Equipment finance for AI hardware is not exotic. It is secured lending against a depreciating asset with an unusual demand profile. Underwriters apply the same framework used for aircraft, rolling stock or medical imaging, then adjust for two things that are specific to GPUs: the speed of generational turnover and the concentration of the customer base.

1. Collateral: what is the equipment worth on the day it is repossessed?

The lender starts from the invoice, not from the operator's projected revenue. The questions are: which generation, from which vendor, with what warranty, and what does the secondary market look like today for that exact SKU. A B200 or GB200 system has a defensible resale path in 2026; a system two generations back does not. The advance rate, typically expressed as a percentage of hard cost, follows directly from that view. Software, installation and services in the quote are usually excluded from the collateral base.

2. Cash flow: can the deployment service the debt?

This is where files stall. The lender wants to see either contracted revenue from named customers or a utilization history on already-deployed capacity. A pipeline slide is not offtake. A signed capacity agreement with a term, a rate and a counterparty is. Debt service coverage is calculated on a downside case, usually with a haircut to pricing per GPU-hour and a lag on ramp-up.

3. The company: who is standing behind the equipment?

Historical financials, existing leverage, liquidity and management background. For a younger operator, the lender substitutes a cap table, the equity raised to date and the sponsor's track record. Existing liens matter: a blanket UCC filing from a prior lender can block a new equipment loan until an intercreditor or carve-out is negotiated.

4. Deployment: will the equipment actually be turned on?

Power availability, cooling, delivery dates and commissioning are underwriting items, not logistics. Equipment that sits in a warehouse waiting for a substation upgrade is collateral generating no cash. Lenders increasingly ask for the power contract or colocation agreement alongside the equipment quote.

What this means for the file

• Lead with the equipment schedule and the offtake contracts, not the company narrative.
• Present a downside cash-flow case yourself before the lender builds one.
• Disclose existing debt and liens on the first page, not in diligence.
• Include the power and site documentation with the initial package.

Riipe's credit package is structured in this order for that reason. It is the order a credit committee reads in.

This article is general information, not credit advice. Actual underwriting criteria vary by lender and transaction.

Operators often use the terms interchangeably. Lenders do not. An equipment finance lender and a private credit fund evaluate the same GPU purchase from different starting points, and the differences show up in speed, pricing, covenants and how much of the purchase they will fund.

Equipment finance

Equipment lenders and lessors underwrite the asset first. The product is an EFA or a lease sized against the hard cost of the equipment schedule. Approval is fast when the collateral is standard and the borrower is established; it is slow or unavailable when the borrower is young or the equipment is unusual. Documentation is lighter, covenants are fewer, and the lender's remedy is the equipment itself.

• Typical range: $1M to $25M per schedule, larger with syndication.
• Pricing: tied to the borrower's credit profile and the asset's residual outlook.
• Best fit: operating businesses buying standard configurations with a clear deployment site.

Private credit

Private credit funds underwrite the business and the cash flows first, with the equipment as collateral rather than as the whole thesis. They will fund larger amounts, accept younger borrowers with strong offtake, and structure around growth. The cost is more diligence, more covenants, reporting obligations and a higher rate.

• Typical range: $25M to $250M+ per facility.
• Pricing: floating-rate spread over a base rate, with fees and sometimes warrants.
• Best fit: neoclouds and operators with contracted revenue financing a multi-site or multi-tranche build-out.

Choosing

The practical test is the offtake. A borrower with a signed multi-year capacity contract can usually access private credit at a scale equipment lenders will not reach. A borrower buying a single cluster with a clear site and an established balance sheet is often better served by an EFA and should not pay private credit pricing for it.

Riipe's role is to identify which lender category the transaction belongs in before it is sent anywhere, then match it to partners in that category whose mandate fits.

Ranges and pricing described here are indicative and vary by lender, borrower and market conditions.

Before a lender issues a term sheet it needs enough information to size the loan, price the risk and confirm it can perfect its security interest. The list below is what Riipe collects at the NDA and data-room stage, roughly in the order lenders ask for it.

Equipment

• Vendor quote, invoice or purchase order with unit count and configuration.
• Delivery schedule and commissioning plan.
• Warranty and support terms.

Financials

• Two to three years of historical financial statements, audited or reviewed where available.
• Year-to-date profit and loss and balance sheet.
• Three to six months of bank statements.
• Accounts receivable and accounts payable aging.

Existing obligations

• Debt schedule with lender, balance, rate, maturity and collateral.
• UCC search results and any existing liens.
• Real estate schedule if the company owns or leases sites.

Demand and deployment

• Customer contracts and capacity agreements.
• Utilization on existing deployed capacity.
• Colocation or power agreements for the target site.

Company

• Ownership and cap table.
• Management background.
• Business plan for younger companies without operating history.

Riipe's package organizes these items so a lender can locate each one without asking. See the full list on the Financing page.

Riipe Fund ("Riipe") collects the information submitted through this site's forms, including company name, contact details and a description of the financing requirement or lender mandate, for the purpose of evaluating and responding to that submission.

Information is shared with capital partners only after an NDA is in place and with the submitter's knowledge. Riipe does not sell personal information. Standard web analytics may be used to understand site usage.

Requests to access, correct or delete submitted information can be sent to team@riipe.fund.

Riipe is not a lender, bank or broker-dealer and does not provide investment, legal or tax advice. Content on this site is general information about equipment-backed financing for AI infrastructure and does not constitute an offer to lend, a commitment to arrange financing, or a guarantee of terms, rates, advance rates or timing.

Any financing described is subject to a capital provider's own underwriting, credit approval and final documentation. Terms shown anywhere on this site are indicative only.

Riipe may receive fees from borrowers, capital providers or both in connection with transactions it originates. Fee arrangements are disclosed in engagement documentation.