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SEATTLE--(BUSINESS
WIRE)--Aug. 11, 2004--NanoString Technologies, Inc.,
an early stage nanotechnology company developing bar
coding systems for single molecules, announced today
that it has raised $4.3 million in early stage capital.
The investment was jointly led by OVP Venture Partners,
of Kirkland, Wash., and Draper Fisher Jurvetson of
Menlo Park, Calif.
"We are very pleased to have the support of two
well respected venture capital groups," stated
H. Perry Fell, Ph.D., NanoString president and chief
executive officer. "The capital that we have
raised will enable us to accelerate our development
program that was initiated in Dr. Leroy Hood's lab
at the Institute for Systems Biology (ISB) here in
Seattle."
NanoString has an exclusive license agreement with
the ISB, for the rights to technology developed by
Dr. Krassen Dimitrov, chief scientific officer of
NanoString and former director of Microarrays, under
the leadership of Dr. Hood at the ISB. NanoString
is developing a system that is anticipated to ultimately
be as much as 100,000 times more sensitive than a
DNA microarray and can scan entire transcriptomes
in minutes.
"This new technology represents a huge step forward
and has the potential to revolutionize gene analysis,"
stated Dr. Leroy Hood, ISB president. "It is
faster, cheaper and more sensitive than microarray
technologies, a billion dollar a year industry today
-- and will probably have applications in areas not
yet imagined."
"I am excited by the potential applications for
NanoString's molecular bar coding system that include
gene expression, clinical diagnostics, forensics and
agriculture," said Chad Waite of OVP Venture
Partners. "The rapid detection and quantification
of single molecules in complex mixtures has the potential
to simplify many types of assays that are done today
and open up the door to new approaches in the future,"
said Jennifer Fonstad of Draper Fisher Jurvetson.
Both Waite and Fonstad have joined the board of directors
of NanoString.
About NanoString Technologies, Inc.
NanoString Technologies is an early stage company
developing a patent-pending nanotechnology-based platform
for high speed, completely automated, robust, highly
multiplexed, single molecule identification and digital
quantification. This breakthrough has the potential
to become a biological operating system onto which
any biomolecular analysis application can be developed.
NanoString Technologies is headquartered in Seattle,
Washington. For more information, visit: www.nanostring.com.
About OVP Venture Partners
OVP is the leading venture capital firm in the Pacific
Northwest and has more than $500 million in capital
under management. The firm has raised six venture
funds with an investment focus in pre-revenue software,
communications, and electronics companies. Over the
past 20 years, OVP has invested in almost 80 start-up
companies, with 22 IPO's and a similar number achieving
merger and acquisition. OVP VI closed in 2002 at $185
million. OVP's Technology Advisory Board includes
leading CIO's and CTO's who work or have worked at
Intel, Microsoft, Nike, Morgan Stanley, Aventis, General
Electric, Deutsche Bank, Providence Health Systems
and TCI. For more information, please go to: www.ovp.com.
About Draper Fisher Jurvetson
Draper Fisher Jurvetson is the premier early stage
venture capital firm. Founded in 1985, Draper Fisher
Jurvetson has created a global network of affiliated
venture funds with approximately $3 billion in capital
commitments and offices in the major technology centers
around the world. Headquartered in Silicon Valley,
the firm has proven expertise in identifying and helping
extraordinary entrepreneurs who want to change the
world. For more information, visit: www.dfj.com.
Contacts
NanoString Technologies, Inc.
Amber Ratcliffe, 206-732-1400
Amber@NanoString.com
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