q.

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SELECTED FINANCIAL INFORMATION AND OTHER DATA

The information in “Item 8. Consolidated Financial Statements and Supplementary Data,” including the financial notes related thereto, of our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, and in “Item 1. Consolidated Statements of Assets and Liabilities” and “Item 1. Consolidated Statements of Operations,” including the financial notes related thereto, of our most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q are incorporated by reference herein.

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RISK FACTORS

Investing in our securities involves a number of significant risks. Before you invest in our securities, you should be aware of and carefully consider the various risks associated with the investment, including those described in this prospectus, any accompanying prospectus supplement, any related free writing prospectus we may authorize in connection with a specific offering, “Part I, Item IA. Risk Factors” in our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, which is incorporated by reference herein in their entirety, “Part II, Item 1A. Risk Factors” in our most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, which is incorporated by reference herein in their entirety, and any document incorporated by reference herein. You should carefully consider these risk factors, together with all of the other information included in this prospectus, any accompanying prospectus supplement and any related free writing prospectus we may authorize in connection with a specific offering, before you decide whether to make an investment in our securities. The risks set out and described in these documents are not the only risks we face. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or not presently deemed material by us may also impair our business, operations and performance. If any of the following events occur, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected. In such case, you may lose all or part of your investment. Please also read carefully the section titled “Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements.”

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SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This prospectus, any accompanying prospectus supplement, any related free writing prospectus and any documents we may incorporate by reference herein contain forward-looking statements that involve substantial risks and uncertainties. Such statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors and undue reliance should not be placed thereon. These forward-looking statements are not historical facts, but rather are based on current expectations, estimates and projections about the Company, our current and prospective portfolio investments, our industry, our beliefs and opinions, and our assumptions. Words such as “anticipates,” “expects,” “intends,” “plans,” “will,” “may,” “continue,” “believes,” “seeks,” “estimates,” “would,” “could,” “should,” “targets,” “projects,” “outlook,” “potential,” “predicts” and variations of these words and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, some of which are beyond our control and difficult to predict and could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or forecasted in the forward-looking statements, including without limitation:

Although we believe that the assumptions on which these forward-looking statements are based are reasonable, any of those assumptions could prove to be inaccurate, and as a result, the forward-looking statements based on those assumptions also could be inaccurate. In light of these and other uncertainties, the inclusion of a projection or forward-looking statement in this prospectus, the prospectus supplement, any documents we may incorporate by reference herein, and any related free writing prospectus should not be regarded as a representation by us that our plans and objectives will be achieved. These forward-looking statements apply only as of the dates of this prospectus, the prospectus supplement, any documents we may incorporate by reference herein, and any related free writing prospectus. Moreover, we assume no duty and do not undertake to update the forward-looking statements. Because we are an investment company, the forward-looking statements and projections contained in this prospectus are excluded from the safe harbor protection provided by Section 21E of the Exchange Act.

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USE OF PROCEEDS

Unless otherwise specified in any applicable prospectus supplement or in any free writing prospectus we have authorized for use in connection with a specific offering, we intend to use the net proceeds from the sale of our securities pursuant to this prospectus for general corporate purposes, which may include, among other things, investing in accordance with our investment objective and strategy, repayment of any outstanding indebtedness, paying operating expenses and other general corporate purposes.

We anticipate that substantially all of the net proceeds of an offering of securities pursuant to this prospectus and any applicable prospectus supplement or free writing prospectus will be used for the above purposes within three months of any such offering, depending on the availability of appropriate investment opportunities consistent with our investment objective, but no longer than within six months of any such offerings.

Pending such uses and investments, we intend to invest any net proceeds from an offering primarily in cash, cash equivalents, U.S. government securities and other high-quality investment grade investments that mature in one year or less from the date of investment. The income we earn on such temporary investments generally will be less than what we would expect to receive from investments in the types of investments we intend to target. Our ability to achieve our investment objective may be limited to the extent that the net proceeds from an offering, pending full investment, are held in interest-bearing deposits or other short-term instruments. The prospectus supplement relating to an offering will more fully identify the use of proceeds from any offering.

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PRICE RANGE OF COMMON STOCK AND DISTRIBUTIONS

Our common stock began trading on the Nasdaq Global Select Market (“Nasdaq”) on October 21, 2021, under the symbol “RWAY” in connection with our initial public offering of shares of our common stock. See “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” of our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K. Shares of BDCs may trade at a market price that is less than the value of the net assets attributable to those shares. The possibility that our shares of common stock will trade at a discount from net asset value (“NAV”) per share or at premiums that are unsustainable over the long term are separate and distinct from the risk that our NAV per share will decrease. It is not possible to predict whether our common stock will trade at, above, or below NAV per share. See “Item 1A. Risk Factors—Risks Related to an Investment in Our Common Stock” in our most recent annual report on Form 10-K. On February 5, 2025, the last reported closing sales price of our common stock on the Nasdaq was $11.51 per share, which represented a discount of approximately 14.04% to our NAV per share of $13.39 as of September 30, 2024.

Distribution Policy

As a RIC, we must distribute an amount equal to at least the sum of (i) 90% of our investment company taxable income (which includes, among other items, dividends, interest and the excess of any net realized short-term capital gains over net realized long-term capital losses and other taxable income (other than any net capital gain), reduced by deductible expenses) determined without regard to the deduction for dividends and distributions paid and (ii) 90% of our net tax-exempt interest income (which is the excess of our gross tax-exempt interest income over certain disallowed deductions), or the “Annual Distribution Requirement.” We intend to distribute annually all or substantially all of such income. Generally, if we fail to meet this Annual Distribution Requirement for any taxable year, we will fail to qualify as a RIC for such taxable year. To the extent we meet the Annual Distribution Requirement for a taxable year, but retain our net capital gains for investment or any investment company taxable income, we will be subject to U.S. federal income tax on such retained capital gains and investment company taxable income. We may choose to retain our net capital gains for investment or any investment company taxable income, and pay the associated U.S. federal income tax, including any nondeductible 4% U.S. federal excise tax described below, if applicable.

We are subject to a nondeductible 4% U.S. federal excise tax on certain of our undistributed income, unless we timely distribute (or are deemed to have timely distributed) an amount equal to the sum of:

While we intend to distribute any income and capital gains in order to avoid imposition of this nondeductible 4% U.S. federal excise tax, we may not be successful in avoiding entirely the imposition of this tax. In that case, we will be liable for the tax only on the amount by which we do not meet the foregoing distribution requirement.

We are authorized to borrow funds and to sell assets in order to satisfy distribution requirements. However, under the 1940 Act, we are not permitted to make distributions to our stockholders while any senior securities are outstanding unless we meet the applicable asset coverage ratios. See “- Regulation as a Business Development Company - Senior Securities.” In our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K. Moreover, our ability to dispose of assets to meet our distribution requirements may be limited by (1) the illiquid nature of our portfolio and/or (2) other requirements relating to our status as a RIC, including the Diversification Tests. If we dispose of assets in order to meet the Annual Distribution Requirement or to avoid the 4% U.S. federal excise tax, we may make such dispositions at times that, from an investment standpoint, are not advantageous.

A RIC is limited in its ability to deduct expenses in excess of its “investment company taxable income” (which is, generally, ordinary income plus the excess of net short-term capital gains over net long-term capital losses). If our expenses in a given year exceed investment company taxable income, we would experience a net operating loss for that year. However, a RIC is not permitted to carry forward net operating losses to subsequent years. In addition, expenses can be used only to offset investment company taxable income, not net capital gain. Due to these limits on the deductibility of expenses, we may, for tax purposes, have aggregate taxable income for several years that we are required to distribute and that is taxable to our stockholders even if such income is greater than the aggregate net income we actually earned during those years. Such required distributions may be made from our cash assets or by liquidation of investments, if necessary. We may realize gains or losses from such liquidations. In the event we realize net capital gains from such transactions, stockholders may receive a larger capital gain distribution than they would have received in the absence of such transactions.

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Dividends Declared

The following table reflects the distributions declared on shares of our common stock during the nine months period ended September 30, 2024:

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The following table reflects the distributions declared on shares of our common stock during the year ended December 31, 2023:

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The following table reflects the distributions declared on shares of our common stock during the year ended December 31, 2022:

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The following table reflects the distributions declared on shares of our common stock during the year ended December 31, 2021:

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The following table reflects the distributions declared on shares of our common stock during the year ended December 31, 2020:

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The following table reflects the distributions declared on shares of our common stock during the year ended December 31, 2019:

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The following table reflects the distributions declared on shares of our common stock during the year ended December 31, 2018:

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Dividend Reinvestment

We have adopted an “opt out” dividend reinvestment plan for our stockholders. See “Dividend Reinvestment Plan.”

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MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND

RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

The information contained in “Part II, Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” of our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and in “Part I, Item 2. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” of our most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q are incorporated by reference herein and should be read in conjunction with, and are qualified by reference to, our financial statements and notes thereto included in such Annual Report on Form 10-K and such Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, as applicable.

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BUSINESS

The information contained in “Part I, Item 1. Business,” “Part I, Item 2. Properties” and “Part I, Item 3. Legal Proceedings” of our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, and in “Part II, Item 1. Legal Proceedings” of our most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q are incorporated herein by reference.

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PORTFOLIO COMPANIES

The following table sets forth certain information regarding each of the portfolio companies in which we had a debt or equity investment as of September 30, 2024. We may receive rights to observe the meetings of our portfolio companies’ board of directors. Other than these investments, our only relationship with our portfolio companies are the managerial assistance we may separately provide to our portfolio companies, which services would be ancillary to our investments. As of September 30, 2024, one representative of the Adviser held positions on the board of directors of Snagajob.com, Inc., Coginiti Corp, and Gynesonics, Inc. As of September 30, 2024, the Adviser held responsibility for all managerial responsibilities of Pivot 3, Inc. As of September 30, 2024, with the exception of Pivot3, Inc., we did not “control” any of our portfolio companies as defined in the 1940 Act. As of September 30, 2024, with the exception of Coginiti Corp, and Gynesonics, Inc., we are not an “affiliate” of any of our portfolio companies, each as defined in the 1940 Act. In general, under the 1940 Act, we would “control” a portfolio company if we owned 25% or more of its voting securities and would be an “affiliate” of a portfolio company if we owned five percent or more of its voting securities.

Runway Growth Finance Corp.

Schedule of Investments

September 30, 2024

(In thousands, except per share data)