San Francisco-based Union Square Advisors, a technology-focused investment bank, has appointed Dean Riskas as a partner in its San Francisco office. Riskas most recently served as managing director and president of North America for TriplePoint Capital, a Silicon Valley venture debt provider. PRESS RELEASE Union Square Advisors LLC, a leading technology-focused investment bank, announced today [...]

TriplePoint Capital on Wednesday announced that it closed a $1 billion venture debt fund in one of the largest financings in the 25-year-old industry. The six year old firm said the new money will allow it to expand its debt and equity offerings as well as broaden its geographical presence. The Sand Hill Road firm [...]

Foundation Capital led as $30 million round of financing for Aquion Energy, a maker of batteries and energy storage systems. Aquion Energy is based in Pittsburgh. Other investors chipped in for the round as well; KPCB returned to back Aquion, and Advanced Technology Ventures and TriplePoint Capital, each new backers, invested as well. Aquion counts the US Department of Energy among its existing shareholders.

Newark, Calif.-based Kaiam Corp. has sealed $5 million in Series B funding. TriplePoint Capital led the round, with participation from existing investor U.S. Venture Partners. The company, which develops high performance photonic integrated circuits, will use the money to expand its infrastructure.

Los Angeles-based cloud gaming company Gaikai Inc. has named Brendan Iribe as its chief creative officer and senior vice president of user experience. Iribe was previously the co-founder, president and chief executive of Scaleform, a gaming user interface company bought by Autodesk in March. Gaikai is backed by Benchmark Capital, TriplePoint Capital, Rustic Canyon Partners, Limelight Networks and Intel Capital.

Harvest Power, a developer of renewable energy and fertilizer products from organic waste, said Tuesday that it had extended its $51.7 million Series B financing. Zurich-based SAM Private Equity added a $6 million investment to the round. The company is also backed by Generation Investment Management, DAG Ventures, Keating Capital, Kleiner Perkins, publicly traded Waste Management, Munich Venture Partners, and TriplePoint Capital.

NEW YORK, May 9 (Reuters) – Gilt Groupe Inc, the online shopping website known for its flash deals, raised $138 million in new funding giving it a valuation of over $1 billion, according to a source with knowledge of the deal. The company it plans to use the new money for acquisitions, new product launches, [...]

Harvest Power, a company developing renewable energy and fertilizer products from organic waste, has closed on a whopping $51.7 million in Series B financing. London-based Generation Investment Management led the round. Other investors included DAG Ventures, Keating Capital, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, publicly traded Waste Management, Munich Venture Partners and TriplePoint Capital. The company’s technology is designed to process various kinds of organic waste, including food scraps, yard trimmings, scrap wood and other organics. Harvest Power, which says it is profitable, recently broke ground on its first commercial-scale facility in North America. The new money will help Harvest expand its facilities and technologies.

It’s a Web 2.0 name, but its success hinges on its adoption by traditional media. Meet Jelli, a San Mateo-based startup that’s aiming to put traditional radio listeners in charge of what songs they hear — and making headway toward that end. The company, founded in September 2008, already controls the airwave’s of San Francisco’s [...]

Or at least partially with credit and debt…

Insight Venture Partners led a $57 million Series D round of equity funding into the company this week, plus helped provide a $25 million credit facility. In addition, Chegg.com got a separate $30 million debt facility from Pinnacle Ventures and TriplePoint Capital. Total equity funding is now over $90 million, according to Thomson Reuters.

Chegg.com bills itself as the Netflix for college textbooks — students order books from its website and receive them in the mail, along with a prepaid envelope to return them — and it needs enough financial flexibility to be able to accommodate its fast growth, according to Insight’s Deven Parekh.