Impinj to Go Public

By Seattle Business Magazine April 22, 2011

Analysts have been predicting for years that the RFID sector would takeoff, but the technology has been slow to gain acceptance. Now sales may finally be gaining momentum. Impinj posted its best year in 2010, with revenues at $31.8 million, up 50 percent from 2009. The company says a 9-month shortage of wafer supplies and production problems prevented it from producing even more revenue.

The company, which has never been profitable, continues to spill red ink, losing $11 million last year. The company says the losses stem from a $32 million investment in research and development over three years. The company will use about $25 million of the money it raises from the offering to pay down its debts.

In spite of the losses, the company has many reasons for optimism. With 90 current patents and 77 more pending, Impinj controls a large share of RFID intellectual property. Between 2009 and 2010, sales of the Monza UHF Gen2 tag increased by 279 percent and Impinj sold 940 million tags last year alone. Since the tags introduction in 2005, more than two billion have been sold.

We envision a future when a broad array of everyday items is linked to networked information systems, thereby enabling significantly improved visibility, understanding and analysis of those items location and attributes. This global network of connected objects is often referred to as the Internet of Things, the company wrote in an SEC filing.

Companies like Walmart, Banana Republic and Coca Cola attach tags to inventory, which can be scanned and quickly relayed to computer systems. Retailers use that information to track inventory and confirm the authenticity of the items.

Since it was founded in 2000, Impinj has raised more than $160 million in Venture Capital funding. Those company shareholders include Arch Venture Partners (14 percent); Polaris Venture Partners (14 percent); Madrona Venture Group (13 percent); and Mobius Venture Capital (10 percent). Intel owns six percent as well.

Impinj currently employs 142 people with the companys headquarters in Fremont. Former Broadcom executive William Colleran serves as company CEO and University of Washington computer science professor Chris Diorio oversees technology operations. Two other companies, Netherlands-based NXP Semiconductors and California-based Alien Technology are Impinjs major competitors.

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