| | RFID tag maker Impinj prices IPO at $14, shares soar in rare public offering
by John Cook
GeekWire
on July 21, 2016 at 9:39 am
geekwire.com
Impinj’s Monza chip
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Wall Street likes what they see in Impinj, a 16-year-old Seattle-based maker of Radio Frequency Identification technology that today went public on Nasdaq at $14 per share. That was the upper end of the range for the company, which makes RFID chips that allow retailers to track inventory or manufacturers to track parts.
It marks the first initial public offering for a Seattle-based technology company this year. Impinj sold 4.8 million shares, raising $67.2 million. It also granted underwriters the option to buy 720,000 shares at the offering price.
Impinj, which is trading under the ticker PI, is doing well in its debut. The stock shot up more than 20 percent, and it is now trading around $17.17.
The company, which expects to post a net loss this year, is backed by ARCH Venture Partners, Intel Capital, Polaris Partners, Madrona Venture Group and GF Private Equity. But revenues are on the rise. It is led by founder Chris Diorio, an affiliate professor of computer science and engineering at the University of Washington.
The company posted revenue of $78.5 million last year, up from $63.8 million in 2014. It first turned a profit in 2013, and showed net income of $900,000 in 2015. Even so, it has accumulated a deficit of $187.6 million over the years.
More on Impinj and its financials in this SEC filing, where it offers this explanation of its business:
Our platform connects billions of everyday items such as apparel, medical supplies, automobile parts, drivers licenses, food and luggage to applications such as inventory management, patient safety, asset tracking and item authentication, delivering real-time information to businesses about items they create, manage, transport and sell. We believe connecting everyday items and delivering real-time information about them is the essence of the Internet-of-Things, or IoT. |
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