Mega-retailer Amazon is enjoying some serious pop in its stock after the company came out with its results. What did not impress–and should concern many VCs–was Amazon’s details on its LivingSocial investment.

Xirrus, a Wi-Fi device maker based in Thousand Oaks, Calif, has closed a $23.5 million Series E financing round. The funding was led by existing investors August Capital, Canaan Partners, InterWest Partners, QuestMark Partners, and US Venture Partners.

MaxLinear, a provider of integrated radio frequency and mixed-signal integrated circuits for broadband communication applications, has repurchased 1,152,338 shares of its Class A common stock from Mission Ventures and 500,000 shares of its Class B common stock from various funds affiliated with US Venture Partners. Following the repurchase, Mission Ventures will no longer hold any [...]

US Venture Partners led a $23 million round in HotelTonight, the last-minute mobile hotel booking app. Accel Partners, Battery Ventures and First Round Capital also joined in on the round. The financing brings HotelTonight’s total funding to more than $35 million. Rick Lewis, a GP with USVP, will also be joining the company’s board as [...]

Cybercrime prevention company ThreatMetrix has raised an $18 million fourth round of funding led by August Capital, according to VentureBeat. The company received a $12.1 million third round of funding in 2010 and in total has raised around $42.1 million. Investors include US Venture Partners, August Capital, Tenaya Capital, and CM Capital. The company recently [...]

Sequent Medical Inc., a developer of neurovascular medical devices, has raised $26 million in a Series C round led by Delphi Ventures. Existing investors Versant Ventures, US Venture Partners and Domain Associates also participated. James Bochnowski of Delphi Ventures will join Sequent Medical’s Board of Directors. PRESS RELEASE Sequent Medical, Inc. announced today that it [...]

The big news today is that Facebook is reportedly planning to register to go public next week. It should come as no surprise, then, that our most popular post this week was about this year’s prime IPO candidates. Other hot topics included the above-average performance of the San Francisco Employees’ Retirement System’s PE portfolio, a surge in VC investing and promotions at Carlyle and TA Associates. Here are the top 10 posts peHUB’s regular readers found most compelling from Jan. 23 to Jan. 27

1. Slideshow: Bring on the 2012 IPO Candidates – by Joanna Glasner
2. Scorecard: San Francisco Builds A Winning PE Portfolio – by David Toll
3. Venture Investing Rebounds In 2011 With Early Stage Leaping To A 10 Year High: Slideshow – by Mark Boslet
4. Aydin Senkut Recalls a Game of Pool with Aaron Levie Led Him to Milo.com: PHOTOS – by Alastair Goldfisher
5. Slideshow: Smart Grid, Smart Play? – by Jonathan Marino
6. TA Associates Promotes Eight – by peHUB staff
7. Carlyle Promotes 41 Execs – by peHUB staff
8. Global PE M&A Does Well in 2011 – by Angela Sormani
9. TransDigm Group Acquires AmSafe Global – by peHUB staff
10. Battery, Bay and USVP Could See 22x Return from Guidewire IPO – by Lawrence Aragon

Battery Ventures, Bay Partners and U.S. Venture Partners hit a grand slam with today’s IPO of Guidewire Software Inc., which makes software for insurance companies. As a group, the three venture firms hold about 25 million shares valued at about $428 million at today’s closing price of $17.12. The firms invested a modest $19.5 million [...]

OncoMed Pharmaceuticals, a clinical-stage company developing therapeutics that target cancer stem cells, has promoted Jakob Dupont, formerly vice president, clinical research to senior vice president and chief medical officer. Privately-held, OncoMed’s investors include US Venture Partners, Latterell Venture Partners, The Vertical Group, Morgenthaler Ventures, Phase4 Ventures, Delphi Ventures, Adams Street Partners, De Novo Ventures, Bay [...]

David Liddle has been elected to the board of directors of nonprofit research and development organization SRI International. Liddle is also a partner at US Venture Partners, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm, where he focuses primarily on mobile and wireless semiconductor and software companies. PRESS RELEASE David Liddle has been elected to SRI International’s [...]