Star Mountain Capital Recognized by GrowthCap as One of the Top Private Credit Firms of 2025

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan 7, 2026--

Star Mountain Capital, LLC (“Star Mountain”), a specialized private investment firm focused on delivering systematic alpha and low market-correlated, tax-advantaged returns from the inefficient lower middle-market, is pleased to announce that it has been named one of GrowthCap’s Top Private Credit Firms of 2025.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260106290375/en/

GrowthCap’s annual awards highlight firms that demonstrate exceptional lending expertise, organizational excellence and the ability to serve as long-term, solutions-oriented partners to private businesses. Honorees are selected based on GrowthCap’s evaluation of investment capabilities, firm culture, track record and commitment to responsible stewardship within the private credit ecosystem.

“We are honored to be recognized by GrowthCap as one of the leading private credit firms in the United States,” said Brett Hickey, Star Mountain Capital Founder & CEO. “This recognition reflects our team’s dedication to delivering value-added financing solutions to established lower middle-market businesses and providing consistently strong partnership to management teams and investors.”

GrowthCap’s 2025 review emphasized the importance of consistent performance, differentiated sourcing networks and collaborative, borrower-aligned capital solutions. These are areas that Star Mountain has strategically focused on for over fifteen years. Star Mountain’s platform is designed to support high-quality private businesses with flexible debt and equity capital, while leveraging technology, data analytics and a deep bench of operating partners to help drive long-term success.

“Our focus remains on being a thoughtful, long-term capital partner,” Mr. Hickey added. “We continue to invest meaningfully in our team, technology and infrastructure to help deliver scalable, value-enhancing solutions across a wide range of industries. We believe our 100% U.S. full-time employee profit-sharing model and active community engagement through the Star Mountain Charitable Foundation strengthen our culture and support our mission.”

About Star Mountain Capital

With ~$4.5 billion in AUM (committed capital including debt facilities as of 12/31/2025), Star Mountain specializes in providing data-driven investment solutions across two core strategies:

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:

 

Star Mountain Capital Has Been Named one of GrowthCap's Top Private Credit Firms 2025.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Thursday that he will allow service members to carry personal weapons onto military installations, citing the Second Amendment and recent shootings at bases across the country.

In a video posted to X, Hegseth said he is signing a memo that will direct base commanders to allow requests for troops to carry privately owned firearms “with the presumption that it is necessary for personal protection.”

He said any denial of a service member's request must be explained in detail and in writing.

“Effectively, our bases across the country were gun-free zones,” Hegseth said. "Unless you're training or unless you are a military policeman, you couldn't carry, you couldn't bring your own firearm for your own personal protection onto post."

Questions about why service members lacked access to weapons have often emerged following shootings on the nation's military bases. Such shootings have ranged from isolated events between service members to mass casualty events, such as the shootings by an Army psychiatrist at Texas’ Ford Hood in 2009 that left 13 people dead.

Hegseth cited some of the events in his video, including a shooting that injured five soldiers at Fort Stewart in Georgia last year. Officials said the shooter, an Army sergeant who worked at the base, used his personal handgun before he was tackled by fellow soldiers and arrested.

“In these instances, minutes are a lifetime,” Hegseth said. “And our service members have the courage and training to make those precious, short minutes count.”

Defense Department policy has prohibited military personnel from carrying personal weapons on base without permission from a senior commander, with strict protocol for how the firearms must be stored.

Typically, military personnel must officially check their guns out of secure storage to go to on-base hunting areas or shooting ranges, then check all firearms back in promptly after their sanctioned use. Military police are often the only armed personnel on base, outside of shooting ranges, hunting areas or in training, where soldiers can wield their service weapons without ammunition.

Tanya Schardt, senior counsel at the Brady gun violence prevention organization, said in a statement that Defense Department leaders and the military’s top brass have opposed relaxing the current policy, which was originally enacted under President George H.W. Bush.

“Our military installations are among the most guarded, protected properties in the world, and they’ve never been ‘gun-free zones,’” Schardt said. “If there is a problem with violent crime on these installations, then the Secretary of Defense has an obligation to alert the American people and describe how he’s working to prevent that crime."

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks to members of the media during a press briefing at the Pentagon in Washington, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)