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Chipmaker Impinj pulls IPO, raises $21M privately
Seattle-based Impinj formally pulled the plug on its dormant initial public offering Thursday, opting instead to raise a smaller amount of money privately.
By Drew DeSilver
Seattle Times business reporter
Thursday, July 26, 2012 at 4:56 PM
Seattle-based Impinj formally pulled the plug on its dormant initial public offering Thursday, opting instead to raise a smaller amount of money privately.
The company, which makes chips for ultra-high-frequency radio ID tags, had hoped to raise as much as $100 million when it first filed for its IPO in April 2011.
But there had been no visible activity on the deal for more than a year. Impinj never even got around to specifying how much it wanted to raise or setting a price range for its shares.
Instead, according to a company statement and a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Thursday, Impinj raised $21.65 million earlier this month from three dozen investors, including all of its biggest current owners.
The company plans to raise another $3 million or so by mid-August, chief financial officer Evan Fein said in an interview, and retains the ability to raise a similar amount down the road.
"This equity funding is a strong endorsement by existing investors of Impinj's leading role in the RFID industry," Tom Alberg, managing director of Seattle's Madrona Venture Group, said in the statement. "We expect accelerating growth for Impinj and the industry with the use of RFID expanding into mainstream applications such as consumer products."
Madrona owned 13.6 percent of Impinj as of the latest draft IPO prospectus in July 2011. It and three other venture-capital firms owned about 53 percent of the company at that time.
Intel owned 6.6 percent, co-founder and chairman Chris Diorio 10.2 percent, and CEO William Colleran 5.1 percent, according to the draft.
In its statement, Impinj said it had withdrawn the IPO because the private financing "fulfills the company's capital needs for the foreseeable future."
But, the company added, at some point it intends to file a new IPO application under the provisions of the "Jumpstart Our Business Startups," or JOBS, Act. That measure, enacted earlier this year, exempts "emerging growth companies" from several requirements of federal securities law.
Under the JOBS Act, eligible companies can delay adopting new or revised accounting standards; disclose less information about executive pay; keep shareholders from voting on pay arrangements; and avoid hiring outside auditors to attest to the effectiveness of their internal controls.
Impinj hasn't disclosed any financial data since the first quarter of 2011, in which it said it had lost $1.8 million on sales of $12.3 million.
Drew DeSilver: 206-464-3145 or ddesilver@seattletimes.com
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