Silicon Valley's TriplePoint Capital Raises $1 Billion For Venture Debt Fund

TriplePoint Capital CEO Jim Labe

Bambi Francisco Roizen reported in vator.tv that TriplePoint Capital and its CEO Jim Labe have raised one billion dollars to invest in a venture debt fund. The money comes mainly from private and institutional investors, and is seen as a sign of a slowdown in VC fund raising. For startups and second-tier firms, those are very unwelcome storm clouds, and implies a sense of financial caution in the world of so-called "smart money."

Maybe that is so. However, venture debt is far from a form of investor's despair. From an investment perspective, there are some advantages to debt over equity. Some investors prefer debt issues, as they provide an income stream. Significantly, the debt is not simply a vanilla bond-style investment; some debt holders obtain warrants as well. The warrants can dramatically add to the value of the investors' stakes.

Part of the game here is the opportunity for investors to get into what Roizen's article characterized as "top-tier" investment opportunities. That's something of an insider's game, with the belief that there's gold at the end of the VC investment rainbow.

There's gold at the beginning and middle, too.