Description of Business

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2017

Description of Business

Description of Business

1.    Description of Business

Natera, Inc. (the "Company") was formed in the state of California as Gene Security Network, LLC in November 2003 and incorporated in the state of Delaware in January 2007. The Company’s mission is to change the management of genetic disease worldwide. The Company operates a laboratory certified under the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments ("CLIA") providing a host of preconception and prenatal genetic testing services. The Company determines its operating segments based on the way it organizes its business to make operating decisions and assess performance. The Company has only one operating segment, which is the discovery, development and commercialization of genetic testing services and it has a subsidiary that operates in the state of Texas.

The Company's product offerings include its Panorama Non-Invasive Prenatal Test ("NIPT") that screens for chromosomal abnormalities of a fetus typically with a blood draw from the mother; Vistara (“Vistara”), a single-gene mutations screening test performed to identify single-gene disorders; Horizon Carrier Screening ("HCS") to determine carrier status for a large number of severe genetic diseases that could be passed on to the carrier’s children; Spectrum Pre-implantation Genetic Screening ("PGS") and Spectrum Pre-implantation Genetic Diagnosis ("PGD") to analyze chromosomal anomalies or inherited genetic conditions during an in vitro fertilization ("IVF") cycle to select embryos with the highest probability of becoming healthy children; Anora Products of Conception ("POC") test to rapidly and extensively analyze fetal chromosomes to understand the cause of miscarriage; Non-Invasive Paternity Testing ("PAT"), to determine paternity by analyzing the fragments of fetal deoxyribonucleic acid ("DNA") in a pregnant mother's blood and a blood sample from the alleged father(s), which is marketed and sold exclusively by a licensee from whom the Company receives a royalty. All testing is available principally in the United States, and the Company offers its Panorama test to customers outside of the United States. The Company also offers Constellation (“Constellation”), a cloud-based software product that allows laboratory customers to gain access through the cloud to the Company’s algorithms and bioinformatics in order to validate and launch tests based on the Company’s technology. The Company also offers Evercord, which is a cord blood and cord tissue processing and storage service; and SignateraTM, a circulating tumor DNA technology that analyzes and tracks mutations specific to an individual’s tumor, for research use only by oncology and biopharmaceutical companies. Further, the Company has expanded its Panorama test to now screen twin pregnancies for zygosity and chromosomal abnormalities.

Initial Public Offering

In July 2015, the Company completed an initial public offering (“IPO”), and subsequently in August 2015, the Company completed the sale of additional shares upon exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option. In connection with the IPO, including the over-allotment option, the Company sold 10,900,000 shares of common stock at $18.00 per share, which raised $178.5 million in proceeds, net of underwriting discounts and commissions and offering expenses.