Star Mountain Capital, LLC (“Star Mountain”), a rapidly growing, employee-owned investment firm with ~$5 billion in assets under management (“AUM”), is pleased to announce that it has been named Lower Mid-Market Lender of the Year at the Alternative Credit Investor Awards North America.
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Star Mountain Capital accepts “Lower Mid-Market Lender of the Year” by Alternative Credit Investor.
The Alternative Credit Awards recognize the most influential fund managers and service providers shaping the alternative credit space in North America. While many of this year’s top honors were awarded to large, globally scaled platforms such as Ares and Goldman Sachs, Star Mountain distinguished itself by prevailing in the Lower Mid-Market Lender category.
“We are honored to be recognized as Lower Mid-Market Lender of the Year,” said Brett Hickey, Founder & CEO of Star Mountain Capital. “This award reflects our team’s deep commitment to serving as a value-added, long-term partner to lower middle-market businesses and delivering consistent results for our investors. We believe AI will drive far greater dispersion of performance across companies over the next investment cycle, rewarding those who successfully navigate and optimize technology, making active management more critical than ever. Star Mountain takes a hands-on approach across private lending, private equity and secondaries and remains focused on building a firm designed to protect capital and optimize returns for years to come.”
In addition to this award, Star Mountain was shortlisted alongside industry leaders including Goldman Sachs Alternatives, Churchill, TPG Twin Brook and Ares across multiple categories. The firm was recognized for Best Market Innovation for Opstream by Star Mountain Capital, its unified, AI-enabled platform designed specifically for private equity and private credit operations, and for its Star Mountain Lower Middle-Market Private Credit Secondary Fund III in the Private Credit Secondaries Fund of the Year category.
The firm’s differentiated approach focuses on relationship-driven investing, disciplined underwriting and leveraging technology and data analytics to enhance sourcing, diligence and portfolio management. Star Mountain continues to invest in scalable infrastructure and proprietary tools to support both its direct lending and secondary investment strategies. Reflecting on its long-term conviction in technology as a core differentiator, Star Mountain built out its technology team, including Chief Operating & Chief Technology Officer John Polis before building out its investor relations team. These foundational investments are now being further accelerated by the implementation of AI.
“Our focus remains on delivering flexible, solutions-oriented capital to high-quality businesses in the lower middle-market,” said John Polis. “We believe this segment continues to offer compelling opportunities for disciplined investors who bring both capital and strategic support.”
About Star Mountain Capital
With ~$5 billion in AUM (committed capital including debt facilities as of 3/31/2026), Star Mountain specializes in providing scalable and data-driven investment solutions across two core strategies:
- Direct Investments: Providing debt and equity capital to established lower middle-market businesses.
- Secondary Investments: Acquiring LP interests, direct assets and making primary LP commitments.
Star Mountain’s investors include public and private pensions, insurance companies, commercial banks, endowments, foundations, family offices and high-net-worth individuals. Employee-owned and sharing profits with 100% of its U.S. full-time employees, the firm prioritizes alignment of interests to maximize value for stakeholders.
Since 2010, Star Mountain has completed over 100 direct platform investments and 50 secondary / fund investments in the North American lower middle-market. The firm has been recognized as one of the Inc. 5000 fastest-growing private companies and a Best Place to Work by Crain’s New York Business and Pensions & Investments.
For more information, visit www.starmountaincapital.com.
Legal Disclaimer:
This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to purchase interests in any investment product. Awards and recognitions by third-party rating agencies, companies or publications should not be interpreted as a guarantee of future results or performance. They should not be considered as an endorsement, recommendation or referral of Star Mountain Capital or its representatives by any client or third party. Rankings published by media and industry organizations are based on information provided by the recognized advisor. Additionally, readers should understand that past performance is not indicative of future results. Award descriptions and selection methodologies may vary.
Awards and Recognition Disclosure:
Star Mountain Capital’s awards and recognitions are based on third-party evaluations and criteria, which may be subjective. These honors do not imply a guarantee of future performance or an endorsement by current or past clients.
Ranking Methodologies:
- Alternative Credit Investor Awards: Awards are issued by Alternative Credit Investor. The award referenced herein was received in 2026. Award recipients are selected by a panel of independent judges and Alternative Credit Investor’s editorial team based on criteria including industry impact, team expertise and quality of products and services, with consideration of submitted materials. Star Mountain Capital submitted information as part of the award application process. Star Mountain Capital paid fees for the use of the award logo and related promotional materials. Third-party awards and recognitions are not indicative of future performance and may not be representative of any one client’s experience.
- Crain’s Best Places to Work: Evaluations were conducted through a two-part process, assessing workplace policies, practices and employee satisfaction via surveys. Participation required a fee solely for survey processing purposes. More details are available at Crain’s eligibility criteria.
- Pensions & Investments Best Places to Work: Companies were evaluated based on surveys measuring employee engagement (75%) and employer policies (25%). Participation required a minimum of 20 U.S. employees and $100 million in discretionary assets under management. Further details can be found at P&I eligibility criteria.
- Inc. 5000 Rankings: Companies were ranked based on revenue growth from 2019 to 2022. To qualify, firms had to be U.S.-based, privately held and independent, with revenue thresholds of at least $100,000 in 2019 and $2 million in 2022. More details are available at Inc. 5000 criteria.
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