NEW YORK, April 18 — 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.
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.”
