Irvine’s Solarflare Communications Inc., one of the area’s best-funded chip startups, raised $20 million in additional venture funding.
The company, which makes networking chips and circuit boards, raised the money as part of an ongoing $24 million funding round.
In all, Solarflare has raised more than $200 million in venture funding.
Three undisclosed investors took part in the latest funding.
Solarflare makes chips that allow faster networks to link with slower ones, helping companies save on power and replacement costs.
Its chip design uses less power and boosts performance by canceling out interference from other signals. It also cuts down the number of circuits, allowing signals to be received and transmitted from just one pair of wires—following a recent trend dubbed converged networking.
Last month, Chief Executive Russell Stern told the Business Journal he expects the company to see about $10 million in sales this year and turn a profit next year.
Solarflare has been eyeing a public offering for a few years now.
“It’s certainly still in the cards,” Stern said. “The opening of the IPO market and our growth trajectory is promising. With a little wind at our back, we could do it maybe toward the end of next year.”
