On the PHP Front, Zend Gets $7 Million in Funding

Providing further evidence that venture capital is continuing to flow to open source and web-focused companies, Cupertino-based Zend has just received up to 7 million dollars from TriplePoint Capital. Zend is a leading provider of products and services for developing, deploying and managing business PHP applications. The move comes right on the heels of another rosy quarter for open source venture capital funding, but maybe there is more to Zend's announcement than meets the eye.

Zend's CEO Harold Goldberg had this to say: "The market for commercial web-based applications using PHP technologies is growing very fast in all geographies around the world," "Zend benefits from its strong position in this market, with an expanding list of major companies as customers and partners. We wanted to ensure that we continue our expansion and are therefore pleased to begin this partnership with TriplePoint Capital, a firm whose innovative approach closely aligns with our strategies in the web application market."

As Matt Asay notes, this particular sentence from the press release, in conjunction with the "up to 7 million dollars" wording, seems quite quirky: "Zend will use the funds as needed, to take advantage of market expansion opportunities as they arise." As they arise? Are these millions some kind of window dressing intended to attract a deal?

In other Zend news, the company has just opened up registration for the fourth annual Zend/PHP Conference, happening in Santa Clara, CA September 15th to 18th. Registration and details are here.