Description of Business

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2020

Accounting Policies [Abstract]

Description of Business

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 proprietary optical barcoding chemistry 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 currently markets and sells two platforms based on its proprietary technology, its nCounter Analysis System and its GeoMx Digital Spatial Profiler, or GeoMx DSP system, both consisting of instruments and consumables, to academic, government, biopharmaceutical and clinical laboratory customers.

The Company has incurred losses to date and expects to incur additional losses for the foreseeable future. The Company continues to invest the majority of its resources in the development and growth of its business, including significant investments in new product development and sales and marketing efforts. The Company’s activities have been financed to date primarily through the sale of equity securities, the incurrence of indebtedness and through cash received by the Company pursuant to certain product development collaborations.

In March 2020, the Company issued $230.0 million in aggregate principal amount of 2.625% Convertible Senior Notes due 2025 (“Convertible Notes”) in a private offering. The Convertible Notes are governed by an indenture dated March 9, 2020 between the Company and U.S. Bank, National Association, as trustee. The Company received net proceeds from the offering of $222.6 million. The Company used $88.6 million to repay in full all outstanding amounts borrowed and fees owed with the termination of the Company’s amended and restated term loan agreement (“2018 Term Loan”) with Capital Royalty Group, and the fees owed in connection with the termination of the Company’s revolving credit facility with Silicon Valley Bank. The Company intends to use the remainder of the net proceeds for general corporate purposes, including the continued development and commercialization of its GeoMx DSP system, the continued commercialization of its portfolio of nCounter-based products and for working capital needs. See Note 9. Long-term Debt, Net for more information.

In March 2019, the Company completed an underwritten public offering of 3,175,000 shares of its common stock, including the exercise in full by the underwriters of their option to purchase 675,000 additional shares of common stock. An additional 2,000,000 shares were sold by a related party stockholder. The Company’s total gross proceeds were $73.0 million. The Company did not receive any proceeds from the sale of shares of common stock by the related party stockholder. After underwriter’s commissions and other expenses of the offering, the Company’s aggregate net proceeds were approximately $68.3 million.