Canadian materials science company Equispheres, which specializes in aluminum alloy powder for 3D printing, announced this week that it had secured a Series B investment, along with a new $30 million (CDN) investment round.
The funding round, at an undisclosed valuation, was led by HG Ventures, which is the corporate venture arm of The Heritage Group. Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC), a government-created foundation to advance clean technology innovation that’s supported the company in the past, and BDC, the only bank in Canada devoted exclusively to entrepreneurs, also participated in the funding round, along with some undisclosed contributors.
Lead funding partner HG Ventures, which invests in and partners with companies working in sustainable technology and advanced materials, contributed $10 million in equity investment to this round of funding, while SDTC added an $8 million grant, which was first announced back in January. BDC contributed $5 million in subordinated financing, and the round was completed with $7 million in undisclosed funding.
Equipsheres’ Doug Brouse informed us that Jonathan Schalliol, VC and Director of HG Ventures, “mentioned on LinkedIn” that the company is a new investor in the additive manufacturing space, and it’s always great to bring new companies into this industry that are excited to be here.
“We are extremely excited to have HG Ventures as a partner, their extraordinary combination of research capability and venture capital experience made them an ideal partner to understand both the technical and market potential of our product across the transportation industry,” stated Kevin Nicholds, President and CEO of Equispheres, in a press release. “We are also grateful to have the support of the Canadian government, enabling us to leverage investor financing to achieve our objective of providing a high-quality product at volume levels the marketplace demands.”
Extreme magnification of Equispheres’ aluminum alloy powders for AM.
This isn’t the first time Equisheres has received major funding for its work in unique metal AM powders. The high performance, mono-sized metal powders it develops can help print parts that are up to 30% stronger and lighter than ones fabricated with other powders. In the last year alone, the company has released two important reports about testing results of its specialty materials, including how it performed in aerospace-ready AM quality tests. With this latest funding, Equispheres can continue testing its powders, and plans to scale up the production capacity, along with investing in research and development partnerships.
Equispheres will be using the funds to focus on several important areas, including creating high quality jobs and hiring and developing new talent, and improving reactors for lower cost and higher volume powder production. In addition, the company will ramp up its R&D projects with new and existing strategic partners, as well as work on creating application support services for the aviation, automotive, defense, and space industries in order to expedite advanced manufacturing opportunities that its metal powders make possible.
Equispheres stated in its press release that “more significant developments are expected on the horizon,” so we should stay tuned to hear what’s coming next.
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Metal 3D printing company Velo3D has just raised $28 million in a Series D funding round, making it a total of $138 million that the firm has raised so far. The D round was lead by Piva. Just recently the firm announced that it now has a 1m tall build volume metal printer with its first customer being found in oil and gas. On the most recent episode of the 3DPod, we delve deeper into that along with the customer and Velo3D team.
Sapphire
Velo3D CEO Benny Buller said:
“Customers in industries such as aerospace, oil & gas, and power generation are now able to achieve part quality for their mission-critical applications with performance levels that weren’t possible before with 3D metal printing.”
In the press release, the company stated that,
“VELO3D plans to use the new capital to expand its product portfolio to include more machine options, compatible alloys, and enhanced software and hardware capabilities. The company anticipates that the injection of fresh capital will help them reach sustainable profitability by mid-2022.”
Ricardo Angel, CEO of Piva stated,
“We have been impressed by Benny, the team and their breakthrough technology that will have a significant impact on the efficient design and manufacturing of more complex components, previously unattainable, with clear commercial traction already in the aerospace and aviation markets. VELO3D will lead a new wave of more resilient, distributed manufacturing capabilities for its most critical components, which the world will need to ensure local product availability and timeliness, while mitigating potential future worldwide disruptions.”
Velo3D has used software, FPGA’s and then hardware to improve DMLS/Powder Bed Fusion success rates and increase the number of geometries that can comfortably be made with little or no supports. We discuss the technology and its capabilities here with Velo3D’s Zach Murphee. The company is a real challenger to GE and EOS as well as other players such as SLM Solutions. This level of funding really supersizes Velo3D’s efforts in penetrating the market. The firm is up against some players with serious technological chops and large installed bases. The matchup in DMLS also pits very different firms and funding mechanisms against each other.
EOS is closely held an asset of the Langer family whose second-generation CEO Marie Langer recently told us “would never sell.” The Langer family has its sights set on a far off horizon. I once said, only half-jokingly, “no they won’t sell to Siemens, they want to be Siemens.” They are trying to cement EOS’ lead and burrow deep into applications with broad materials and industrial penetration and a focus on organizational design, sustainability, and stewardship. Meanwhile, GE is a large corporate, wounded sure, but still one of the mightiest and formidable engineering organizations on this earth. They are focusing on industrializing 3D printing for themselves in order to gain further entrenched advantages in aero engines and other units. GE’s commitment is sometimes questioned by those who could imagine the firm walking away from our industry. I do see them as capable of taking sanguine decisions but Additive is in one sense a rounding error for them but also a way for them to gain advantages in markets that they are strong while speeding up to go to market and saving costs. SLM is Parcom private equity-owned the firm is really making progress with new machine generations but still somehow seems hurting from being a hares breadth away from being acquired by GE years ago. They signed before it was killed by activist investor Elliott demanding more and GE bought Concept Laser instead which was a huge misread by Elliott because they should have realized that what GE needed most was Arcam. There was no alternative for Arcam EBM patent cover but there was for DMLS patent cover. SLM did have a big win when manufacturing leader Beam IT bought 15 systems recently though. Other firms such as precision measurement firm Renishaw is making more credible machines now but still seems a bit behind in the new generation of automated higher productivity machines. 3D Systems is trying to partner in order to deliver post-processing and workflows. DMG Mori and other entrants are gearing up, as is Trumpf. Additive Industries is a startup with a long view, vision, and breadth but this kind of Velo3D investment thing could make them think of tie-up possibilities due to comparative scale even though their series focused machine is very much where the market is headed.
With investor attention long focused on binder jet, this will put the spotlight on DMLS 3D printing once again for the Silicon Valley set; and now for higher value parts manufacturing in aerospace, oil and gas, and the like. The hope of binder jet is now replaced by the higher cost reality of DMLS. This is a great development for our industry and a huge win for Benny and the team.
Sandvik continues to add to their high-tech offerings, as well as expanding Sandvik Additive Manufacturing with the recent investment in Beam IT. The Sweden-headquartered engineering group, specializing in metals, additive manufacturing, materials, metal cutting, and mining, has taken on a ‘significant’ stake in Beam IT, with the potential for further investment in the future.
This strategic partnership will not only strengthen Sandvik’s position in the additive manufacturing and wider component manufacturing industry but also metal 3D printing.
Currently, Sandvik is a leader in AM metal powder production, with continued and ‘sizeable’ investments within the industry. The Swiss company has over 150 years of materials technology and science in its formidable industrial background, with 75 years also spent developing post-processing methods.
“The AM sector is developing fast and there is a need for AM-specialist-partners with the advanced skills and resources required to help industrial customers develop and launch their AM programs. With the investment in Beam IT we provide our customers with the opportunity to access the complementary and combined power of Sandvik and Beam IT,” said Kristian Egeberg, President of Sandvik Additive Manufacturing.
Continuing to refine their operation further, Sandvik also combined their AM and Powder divisions—allowing them to offer comprehensive solutions to their customers, from metal powder to finished AM parts.
Beam IT, headquartered in Italy, has been involved in metal AM development for over 20 years, acting as a supplier of components for applications like:
Aerospace
Automotive
Energy
Racing
“The demand for additively manufactured components is expected to grow rapidly the coming years,” said Mauro Antolotti, Chairman and founder of Beam IT. “In Sandvik, we have a very good owner who can help us accelerate the growth – and who can provide us with leading materials expertise, development of high-quality metal powder suited for all AM processes, as well as world-leading post-processing know-how.”
With over 20 PBF printers installed, Beam IT also possesses AS 9100 certifications for aerospace, and NADCAP approval. The AM company began with a specialty in prototyping plastic parts, and then forged ahead into metal; today, their strengths are in serious innovation and a dedication to research and development and growth overall—with a focus on DMLS, EBM, and SLS processes. Beam IT is truly a cutting edge metal printing firm with exciting projects in areas such as Formula 1 and defence.
“We are extremely pleased to announce this deal and partnership with Sandvik, which aims to leverage synergies and further strengthen both companies’ position on the metal AM market. Our partnership will definitely benefit both current and future AM-customers going forward,” said President of Beam IT, Michele Antolotti.
Sandvik has been a dynamic presence in 3D printing and additive manufacturing throughout the years, involved in other innovative and unique investments within the industry, and a continued focus on showcasing their dedication to related software and hardware.
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Tyler Benster from Asimov, whom I had the pleasure of sitting next to during lunch, informed the room that the first finalist, Les Kalman from Western University’s Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, would unfortunately not be competing in the competition, as the weather in Toronto kept his plane from taking off, and then explained the rules of the Startup Showdown. Each finalist had seven minutes to give their pitch, and the panel of judges – Benster, GE Additive’s Stephan Zeidler, and Tuan TranPham from Desktop Metal – would then have about five minutes to ask questions.
The first finalist to present was OsseoPrint 3D, which is marketing a platform technology for implantable, patient-specific bone scaffolds that can be 3D printed on-site at the practitioner’s office.
According to CEO and founder Dr. Arthur Greyf, a dental implantologist who’s spent a lot of time and money grafting bones in his office, there is definitely a need for OsseoPrint 3D’s platform, as nearly two million bone implants were manufactured in the US over the last six years.
The startup has a working 3D printer prototype with several good features, like a particle counter, optimize algorithm for 3D printing infill patterns, a HEPA filter, and a software-controlled door lock. Dr. Greyf said that OsseoPrint 3D had a positive pre-submission meeting with the FDA last August, and that the 3D printer should be designed and ready for final approval in the next 3-6 months.
The startup has a simple business model, which will require about $5 million to get to the market in the near future, and offers “significant time savings” in surgery, as scaffolds can be designed and 3D printed chair-side in dental offices in less than 15 minutes. According to Dr. Greyf, the startup’s 3D printer, which has never “seen the light of day outside of my office” until now, will cost about $25,000 and will pay for itself in about 10-20 uses.
Next to present in the competition was Belgium-based startup Twikit, which makes mass customization software and just launched its Twikbot platform for the orthotics and prosthetics market. CTO Olivier De Deken explained that the O&P industry has long supply chains, which can be fraught with errors, and that using both additive manufacturing and automation can result in a “scalable flow” and better end products.
Twikbot’s flexible, cloud-based platform allows the user to set their own preferences, such as patterns, before the global startup makes the production-ready file and the end brace is 3D printed. According to De Deken, the market potential for this platform in the global orthopaedic market is $52 billion.
Twikit has a fast-growing, global team of 33 employees, and is currently closing a Series A funding round. The startup generates revenue through an SaaS fee charged for use of the platform, along with revenue sharing, and future plans include looking at more complex medical products, such as scoliosis braces.
De Deken explained that its proprietary, scalable software platform is independent of external CAD software, and that because the solution is generic, it can be applied to any vertical, medical or otherwise, that’s ready for digitization.
The final startup to pitch in the competition was EXIOM, which provides 3D printed, upper extremity orthopedic casts. It was founded by husband and wife team Erik and Amy Paul, both of whom are US Air Force veterans. After he passed out examples of the startup’s casts to the judges, Erik explained that when one of their seven kids broke his arm, they wanted to find a better way to fix it without relying on a heavy, uncomfortable plaster cast that you have to wrap in plastic when you bathe.
“Our casts alleviate all those issues,” Erik stated.
EXIOM, which already has FDA certification and is beginning the commercialization process, uses the software of its European partner Xkelet and Ultimaker 3D printers to make its casts, and is working to introduce foot, ankle, and knee cast models in the future, along with a 3D printable emergency splint that should be ready next month.
The startup’s casts are very lightweight, and the quick, easy 3D scanning procedure equals more throughput. EXIOM provides support and onsite equipment training to its core customers, which include hospitals, clinics, and VA care networks.
In the middle of this year, EXIOM plans to integrate several new high speed, medical-grade 3D printers into its contract provider network for “on-site production at unprecedented speed,” which makes it stand out from the competition…which is namely ActivArmor.
Once EXIOM finished its presentation, the judges stepped into the hallway to confer, and returned very shortly after what Benster called a “lively, exciting, and brief discussion” to declare OsseoPrint 3D the winner of the AMS Startup Showdown.
In the presentation, Dr. Greyf stated that OsseoPrint 3D would need $2 million in order to completely finish its 3D printer prototype. The $15,000 cash investment it just received from Asimov for winning the competition will definitely help the startup reach its goal.
OsseoPrint 3D: Dr. Arthur Greyf, CEO, and Leonid Fayn, CTO
We’ll have more to share with you from AMS 2019, so stay tuned!
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The healthcare solutions company uses patient data from 2D MRI and CT scans to provide 3D modeling and printing services to the medical community, so physicians can better help their patients. More than three years ago, it was the first company in India to provide doctors with a 3D printed, patient-specific pediatric cardiology model before surgery, and has since moved on, 3D printing models for spinal, oral and maxillofacial, orthopaedic, head and neck, and neurosurgery operations using a variety of methods, including SLS, stereolithography, DMLS, and color jet printing.
Anatomiz3D’s mission is two-fold: to aid surgical practices by simplifying and customizing operative planning and procedures in order to improve patient recovery quality, and to develop patient-specific tissue engineering solutions to help lower the need for organ donors in the future.
Now, the surgical 3D printing company has announced that it’s partnering up with another Indian company to develop various 3D printed specialty solutions for the personalized healthcare industry. Incredible AM Pvt Ltd, established in 1974 as part of Industrial Metal Powders Pvt Ltd in Pune, works with both the medical and engineering industries by providing metal 3D printing services.
Incredible AM Pvt Ltd has a great facility that’s based on FDA guidelines, and is also reportedly the only company in India that has received both ISO 9001 and ISO 13485 certifications for the manufacture of metal medical devices; this has helped it provide many customers across India with custom implants for neuro, orthopaedic, and maxillofacial surgeries.
With Incredible AM Pvt Ltd’s capabilities in metal 3D printing, paired with the design and plastic 3D printing skills provided by Anatomiz3D, this new partnership is essentially a one-stop-shop when it comes to personalized, patient-specific healthcare solutions.
Now, Incredible AM Pvt Ltd has invested an undisclosed amount of money into its new partner, Anatomiz3D, so that the two can work together to successfully even offer more 3D printed patient-specific surgical solutions to customers all around the world, focusing on affordable prices, excellent quality, and precise designs. The two companies have already helped create several orthopaedic, maxillofacial, and cranial implants together, and continue to work hard and help their respective R&D teams develop even more 3D printed medical products.
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We’re starting with some business news in today’s 3D Printing News Briefs, including stories about a new 3D printer, an anniversary, and a 3D printing investment. Cincinnati Incorporated has launched a new high temperature version of its SAAM 3D printer, and EOS will supply Visser Precision with five new metal 3D printers, including its M 400-4. VBN Components celebrates its tenth anniversary, and an Israeli 3D printing startup has received about $400,000 in funding. Researchers in Iran have successfully 3D printed flexible electronic circuits, and 3D printing was used to replicate a Chinese grotto. Finally, the Golf Channel will be featuring 3D printed golf clubs tonight.
New High Temperature Version of SAAM 3D Printer
Last week at FABTECH 2018 in Georgia, build-to-order machine tool manufacturer Cincinnati Incorporated (CI) launched a brand new high temperature version of its SAAM (Small Area Additive Manufacturing) 3D printer series. The SAAM HT 3D printer has a nozzle that can sustain temperatures up to 450°C and a bed temperature up to 260°C, which makes it possible to process materials like polycarbonate, PEEK, and ULTEM. Courtesy of its continuous patented automatic-ejection mechanism, the SAAM HT can be used for small batch production, and is a good choice for manufacturing tooling involved in high temperature operations.
“All materials compatible with SAAM can be used on the HT version. This level of versatility makes it a valuable asset in any manufacturing setting. We are enabling manufacturers and engineers to create the custom parts they need for their most demanding applications,” said Chris Haid, the General Manager of the NVBOTS Business Unit at CI.
EOS Supplying Visser Precision with New Metal 3D Printers
EOS M400-4
Denver-based Visser Precision, which provides advanced metals manufacturing solutions, has doubled its metal 3D printing capacity, thanks to the terms of an agreement reached with EOS at the recent IMTS trade fair. Visser has purchased three EOS M 400-4 3D printers, and two of the recently introduced EOS M 300-4 systems, making it the first organization to acquire the new platform. Market demands for DMLS-quality metal components in industries like aerospace and defense led Visser to grow its metal 3D printer capacity, and the new EOS systems will be delivered in a few months.
Ryan Coniam, the President of Visser Precision, said, “Our customers require the highest-performance, highest quality components and we feel partnering with EOS – the metal AM industry pioneers and leaders in DMLS – provides us with the capabilities we need to meet market demands now and in the next few years. Nearly anyone nowadays can 3D print something in metal, the trick is repeatability while meeting and maintaining quality and our investments with EOS mean we can deliver that to our customers.”
VBN Components Celebrating 10 Years in Business
Swedish materials development company VBN Components AB was founded in the midst of the 2008 financial crisis, and has come a long way since then. The award-winning company works to continuously develop new and better materials, including its corrosion and wear resistant Vibenite 350 for the plastics industry and Vibenite 290, the “World’s Hardest Steel.”
Martin Nilsson, CEO and one of the founders of VBN Components, said, “After our first patent, describing the process of making extremely clean and low-oxygen-rate materials, we realised that we were on to something big.”
This year, VBN Components is celebrating 10 years in business, with several patents and new, hard materials under its belt. But stay tuned – the company will soon unveil the greatest news in its history, which has been described as “a revolution in material development.”
Israeli 3D Printing Startup Receives Funding
TAU Ventures team, R-L: Nimrod Cohen, Managing Partner at TAU Ventures; Shira Gal, Director of Incubator Programs; Yaara Benbenishty, Director of Marketing and Operations [Image: Eylon Yehiel]
TAU Ventures, the venture capital fund of Tel Aviv University, announced that it has led an investment round worth nearly $2 million for two Israeli startups, including Hoopo and 3D printing company Castor. Founded two years ago by Omer Blaier and Elad Schiller, Castor combines 3D printing with artificial intelligence for its high-tech customers, which enables the companies to lower costs by using advanced technology. Castor’s technology automatically analyzes and determines the cost-effectiveness and feasibility of using 3D printing in the manufacturing process.
The startup will be receiving about $400,000 in combined funding from Stanley Black & Decker, the Techstars Accelerator, British businessman Jeremy Coller, and TAU Ventures, which is the first and only academic-based venture capital fund in Israel.
3D Printing Flexible Electronic Circuits
Researchers from a knowledge-based company in Iran have recently developed 3D printers that can fabricate flexible electronic circuits, which could be used in the future as wearables for clothing, pressure sensors, or industrial talc for cars.
The unnamed company’s project manager, Ali Gharekhani, told Mehr News that these 3D printers only take a few seconds to 3D print the flexible electronic circuits, and that foreign versions of this system are “very expensive.” Gharekhani also said that in light of this new development, his company has already received some proposals for Turkey, and “intends to reach an agreement with the Turkish side on production of clothes by 3D printers” before its rivals in Germany, Canada, and Korea.
3D Printed Replica of Chinese Grotto
Yungang Grottoes are a cradle of Buddhist art, playing host to more than 51,000 sculptures. [Image: Zhang Xingjian, China Daily]
There are over 59,000 statues carved in 45 different caves in the 1,500-year-old Yungang Grottoes, which was named a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2001. This week, a full-size, 3D printed replica of one of the grottoes passed experts’ tests. The Yungang Grottoes Research Institute in northern China’s Shanxi province, a Shenzhen company, and Zhejiang University launched the project, which is based on original cave No 12, also called the “Cave of Music.” The 3D printed replica is 15 meters long, 11 meters wide, and 9 meters high, weighs less than 5 metric tons, and is claimed by the institute to be the world’s largest 3D printed movable grotto. High precision 3D data was collected to print the replica out of resin, which took about six months, and it can be divided in parts and pieced together within a week.
“We plan to color it with mineral pigments before the end of this year,” said Zhang Zhuo, head of the institute. “In this way, the replica will maintain its original size, texture and color.”
In the future, the 3D printed grotto replica will be added to exhibition tours with the institute’s other cultural relics.
3D Printed Golf Clubs on the Golf Channel
Tonight, at 9 pm EDT, EOS will be featured, together with Wilson Golf, on the NBC Golf Channel show Driver Vs. Driver. The seven-episode series follows aspiring designers of golf equipment as they compete against each other for the chance to win $500,000. In addition to the money, the winner will also have the opportunity to have their driver design sold, under the Wilson Staff name, at retail stores.
The show gives viewers a behind the scenes look as advancing teams work with engineers at the company’s innovation hub, Wilson LABS, to evaluate, refine, and test out their concepts. Tonight is the third episode, and showcases several designers’ use of 3D printing to make the best golf driver club. Wilson is among a few other companies, including Krone Golf, Ping, Callaway Golf Company, and Cobra Puma Golf, that is using 3D printing to produce golf clubs and other equipment.
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Yesterday we learned that Formlabs obtained an additional $15 million in funding from New Enterprise Associates making it estimated to be worth a billion dollars. We told you about that story and the immediate implications here, and now we have some analysis. This gives it coveted unicorn status amongst startups since so few privately held start-up companies are worth over a billion dollars. At first blush this unicorn status is meaningless. If I sold you a one billionth share of my shoe for two bucks then my shoe would be a unicorn too. The valuation and the resulting unicorn status are decided and conveyed by the same people hoping to profit from selling the business for more later on. Please also note that the people doing this selling and telling are VCs, who make their money allocating risk but almost all live near earthquake fault lines. These people are in the manufacturing inevitability business. So the Tl;dr is, nothing. It is not important that some of the people who invested in Formlabs would now like us to believe it is now worth a billion dollars as opposed to $10. What is important, however?
What are the implications for our industry?
$100 million is the new $3 million. VC’s are now willing to sink over a $100 million in a third 3D printing company after Desktop metal and Carbon. This tells us a number of things. VCs really do believe in 3D printing which is nice. It also tells us that VCs believe that there will be one or two winners in the Additive Manufacturing market. Meanwhile, we see a chaotic open-source FDM 3D printer ecosystem with over 500 entrants. This implies that investors are expecting a mass die-off there of companies. Everyone I speak to expects the great majority of 3D printer companies to die off soon. It’s a near universally held truth, and you know when predicting the future these are almost never correct. What if we see more granular approaches to market and more companies filling more niches? What if specialization and systems integration into custom manufacturing solutions provides an alternative?
Have’s and Have Nots. There are a few companies with oodles of cash, namely Carbon, Desktop metal and Formlabs. This once again illustrates the power the US has in capital allocation. Shapeways moved to the states and the other high funding companies all hail from there. In a globalized world, it is still a great advantage to be a US startup. Other companies such as Ultimaker have tens of millions of funding and seem to be running a marathon rather than running for the exits. Does this mean we are about to see a bifurcation in our industry with the European companies opting to stay private and the Americans going public? EOS is a huge firm that has grown incredibly quickly and yet it all in the hands of its founder Dr. Langer. What are the implications of this?
Will we also see a war of attrition on the desktop? In metal 3D printing people at Formnext, last year seemed to be building dreams and wars of attrition, not parts. Huge investments in stands made us believe that this sky castle was a better long-term bet than the next. Will we seem similar wars of attrition on the desktop? Will the happy few simply outspend those others who took little or no investment?
Kickstarter went from being a universe on and of itself to a byword for optimism induced consumer fraud. Formlabs success is a huge validation of the Kickstarter model and Kickstarters ability to build actual businesses. Far from dream coolers or once omnipresent Pebble watches some smart kids built an amazing business out of a Kickstarter. Will this mean that Kickstarter will once again become a mechanism for funding businesses or will it be novelties?
Jeff Immelt is probably as connected as one could get in manufacturing. His Rolodex could get Formlabs a strategic seat at the table right at a time when the boards of polymer companies, industrial firms, and large car companies are considering making end-use parts with 3D printing. Whereas Formlabs did enter into production with dental, casting and other applications, Immelt armed with Formlabs new sintering system could open some very exciting doors for Formlabs at the precise moment that they need it.
The Formlabs Form Cell Automated manufacturing setup.
Leaping into manufacturing. So far it seemed to me that industrial laser sintering fas in the driving seat in “protected things” such as regulated things and medical while FDM would naturally win in manufacturing because of the price and diversity in materials. A more shop floor focus by Formlabs could see the company lead into competition for the manufacturing crown and this would mean a real challenge for FDM and EOS. Meanwhile, it could also decide to continue to dominate a mid-level manufacturing no man’s land where it would be the system in the room at the lab or at the design department. I think that the latter would be a much better bet in growth and margins long term. The wrong choice here could sink them.
Innovator’s Dilemma. If they go the manufacturing route it would mean a big challenge for EOS in the long run as well as a continued challenge for 3D Systems. How will they respond with pressure from below? The latter firm made a patent litigation settlement with Formlabs in 2014 which meant that Formlabs pays them 8% of sales in order to be able to use SLA. This was a win for 3D at the time but I think that the stability and lack of worry it brought the company meanwhile was important. Also, it must have terrified the 3D systems guys each installment to learn what they were getting paid.
The Fuse Powder Bed Fusion System
$100m. Tucked away in the press release Formlabs mentioned that its run rate was a $100 million a year, which by the by was 70% lower than my estimates. There are dozens of successful desktop startups that have a few million in revenues. Only a few have 30 million or more. To as an organization make it through several transitions, lose people, find people, find structures and replace them successfully is a challenge. It is a great achievement that a 7-year-old startup in hardware is doing at least sixth of 3D Systems’ revenue. Having the escape velocity to do that makes them well poised for further growth. Also, a billion dollar valuation with over 100m in revenue is less of a stretch of some more fanciful startups recently.
Scale and scope. Additionally, the company has expanded globally with multiple offices and now will extend its technologies to powder bed fusion as well. This will be an additional hurdle to follow. What will be the model of the successful 3D printing OEMs of the future? Service businesses that sell machines and have several technologies as Stratasys is; a jack of all trades as 3D Systems is; highly specialized but complete offering firms such as Ultimaker; a command and control company like EOS; or will it be a scrappy Prusa i3 clone maker that will only do that? We still can not know, but I think that Formlabs unique path has given us many implications for our industry. How exactly did they get this far?
Why was Formlabs able to out-execute and get this far?
Closed works too. The riotous open FDM ecosystem is making leaps, bounds, sidesteps, tumbles generally forward. They are open, mostly pretend open source companies that through scrappy competition have made an open landscape that is increasingly being used for manufacturing. Recently I said that Stratasys should go open as well to become more competitive against this ecosystem. But, here is Formlabs and they’re closed. Their software, their printer, their materials. They decide, Apple-like, what is right for you.
Ease of Use. The closed Formlabs approach actually as a user gives you the best UX in 3D printing. The Formlabs printers are still the easiest to use from buttons to software in the industry. UX is not only for conferences and press releases, it matters. I’m not a fan of SLA but damn the thing just works.
Outexecute. Formlabs took what looked to be a rather simple challenge and outexecuted in all regards. Obsessive about quality and experience they went it alone in popularizing SLA and Pro. By holistically looking at the entire experience they performed better for one particular group of people: designers and engineers that needed smooth, highly detailed parts in semi-office settings. Too often companies want to be all things to all men and end up being nothing to no one.
Timing. That Formlabs was the first to tout Pro is largely understood and their focus on not the shop floor and not the desktop but the in-between was in retrospect brilliant. They anticipated what everyone else found out later, that the majority of desktop 3D printer buyers were companies. Also, they waited to bring out the Form Cell to do manufacturing, they didn’t try to sell manufacturing solutions off the bat. Being too early can suck too. The company had the only completely finished the prettiest product when it mattered, not to everyone but to enough.
Contrarian. Being contrarian is good on paper, rarely fun in real life. In 2009 I was at a meeting with around 10 or so industry experts discussing the challenges in 3D printing and every single one of us concluded that stereolithography was dead. We were unanimous in declaring that in the coming revolution of real-world end-use parts, SLA was toast. Ooops.
Lucky. At a time when there were dozens of FDM startups pouring into 3D printing most didn’t even give SLA a second glance. Exotic expensive photopolymers, lasers, it seemed so finicky. To the open source rough and tumble grease and solder folks the whole SLA thing just seemed a tad effete compared to what they were doing. And its not open source? Lets completely ignore them. This ended up being a godsend to the company and to this day they’ve had spectacularly little competition in desktop SLA.
Right place. Being close to MIT matters, its easier for some of the best people to join you and for you to get advice from some amazing people as well. Location still matters a lot in today’s world.
Max is very smart. 3D Printing has a lot of bright people in it, among those bright people Max is an exceptionally bright one. He’s also relentless in pursuing a vision. For most people and most firms such an approach leads to failure but if someone like Max surrounds himself with the brightest of people then sometimes, just sometimes the future happens.
Essentially there was a firm that sought out excellence at the right time in a contrarian way. By developing a system with good usability they, VC fueled were able to find and keep customers while being left to their own devices. Can’t wait to see what they’ll do next.
It seems these days that Colorado is the place to be in the 3D printing industry. Home to the ADAPT Consortium and 3D Systems’ Littleton Healthcare Technology Center, along with Aleph Objects and its LulzBot 3D printers, the state has had its fair share of innovations in the medical and educational fields. We’ve got more news coming out of the Centennial State this week, as Vartega, which produces recycled carbon fiber from scrap material generated in aerospace, automotive, sporting goods, and wind energy manufacturing, and the Colorado Cleantech Industries Association (CCIA) have teamed up with several academic and industry partners to form an alliance centered around additive manufacturing and sustainable thermoplastics.
Katie Woslager, Senior Manager, Advanced Industries, Colorado OEDIT, said, “This was an extremely competitive grant cycle, but the review committee and the Economic Development Commission recognized the value that Vartega, CCIA, and the other project partners could bring to the state through this investment in an advanced materials and additive manufacturing ecosystem.”
Members of the AMIDE Alliance will be represented by a seven-person governance board that’s made up of academic and industry partners; CCIA will oversee the board’s establishment. Founding partners include Vartega, CCIA, Colorado State University (CSU) EWI, and The 3D Printing Store. Additional support for both the alliance and the grant proposal came from the following:
The American Composites Manufacturers Association (ACMA)
Colorado manufacturers AMP Industrial, the Crestridge Group, Oribi Manufacturing, and Steelhead Composites, which all currently have new products in development with advanced materials and manufacturing methods like 3D printed carbon fiber thermoplastics, also provided support.
“There was so much great work happening in Colorado around the adoption and acceleration of 3D printing, but we kept running into the same problems sourcing and developing new materials and identifying local expertise for these applications. As we recognized this gap in the supply chain and workforce, we were able to work with our customers and partners to put together a vision of what a vertically integrated supply chain would look like,” said Vartega CEO Andrew Maxey. “We’re excited to be part of the newly formed AMIDE Alliance to close this gap and increase innovation in this growing and important area of manufacturing.”
Vartega makes custom 3D printing and injection molding materials by combining its recycled carbon fiber with thermoplastics. By participating in the alliance, the company will be making capital equipment investments that will help to grow the state’s production of custom thermoplastic formulations.
The overall goal of the AMIDE Alliance, which will close a major gap in Colorado’s materials supply chain by providing critical development resources for AM thermoplastics, is to develop a materials development and testing ecosystem by investing in resources and equipment. The ecosystem will make it possible to increase advanced 3D printing materials development, as well as training the next generation of skilled manufacturing workers. The alliance will accomplish its goals by opening innovation centers in collaboration with CSU, the Colorado School of Mines, and Vartega.
“Advanced materials and additive manufacturing are impacting just about every industry right now,” said Shelly Curtiss, CCIA Executive Director. “We see a huge opportunity to leverage these new developments throughout the cleantech sector for the benefit of our members who are focused on renewables, energy efficiency, clean water, oil and gas, mining and transportation.”
The CCIA will administer the grand funds for the innovation centers, which will be home to programs for educating and training new students, technicians, and professionals. The centers will also have the necessary equipment to help mature new additive manufacturing technologies and materials. Additionally, EWI will support materials development by offering advanced nondestructive evaluation, modeling and inspection services to support the ongoing new materials development.
CSU’s innovation center will be at the university’s Composite Materials, Manufacture and Structures (CMMS) Laboratory, and will include the installation of a six-axis robotic system for the direct manufacture of continuous fiber-reinforced thermoplastic composites.
The center at the Colorado School of Mines, which will be home to an HP Jet Fusion 580 3D printer that will evaluate and characterize fiber-reinforced polymer powders being developed by project partners, will be located in the school’s Interdisciplinary Advanced Manufacturing Teaching Lab. The final innovation center, which will house extrusion equipment meant for developing fiber-reinforced thermoplastics for 3D printing applications, will be located at an unknown industry partner’s facility.
Another objective of the new AMIDE Alliance is workforce development, and Front Range Community College, Colorado School of Mines, IACMI, and ACMA will support these efforts by creating a curriculum centring around closing the skills gap for composites and 3D printing.
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SLS (Selective Laser Sintering) is a popular 3D printing method for good reason. It produces functional, complex, durable parts without requiring support structures, meaning that finished parts require relatively little post-processing. The technology was invented more than three decades ago and has been reliable and effective in all its years of existence, but there’s been one drawback – it’s only possible to 3D print objects using one material at a time. This same drawback has afflicted most 3D printing methods for years, until recently advances in the technology have allowed for multi-material printing in FDM and other methods. SLS, however, has remained a single-material technology.
That changed with the emergence of Aerosint, a Belgian startup that is dedicated to revolutionizing powder bed 3D printing. The company’s patent-pending technology has multiple benefits: it saves on powder, eliminating the need to recycle material; and it allows for 3D printing in both polymer and metal materials – separately or simultaneously. Aerosint is exploring high-performance materials like PEEK and PPS, and has stated that its technology can work with other materials as well, such as ceramics or organic materials.
[Image: Aerosint]
The possibilities of Aerosint’s technology are exciting: a few examples the company has given as potential products are rigid prosthetics with localized flexible cushioning; optimally shaped batteries with improved capacity for electric cars; and other multi-color, multi-material objects.
Aerosint will soon be advancing its technology further, as the company has just informed us it has closed a financing round of €850,000. This was the startup’s second funding round, and participants included Meusinvest Group and Innovation Fund as well as private investor Peter Mercelis. Mercelis co-founded LayerWise, a company that focused on metal 3D printing for medical applications and was purchased by 3D Systems in 2014. He will also join Aerosint’s board of directors.
“Peter brings more than 15 years of experience in 3D printing to the project,” said Edouard Moens, Co-Founder and CEO of Aerosint. “We are convinced that his unique expertise and network in 3D printing will open up new doors for the Aerosint technology. Peter has a very strong reputation in the 3D printing industry and we are thrilled to have the chance to work with him.”
The latest round of funding will be used to strengthen the company’s existing patent portfolio, finance collaborative development projects, and advance the technology further. In the next year or two, Aerosint also plans to double its current team of six to accelerate development and shorten time to market.
“When I first met the Aerosint team I was immediately convinced by their strength as a group and by the cleverness and robustness of their core technology,” said Mercelis. “What they have achieved with a relatively small team in only 2 years of development is quite impressive. Their technology is a true innovation that opens the door to plenty of very unique opportunities in polymer, metal, and ceramics 3D printing and beyond. At the same time the technology is perfectly compatible with many of the existing printing methods. Technical challenges remain but none that can’t be overcome. I believe the next months are going to be very exciting for the company now that their first full sintering prototype is ready.”
The Meusinvest Group and Innovation Fund have funded Aerosint in a previous round, and are pleased to do so again.
“We believe the project has a lot of potential and a clear economic value in a fast growing industry,” said Marc Foidart, Vice General Director of Muesinvest Group. “Peter Mercelis will be an important addition to the board and will help to accelerate Aerosint’s development.”
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The funding round, at an undisclosed valuation, was led by HG Ventures, which is the corporate venture arm of The Heritage Group. Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC), a government-created foundation to advance clean technology innovation that’s supported the company in the past, and BDC, the only bank in Canada devoted exclusively to entrepreneurs, also participated in the funding round, along with some undisclosed contributors.
Equispheres will be using the funds to focus on several important areas, including creating high quality jobs and hiring and developing new talent, and improving reactors for lower cost and higher volume powder production. In addition, the company will ramp up its R&D projects with new and existing strategic partners, as well as work on creating application support services for the aviation, automotive, defense, and space industries in order to expedite advanced manufacturing opportunities that its metal powders make possible.
