In a statement filed with the SEC, Nanosys blamed the volatility of public capital markets. Although it has yet to take a final decision, it might turn to the venture capital community for a round of funding.
A queue of IT companies that have filed for an IPO are now considering whether to proceed with their offerings in the face of a lukewarm market reception. The one exception is Google Inc, which will proceed with an offer that is expected to raise more than $3bn next week.
However, the search engine giant is a market leader with a solid financial record and a high public profile. The contrast with Nanosys could not be starker. The company recorded revenue of $3m last year when it made a loss of $7.1m. Nanosys acknowledges that it is at an early stage in developing the technology, and does not even know how to put products based on nanostructures into commercial production.
The belief that nanotechnology will be big at some stage in the future means that Nanosys is unlikely to have problems raising funds from venture capitalists. It has garnered a 250-strong patent portfolio and is working with Intel Corp to develop non-volatile memory products.
