Investors toss another $96m into Violin's instrument case

Forget the gold standard, give us paper backed by Flash

Violin Memory, the flash array startup, has filed an SEC document showing it's looking for more cash.

The form D filing describes a $130 million securities offering by Violin. This filing amends a previous filing which described an $80 million funding round, with the amended form's total being $50 million more at $130 million.

The new filing notes that $96,227,868 of the $130 million securities offered have been sold, leaving $33,772,32 million to be bought.

Why would Violin abruptly need more cash? One thought from a senior storage source is that cash in a close-to-an-IPO situation could be needed because of either internal difficulties that unexpectedly arise or because the IPO-ee has received an offer to buy the company. The new cash sends a message to any potential acquirer that the IPO-ee is not in immediate need of cash and can wait out any bid negotiation period.

Has Violin Memory received notice from someone who might be willing to buy the company? If so then the rumoured IPO price of $800 million to $850 million suggests the suitor is a major player. El Reg could not confirm this, however.

The Wall Street Journal's AllThingsD site reports that the cash will be used to fund Violin until the IPO which has now been pushed out to May.

Violin refused to comment on our IPO story and refused to comment on the AllThingsD story as well. ®