Dave Gravano

Dave Gravano is an Investment Partner at Western Technology Investment, a Silicon Valley venture-debt firm founded in 1980. WTI says it has helped more than 1,500 companies across major innovation sectors and has committed more than $7 billion of capital.

Gravano joined WTI in 2008. Before WTI, he held senior positions at Silicon Valley Bank, Fortress Investment Group, and Meier Mitchell/GATX Ventures in the United States, as well as GATX/ETV, GATX’s London-based venture-lending business.

He holds a B.A. from Duke University. His career has been concentrated in venture lending and growth financing, rather than traditional seed equity angel investing.

• WTI’s core thesis is venture debt for startups: the firm says it “pioneered the concept of venture debt” to fill a capital gap for innovation companies.
• WTI positions its capital as a way to finance growth while minimizing dilution, describing its product as “fully usable, unrestricted growth capital.”
• Stage range is broad: WTI states that its credit facilities can scale “from the seed stage all the way through the completion of a public listing.”
• The firm’s underwriting emphasizes companies with prior or concurrent equity financing, supportive equity investors, meaningful available cash or positive cash-flow prospects, and a business plan capable of reaching $25 million in sales within five years.
• Sector exposure is diversified across major innovation markets, including software, internet, medical devices, semiconductors/equipment, computers/storage, and other technology and life-science categories.
• WTI’s public positioning emphasizes flexibility: no material-adverse-change clauses, no insolvency-default clauses, no investor-support covenants, and no subjective lender pullback requirements.