Ninth Wave

Ninth Wave is a private credit network for the U.S. lower middle market, matching financing opportunities to lenders' specific mandates. Rather than broadcasting deals widely, it generates a ranked list of potential matches and only makes an introduction when both parties opt in — a 'double opt-in' designed for precision and privacy.

Lower middle-market credit still runs on inconsistently formatted deal information and lender mandates that shift frequently, making sourcing noisy and relationship-driven. Ninth Wave is betting that structuring that data — not broadcasting it — is what the market actually wants.

The platform was founded by credit investor Charlie Madden, whose decade-plus in leveraged finance syndication and special situations underwriting, including stints at Barclays and Colbeck Capital, shaped the design. The company says it built the network directly around the inefficiencies he saw first-hand.

Madden's background sits squarely in syndication and credit underwriting — the exact disciplines the network is trying to systematise. That domain fluency is the early edge; the test is turning it into liquidity on both sides.