ECO 3D: The latest economic news in 3D printing for July
Progress towards the future of 3D printing continues to grow, whether it be in the introduction of new, promising technologies, or within the production chain of a company who has implemented additive manufacturing to propel their production even further. In this month’s edition of ECO3D, 3Dnatives will be presenting you with the hottest news in business and finance from across the 3D printing industry. Follow along with us as we update you on the latest investment news, financial reports, company acquisitions and expansion strategies from big players in the industry today.
Desktop Metal secures millions and Kickstarter printers set for success
American manufacturer, Caterpillar, recently invested $2 million into Fastbrick Robotics. The startup is aiming to disrupt the home building industry through a unique machine that is capable of layering bricks using a robotic arm at a pace that is unrivaled. Caterpillar has other plans of investing an additional $8 million in the coming months.
The “3D printer” from Fastbrick Robotics in action – laying bricks
AML Technologies, a metal 3D printing startup from Adelaide, Australia, was granted $500,000 AUD to develop its Wire-Arc Additive Manufacturing process for medium to large metal parts. The investment is part of a $11.2 million AUD commercialization grant from the government’s Entrepreneurs Program.
Desktop Metal has raised $115 Million in a Series D funding round, thereby increasing their total investments to a whopping $212 million. The startup from Boston manufactures 3D printers, which are producing metal parts faster and more efficiently due to the innovative technology behind them.
On Kickstarter today, there have been a number of successful 3D printer campaigns that have recently finished or are still ongoing. The first, the SparkMaker, has surpassed their financing goal of $20,000 by more than 10x their target, collecting more than $270,000. Their success is thanks to their extremely low price of $99 for an SLA printer. Two 3D printers that have recently finished successfully is the Obsidian desktop printer by Kodama, which surpassed their goal, reaching $1.6 million. Following the Obsidian is the Bean SLA 3D printer by Kudo3D, which managed to collect a total of $709,000.
The SparkMaker reached its financing goal in only the first 20 minutes
Financial reports: Revenue growth approaching
3D printing service provider, ProtoLabs, has reported revenues of $82 million for the second quarter of 2017. This represents a growth of 9.4% in comparison to Q2 in 2016. The US company has also announced that it will be acquiring $4 million, which will be invested in manufacturing their technologies and printing centers in Telford, UK, to meet growth and high demand.
Prodways, a subsidiary of Group Gorgé, recorded total revenues of $7.2 million ($3.5 million for printers and materials and $3.7 million for services) for the second quarter, compared to $6.5 million in 2016. Prodways provides DLP based 3D printers and more recently metal 3D printers. They went live on the stock exchange a few months ago.
The flagship of Prodways is their ProMarker D35 for mass production
For software, French industry giant, Dassault Systèmes, has announced that they had reached sales of $810 million in the last quarter. When compared with 2016, this is an increase of 6%. At the same time, the company was also pleased to announce a deal with Boeing, which includes the modernization of production lines with the 3DEXPERIENCE platform and has a value of approximately $1 billion.
Other Financial News
HeyGears Technology Ltd., a Guangzhou based company for intelligent wearables, has announced the construction of a €126 million center for 3D printing and additive manufacturing. The technology has already been applied extensively in the company, with the new facility being designed to drive China’s national 3D printing industry forward. It will include a department for training and education, research, and development as well as a 3D production center.
At the 3rd Additive Manufacturing European Conference, it was decided that within the framework of the EU AM Strategy, that they will be focusing on education in the future in order to secure Europe as a global leader in additive manufacturing. This will mean better funding for institutions and start-ups, as well as more accessibility to the technology through 3DP training and FabLabs. Another fundamental point of this is the minimization of cyber attacks and the importance of global AM trading.
In the European Union, more FabLabs and training will soon be available
Singapore has invested $13 million into a research center for medical 3D printing. The center will focus on new applications of technology in medicine, new curricula for graduates, and will partner with local companies.
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