PALO ALTO, Calif., Jan. 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Hercules Technology Growth Capital, Inc. (Nasdaq: HTGC - News), a leading debt and equity growth capital provider to technology and life science companies announced that on Dec. 30, 2005 it provided $10.0 million of structured mezzanine debt financing to Atrenta Inc., a leading provider of design automation solutions to the global semiconductor industry. Funds will be drawn upon as needed to accelerate the company's growth.

"In response to the widespread market acceptance of its 1Team(TM) product line, Atrenta has been expanding rapidly over the past 12 months, " said Sam Bhaumik, managing director of Hercules. "The company has opened several sales and support offices, launched a series of innovative products and closed multi-million-dollar contracts with some of the largest electronics companies in the world. We're confident that Atrenta will emerge as a major player in the Electronic Design Automation (EDA) industry and are pleased to have this opportunity to work with them."

"Hercules has an outstanding track record of financing emerging growth, high technology companies, and we're delighted to have them as our partner," said Dr. Ajoy Bose, president and CEO of Atrenta. "We will use these funds when necessary to expand our sales and support team and to roll out several new technologies that are currently under development."

About Hercules Technology Growth Capital:
Founded in December 2003, Hercules Technology Growth Capital, Inc. is a NASDAQ traded specialized finance company providing debt and equity growth capital to technology-related companies at all stages of development. The company primarily finances privately-held companies backed by leading venture capital and private equity firms and also may finance certain publicly-traded companies. Hercules focuses its investments in companies active in technology and technology-related industries such as computer software and hardware, networking systems, semiconductors, semiconductor capital equipment, information technology infrastructure, Internet consumer and business services, telecommunications, and life sciences. The company's investments are originated through its principal office located in Silicon Valley, as well as additional offices in the Boston, Boulder and Chicago areas. Providing capital to publicly traded or privately-held companies backed by leading venture capital and private equity firms involves a high degree of credit risk and may result in potential losses.

For more information, please visit http://www.herculestech.com . Companies interested in learning more about financing opportunities should contact info@herculestech.com or call 650-289-3060.

About Atrenta Inc.:
Atrenta Inc. is a leading provider of Predictive Development solutions for companies creating complex chips, systems and embedded software. Predictive Development is a new class of design automation solution that turns the costly and error-prone activity of electronic development into a more predictable, manageable and reliable process. Atrenta's 1Team Family of Predictive Development solutions enhances the entire development cycle -- from architectural planning to physical implementation, and from hardware to embedded software. Atrenta is headquartered in San Jose, Calif., with a research and development center in Noida, India and with sales and support offices worldwide. For further information, visit the Atrenta website at www.atrenta.com; email moreinfo@atrenta.com or call 408-453-3333.