Hercules Provides $5.0M Growth Capital Financing to Cradle Technologies, a Fabless Semiconductor Company

PALO ALTO, Calif., Dec. 27, 2005 -- Hercules Technology Growth Capital, Inc. (Nasdaq: HTGC), a leading debt and equity growth capital provider to technology related companies, today announced that it has invested $5,000,000 in privately owned Cradle Technologies of Sunnyvale, California. Cradle Technologies is a fabless semiconductor company that provides Multi- core Digital Signal Processors ("MDSPs") for video and imaging systems. Proceeds from the funding will be used for general corporate purposes.

"Cradle's semiconductor products offer some of the most comprehensive media processing solutions in today's marketplace. The company is building the industry's first Multi-core DSP architecture for multimedia applications such as digital IP surveillance, high-performance imaging and broadcast infrastructure," said Glen Howard, senior managing director, of Hercules. "Cradle's customers can significantly reduce their costs and risks by leveraging the company's products to target a variety of different applications and markets."

Cradle Technologies' innovative Multi-core DSP (MDSP) architecture is the foundation for the company's rich line of Silicon and Application Firmware products targeted at media processing applications. The high performance and scalable architecture associated with the MDSP approach is the key enabling factor behind the wide price-performance range of the CT3000 family of semiconductors DSP's offered by Cradle.

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 Cradle Technologies:

Cradle is a fabless semiconductor company providing the best price/performance, most flexible and most scalable DSP solutions for real-time multimedia applications. Cradle's multi-core DSP architecture innovation delivers high-performance scalable DSP processing with the flexibility, time- to-market and product differentiation benefits of processor-based programmable platforms. Coupled with powerful development tools and a suite of application software functions, Cradle's MDSP-based solutions provide OEMs with all the building blocks necessary to enable flexible yet high-performance DSP designs. Cradle's corporate headquarters are located in Sunnyvale, California. For more information call 408-636-5000 or visit http://www.cradle.com.