What Dolfin does

Dolfin Partners LLC is a New York-based specialty finance and private capital platform founded in 2022 by Keely Ryder and Scott Mannes that addresses the duration mismatch in corporate real estate finance. Most tenant improvements, equipment, and capital expenditures have useful lives of 10-20 years, but conventional TI financing (construction loans, term loans, revolvers) is structured for 2-5 years and creates refinancing risk and balance-sheet friction. Dolfin closes this gap with a single product, the Dolfin Lease, which is a long-term, unsecured, fixed-rate, fully amortizing lease instrument priced on the corporate credit profile of the tenant rather than the value of the underlying real estate.

The Dolfin Lease is documented in a 5-page standardized agreement versus the 100+ pages of conventional credit agreements, is delivered with a single senior point of contact through close, and can fund in as little as eight weeks. Underwriting targets investment-grade or near-IG corporate tenants with a minimum of $300M in annual revenue and $50M in EBITDA; the lease covers 100% of loan-to-cost with no equity required from the tenant, no collateral, no balloon payments, and optional retroactive reimbursement of already-completed improvements. Pricing is currently 5Y UST + 225-250bps for BBB-range credits (approximately 6.25-6.5% all-in as of March 2026) and tighter for AA-rated credits. The product also extends to landlords and developers as an equity replacement tool via a co-terminal space lease structure.

The business originates and distributes transactions for deal sizes from $1M to $300M+ through enterprise direct sales across the United States (no state-level jurisdictional restrictions) and across verticals including corporate headquarters, healthcare, legal, financial services, life sciences, data centers, hospitality, and education. Capital is committed by a base of 10+ institutional partners across insurance, asset management, and structured finance, eliminating syndication risk. As of 2026, Dolfin has deployed over $300M alongside its capital partners with zero realized credit losses, has a 2026 pipeline exceeding $1B, and operates with an eight-person team spanning co-founders, capital markets, originations, finance, and marketing functions.

Name

Dolfin

Legal name

Dolfin Partners LLC

Website

https://dolfinpartners.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2022

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Dolfin Partners is a New York-based specialty finance firm offering 10-20 year unsecured tenant improvement and CapEx lease financing to investment-grade corporate tenants. Founded in 2022, the firm has deployed over $300M with zero credit losses, funded by 10+ institutional capital partners.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Specialty Lease Financing

NAICS

Rental and Leasing Services (532)

SIC

Finance Lessors (6172)

akta.pro primary industry

Senior Secured Direct Lending (FSANADAA)

Keywords

• Tenant improvement financing
• Corporate lease finance
• Specialty finance solutions
• Long-term capex leasing
• Unsecured lease financing

Headquarters

HQ city

New York

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. TI Lease Payments: Dolfin provides long-term lease financing for tenant improvements and capital expenditures. Revenue is generated through monthly lease payments from tenants over the life of the lease (10-20 years). Fully amortizing structure with no balloon payments.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Dolfin provides long-term, unsecured lease financing — the "Dolfin Lease" — for corporate tenant improvements, equipment, and capital expenditures, structured over 10–20 years and priced on the tenant's investment-grade credit profile. The lease delivers 100% loan-to-cost funding with no equity, fixed-rate fully-amortizing payments (no balloon), and a proprietary 5-page documentation standard, and can include retroactive reimbursement or sale-leaseback of previously funded improvements. Transactions range from $1M to $300M+ and close in as little as 8 weeks for investment-grade or near-IG tenants.

Product overview

Dolfin offers a single unified product: The Dolfin Lease, a long-term, unsecured tenant improvement and capital expenditure financing solution. The product finances 100% of tenant improvements, equipment, soft costs, and provides retroactive reimbursement for completed projects, all structured as a single fixed-rate lease matched to the tenant's occupancy term (10-20 years). There are no separate modules or add-ons — all capabilities (new buildout financing, retroactive reimbursement, and sale-leaseback structures) are variations of the core Dolfin Lease product.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• The Dolfin Lease A long-term, unsecured lease financing product for corporate tenant improvements, equipment, and capital expenditures structured from 10 to 20 years, priced on the tenant's investment-grade credit profile, with 100% loan-to-cost funding, fixed-rate fully-amortizing payments, no balloon, 5-page standardized documentation, 8-week close, and the ability to retroactively reimburse or sale-leaseback previously funded improvements. Targeted at investment-grade or near-investment-grade corporate tenants with $300M+ annual revenue and $50M+ EBITDA across verticals including corporate HQ, healthcare, legal, financial services, life sciences, data centers, hospitality, and education; deal sizes $1M to $300M+. Also used by institutional landlords and developers as an equity-replacement tool to compete on tenant improvement (TI) packages without deploying their own capital.

Quantifiable outcome

• $300M+ in closed transactions with zero realized credit losses
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments9 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Pretium Partners: Private real estate credit and finance firm originating asset-backed credit to borrowers in the U.S. housing and commercial real estate ecosystem, with institutional capital backing. Closest analogue in business model — direct origination of structured credit against real-estate-related assets priced on credit, funded by institutional LPs.
• Oxford Finance: Specialty finance firm providing structured debt and lease financing to healthcare and life-sciences companies, including equipment and facility financing. Closest peer in product — bespoke, credit-based long-term lease/loan structures to investment-grade or near-IG corporate borrowers, with similar deal sizes.
• Hercules Capital: Public specialty finance company (NYSE: HTGC) providing structured debt and lease financing to venture-backed and growth-stage companies. Comparable in providing bespoke structured capital solutions to corporate borrowers, though skewed toward venture-stage rather than IG corporate.
• Marquette Equipment Finance: Independent equipment finance and leasing company providing credit-based lease and loan solutions to middle-market and corporate borrowers. Closest peer in pure lease-financing product and credit-based underwriting model.

Broad incumbents

• Ares Management (Credit Group): One of the largest direct lending and alternative credit platforms globally, with $400B+ in AUM across private credit. Comparable in that it underwrites corporate borrowers and structures bespoke credit solutions, but at much larger scale and broader scope than Dolfin's niche TI/capex focus.
• Apollo Global Management (Credit): Operates the largest structured credit and direct lending franchise with $700B+ AUM across private credit, including insurance balance-sheet investors like Athene. Comparable business activity in underwriting investment-grade corporate credit, but as part of a multi-strategy platform.
• Sixth Street: Large private credit and direct lending platform with multi-strategy credit offerings to corporate borrowers, including structured solutions. Comparable underwriting of corporate credit, broader in scope and asset classes than Dolfin's lease-only product.
• Blackstone Credit: The largest private credit platform globally, with deep institutional LP relationships and structured-credit capabilities across corporate borrowers. Comparable in underwriting IG-quality credits and packaging them for institutional investors; vastly larger and broader than Dolfin.
• Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors: Specialty finance and credit investment manager with credit, real estate, infrastructure, and energy strategies, including direct lending and structured finance. Comparable in providing institutional-backed structured credit solutions to corporate borrowers across credit quality spectra.
• Blue Owl Capital (Credit): Large alternative credit and direct lending platform with multiple private credit strategies serving corporate borrowers and asset-based finance deals. Comparable in underwriting corporate credits and packaging them for institutional capital; significantly larger and broader than Dolfin.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/dolfin-partners/?viewAsMember=true

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments2 records

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Dolfin