Venture Debt Available
Undrawn capacity remaining on existing venture debt facilities. Optionality the company can call on quickly without re-pricing. Common pitfall: availability is conditional — most facilities require continued covenant compliance, and an available line can be pulled or frozen by the lender if cash, ARR, or other covenants slip (per the Bessemer venture-debt content and Battery Ventures primer). The board should treat `venture_debt_available` as a soft commitment, not a hard one, until drawn. — Fundraising KPI, I'mBoard-authored (editorial tier).
I'mBoard-authored (editorial tier)
No public third-party standard anchors this KPI yet, so I'mBoard authors and maintains the definition — transparently labeled as editorial tier. See the ontology methodology for the published vs editorial tier system and the back-attribution workstream.
Rogue ID: fundraising.venture_debt_available
Type: Currency
Domain: Fundraising
Definition
Undrawn capacity remaining on existing venture debt facilities. Optionality the company can call on quickly without re-pricing. Common pitfall: availability is conditional — most facilities require continued covenant compliance, and an available line can be pulled or frozen by the lender if cash, ARR, or other covenants slip (per the Bessemer venture-debt content and Battery Ventures primer). The board should treat venture_debt_available as a soft commitment, not a hard one, until drawn.
Formula
venture_debt_available = total_facility_committed − venture_debt_drawn − amounts no longer drawable (covenant restrictions, time-window expirations).Why it matters
Strategic optionality — drawable capacity is a buffer for unexpected burn or a bridge to the next round. But it is contingent on staying inside covenants, so the board needs both this number and venture_debt_covenant_status.
How to interpret
Available capacity of 3–6 months of net burn provides meaningful optionality. Less than ~1 month of burn in availability rarely justifies the facility complexity. Watch for facilities with expiring draw windows — undrawn capacity that vanishes on a calendar date.
Calculation policy
How an AI agent should compute this KPI from messy company data. Free-text rules consumed at reasoning time — not a deterministic DSL. The most common ways to get this wrong are listed under Common miscomputations.
Inclusion rules
- Undrawn capacity remaining on existing venture debt facilities — optionality the company can call on without re-pricing.
- available = total facility committed − drawn − amounts no longer drawable (covenant restrictions, expired draw windows).
Exclusion rules
- Drawn principal (that is
venture_debt_drawn). - Capacity no longer drawable due to covenant breach or an expired draw window — exclude it even though the headline facility is larger.
- Equity capital and convertible capacity — this is a debt line, not an equity raise.
- Uncommitted / indicative facility interest a lender has floated but not documented.
Required inputs
- Total committed facility size and amount drawn.
- Draw-window expiry dates and any covenant-conditioned draw restrictions.
- Current covenant compliance status.
- Net burn, to express availability in months of runway.
Data-source priority
- The facility agreement (committed size + draw conditions) and current covenant compliance.
- Treasury's facility tracker as a fallback.
Edge cases
- Availability is CONDITIONAL: most facilities require continued covenant compliance — an available line can be frozen or pulled if cash / ARR covenants slip. Treat it as a soft commitment until drawn.
- Expiring draw windows: undrawn capacity that vanishes on a calendar date — flag the expiry.
- Available capacity of 3–6 months of net burn is meaningful optionality; under ~1 month rarely justifies the facility complexity.
Validation checks
- venture_debt_available + venture_debt_drawn ≤ total facility committed.
- Pair with
venture_debt_covenant_status— availability reported without covenant status overstates the usable buffer.
Common miscomputations
- Reporting available capacity as a hard, committed source of cash — it is contingent on staying inside covenants.
- Counting capacity behind an expired draw window or a tripped covenant.
- Adding available debt capacity to equity-raise totals.
Related KPIs
fundraising.venture_debt_drawnfundraising.venture_debt_covenant_statusfinance.net_burn_ratefinance.runway_months
Source
I'mBoard editorial — authored and maintained by I'mBoard, first published 2026-04-01. No third-party standard is cited for this KPI; when one emerges, the definition is back-attributed and promoted to the published tier (a minor version bump). Read the ontology methodology for the published vs editorial tier system, attribution rules, and dispute process.
Stage relevance
| Company stage | Priority |
|---|---|
| Series A | Recommended |
| Series B | Recommended |
| Series C+ | Recommended |
Suggested for stages: Series A, Series B, Series C+.
Default owning functions
- Finance
Machine-readable
- This KPI as JSON:
/api/ontology/fundraising/venture_debt_available.json - All Fundraising KPIs:
/api/ontology/fundraising.json - Full catalog:
/api/ontology/index.json
Total Round Size
Total new capital being raised in the current round across all participants — the lead, follow-on investors, employee/strategic allocations, and any side-letter pieces. This is the figure that goes into the post-money math. Common pitfall: companies sometimes confuse `total_round_size` with `target_raise` — the round size is final and used in valuation math, while the target is what management is aiming for and can move during the raise. Boards should expect a specific breakdown by investor when this number is reported. — Fundraising KPI anchored to NVCA Model Legal Documents (2024 revision).
Venture Debt Covenant Status
Stoplight state of the venture-debt facility covenants — typically minimum-cash, minimum-ARR or revenue, maximum-burn, customer-concentration, and material-adverse-change clauses (per the standard Bessemer / Battery Ventures venture-debt primers). A covenant trip can freeze the draw line, accelerate repayment, or both. Common pitfall: covenants are not always actively monitored between board meetings — drift between an internal forecast and a covenant threshold can cross the line silently. Boards should require monthly covenant headroom reporting when material debt is drawn. — Fundraising KPI, I'mBoard-authored (editorial tier).