Silver Spring rakes in further $100m

US smart grid technology company Silver Spring Networks has raised an additional $100m through its latest investment round, despite signalling earlier this year that it would need no more funding before going public.

The company announced this week that a high profile group of investors, including Google Ventures, Foundation Capital, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Northgate Capital, had provided fresh funding towards a planned global expansion drive and hiring push new staff, as well as the continued development of new smart grid applications.

The move is the latest in a series of funding rounds from the firm, which last December was it raise $75m in financing from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers' clean technology fund, along with Foundation Capital, Northgate, and JVB Properties. Then, in March, it raised another 20 per cent on that capital.

"I hope (this round of financing) is the last one," said chief executive Scott Lang at the time. "We did it to shore up the balance sheet,"

Lang's comments had made Silver Spring the subject of speculation around a potential IPO, but those rumours were laid to rest in September when the company confirmed it would not tap the public markets this year.

The company has declined to comment on the possibility of an IPO next year, but said this month that the latest funding round was oversubscribed.

The company has raised well over $200m at this point, including $40m of series C financing in 2007, and is one of the leading players in the fast expanding US smart grid market having secured contracts from a number of high profile demonstration projects.