Description of Business

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2013

Accounting Policies [Abstract]

Description of Business

1. Description of Business

NanoString Technologies, Inc. (the “Company”) was incorporated in Delaware in June 2003 and is headquartered in Seattle, Washington.

The Company’s technology enables direct detection, identification and quantification of individual target molecules in a biological sample by attaching a unique color coded fluorescent reporter to each target molecule of interest. The Company markets its proprietary nCounter Analysis System, consisting of instruments and consumables, to academic, government, biopharmaceutical and clinical laboratories.

The Company has incurred losses to date and expects to incur additional losses in the foreseeable future. The Company continues to devote the majority of its resources to the growth of the Company’s business in accordance with its business plan. The Company’s activities have been financed primarily through the sale of equity securities and incurrence of indebtedness, and to a lesser extent, capital leases and other borrowings.

Reverse Stock Split

On June 12, 2013, the Company effected a 1-for-32 reverse stock split of its common stock and preferred stock. All share and per share information has been retroactively adjusted to reflect this reverse stock split.

Initial Public Offering

On June 25, 2013, the Company’s registration statement on Form S-1 was declared effective related to its initial public offering, in which the Company sold 5,400,000 shares of common stock at a price of $10.00 per share. The shares began trading on the NASDAQ Global Market on June 26, 2013. The $50.2 million in proceeds from the initial public offering, which is net of underwriting discounts and commissions but before offering expenses, were received at closing on July 1, 2013.