The RFID Winner’s Circle – Impinj’s $100m Gold Medal - a prize for all
Posted by Patrick Sweeney on Mon, Apr 25, 2011
No doubt you’ve heard the news about Impinj filing their S1 to go public later this year. That’s great news for everyone in the RFID industry – even their competitors.
If you attended the RFID Journal Live trade show two weeks ago and walked in the main entrance you were greeted by the booths from the four undisputed leaders in RFID.
As one CEO commented ‘it’s pretty clear who the winners are in RFID.” Now, one of those winners is about to break open the RFID market to claim their prize; and it’s great news for every company in the RFID space. But first I know you are wondering who the other three winners are?
Through a lot of hard work, innovation and a team that is the best in the industry ODIN is one of them (and in fact the only company providing complete solutions or RFID Software). On the show floor, just on our right was Motorola and their innovative products, to their right was Impinj and on our left was NXP. Impinj, Moto, NXP and ODIN were the ones who filled up the winner’s circle according to most industry insiders.
Now one of those four winners is about to do what the early RFID leader (Alien) attempted too early four years ago and didn’t pull off. Impinj is able to do it because they sold 1 billion chips last year leading to $32m in revenue. What does it mean for the rest of RFID?
This CEO who said the trade show location coincided with the success in the RFID industry was wondering who would get bought next, not who would do an IPO.
It was a surprise to him that Impinj decided to file for an initial public offering (IPO). If Impinj is successful in getting out to the market (and with Morgan Stanley and JP Morgan Chase leading the IPO it is very likely they will) they will define RFID as a stand-alone industry. That means more credibility and opportunity for every RFID company.
This is cause for much celebration in the RFID industry, especially if you are Alien, Avery Dennison, Omni-ID or any of the other companies that are knocking on the door to the winner’s circle.
What it will mean is that RFID is an industry that provides enough value, and economic impact to stand alone as its own sector. Prior to this RFID was a sub-sector fitting only of acquisition targets. When OAT, Vue, Matrix, and others were acquired it showed there was value; but only in pockets. Now Impinj’s IPO will show that the industry has matured to the point where it is real and will touch every sector in the world and change businesses for ever.
The Impinj guys are very smart, work hard and make good products so they deserve to win. The big winner won’t be Impinj, however.
The big winner will be the second company to IPO, because everyone who is sitting on the sidelines during Impinj’s road show and is about to see a very successful tech company emerge and will wish they got in on Impinj; and they will climb all over themselves to get in on the second IPO in the RFID sector. If Impinj is successful, and I believe they will be, and I owned an RFID company I would be doing everything I could to be the second company out in the IPO market…