With all the IPO market focus on Google, there was very little insight offered last week, when Nanosys Inc., a nanotechnology startup, decided to withdraw its plans to hold an initial public offering.  Technology Review did carry a story from AP reporter Matthew Fordahl on the subject.

The article claims that Nanosys has 43 employees, and its main focus area is inorganic materials having about 1/100,000th the diameter of a hair.  While the company had secured an enviable lineup of partners (including the likes of Intel, Matsushita, DuPont and CIA-funded In-Q-Tel), no products have yet been introduced to the marketplace.  The company also holds (internally, via acquisition or licensing agreements with universities) an enviable intellectual property portfolio of roughly 250 patents (including some that are still pending).

In an earlier post, I referenced a new nanotech stock index, created in April 2004 by Merrill Lynch.  The article claims that back then, there was a lot of interest and the index soared to $274.06.  Since then, its value has eased to $187.

Note: Despite this bit of news, I expect to hear great things about Nanosys in the future.  There is massive investment being poured in the nanotech sector (e.g. President Bush signed a bill in late 2003 to invest nearly $3.7 billion in this segment).  Moreover, almost a dozen leading nanotech scientists serve as exclusive technology advisors to Nanosys.