1.	Description of the Business

NanoString Technologies, Inc. (the “Company”) was incorporated in the state of Delaware on June 20, 2003. The Company’s headquarters is located 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, including its Prosigna Breast Cancer Assay, to academic, government and biopharmaceutical and clinical laboratory customers. In addition, the Company is collaborating with multiple biopharma companies to develop companion diagnostic tests for various cancer therapies.

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 its 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

In June 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.

Public Offerings

In June 2013, the Company’s registration statement on Form S-1 was declared effective. This registration statement 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. All outstanding shares of the Company’s mandatorily redeemable convertible preferred stock converted into shares of common stock in connection with the initial public offering. Following the initial public offering, there were no shares of preferred stock outstanding.

In January 2014, the Company completed an underwritten public offering of 2,972,972 shares of common stock for total gross proceeds of $55.0 million. In February 2014, the underwriters partially exercised an overallotment option, purchasing 345,945 additional shares from the Company for additional gross proceeds of $6.4 million. After underwriters’ fees and commissions and other expenses of the offering, the Company’s aggregate net proceeds were approximately $57.0 million.

In May 2015, the Company entered into a sales agreement with a sales agent to sell shares of the Company’s common stock through an “at the market” equity offering program for up to $40.0 million in total sales proceeds. Under the sales agreement, the Company sold 960,400 shares during 2015 for net proceeds of $12.5 million. The sales agreement allows the Company to set the parameters for the sale of shares, including the number of shares to be issued, the time period during which sales are requested to be made, limits on the number of shares that may be sold in any one trading day and any minimum price below which sales may not be made. Under the terms of the Sales Agreement, commission expenses to the sales agent will not exceed 3% of the gross sales price per share sold through the sales agent. The Sales Agreement shall automatically terminate upon the issuance and sale of placement shares equaling sales proceeds of $40.0 million and may be terminated earlier by either the Company or the sales agent upon five days’ notice. As of December 31, 2015, the Company has sold an aggregate of 960,400 shares of the Company’s common stock for total gross proceeds of $13.0 million. The net proceeds from the sale of the shares, after deducting the sales agent commission and other expenses of the offering, were approximately $12.5 million. As of December 31, 2015, approximately $27.0 million of common stock is available to be sold under the “at the market” equity offering program.