Violin Memory, a US-based corporate venturing-backed maker of data storage equipment backed by Japan-based peer Toshiba, has extended its pre-flotation round by up to $50m.
Violin increased the amount it is raising from private investors could reach $130m from a previously disclosed round of $80m and said in a regulatory filing it had now raised $96.2m. Allied Beacon Partners and Internet Securities are named as brokers helping place the round, which has 126 investors, according to the filing.
News provider AllThingsD said the money was being raised by Violin at an “implied valuation of $850m and is intended to pay for operations until the IPO [initial public offering”.
Violin had reportedly filed for its IPO under the provision of the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act that allows it to keep the related filings with the SEC unavailable to the public.
All Things D said Violin’s IPO had been pushed back until May.
In October Violin was reported to have hired investment banks JPMorgan, Deutsche Bank and BoA Merrill Lynch for its expected flotation.
Newswire Bloomberg said Violin’s market valuation could be about $2bn and, in July last year, news provider Wall Street Journal said it had planned to have listed by April 2012.
In May, Violin privately raised $80m from investors, according to a spokeswoman.
The company said in a filing it had raised $74m of the planned $80m round in a filing on May 1. The company had received additional investment from GE Asset Management, an investment unit of US-based conglomerate General Electric, news provider All Things Digital, which first reported the round, said.
SAP Ventures joined technology corporates Toshiba and Juniper Networks backing Violin Memory, taking the company to a more than $800m valuation, in a $50m round, which has now been expanded.
The corporates were joined in the series D round by venture firm Highland Capital Partners.
Violin Memory added that other unannounced public companies had backed the round.
Violin Memory raised $40m in its series C round from existing corporate venturing investors and other, undisclosed listed companies. The round followed a $35m series B round by corporates including Toshiba and Juniper Networks in February 2011.
Other investors in the company include angels Atiq Raza, the former number two at Advanced Micro Devices, Arjun Gupta, the founder of TeleSoft Partners, and venture capitalist Dixon Doll. Violin Memory was founded in 2005.