Startup demand for debt on the rise, lender says
| May 22, 2008 |  View for printing |
Last week's news that Facebook Inc. had borrowed $100 million from TriplePoint Capital sparked speculation that the social networking site had turned to lenders after being turned away by venture capitalists no longer willing to bet on the company's sky-high valuation.
labe.jpgNot so, says TriplePoint CEO Jim Labe (pictured), who notes that TriplePoint had previously issued $200 million in debt to Facebook and has helped finance a range of companies, from Netflix Inc. [NFLX] to HotMail before it was acquired by Microsoft Corp. [MSFT] and YouTube before it was bought by Google Inc. [GOOG]. TriplePoint, which routinely advises companies of all levels of development but which specializes in early-stage funding, says it has recently seen an increase in demand for debt financing, particularly in the cleantech and energy sectors.
"Our pipeline is very very large and growing," Labe says. "Definitely, demand for equity is more competitive than ever.
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