Markforged, the industrial 3D printing platform unlocking a 10x acceleration in product creation speed, has completed a $30 million Series C round of funding. next47, the Siemens-backed venture firm, led the round, with Microsoft Ventures, and Porsche Automobil Holding SE (Porsche SE) also making significant investments. The new investors join existing investors Matrix, Northbridge, and Trinity. Markforged has raised a total of $57 million to date, and achieved profitability in Q2 of 2017 having grown revenues by 300%.
“The biggest barrier to human achievement is the length of time it takes to go from idea to physical product. At Markforged we are unlocking a dramatic acceleration to change that process from years to days," said Greg Mark, founder and CEO. "With the new funding and strategic support from leading global manufacturing brands, we are poised to change the pace of human innovation."
Markforged is the only company to offer 3D printers that print the complete range of materials, including plastic, carbon fiber, and metal, coupled with an industry leading cloud-connected software platform designed to make manufacturing easy: pick a part, select a material, and just click print -- across a fleet of printers and an organization of users, from anywhere to anywhere in the world.
By inventing new ways to print carbon fiber and metal, Markforged has extended the benefit of 3D printing beyond modeling into manufacturing:
Prototyping: 3D printers produce metal parts 50x faster and 20x cheaper than machining, on a printer that is 1/10 the cost of existing solutions. Companies can now turn ideas into products in days instead of months.
Ramping: Mass production of parts on farms of thousands of networked printers with the click of a button. Seamlessly scale from prototype to production instead of waiting for months.
Assembly: Faster, stronger, and lighter, 3D printed carbon fiber parts enable on-demand assembly lines and bring businesses closer to the factory of the future.
"Markforged is making 3D printing simple, repeatable, and fast," said Lak Ananth, managing partner at Siemens next47, who will also be joining the Markforged board. "This has far reaching implications for our target industries, from automotive and aerospace to healthcare and energy. We see customers embedding Markforged into their product development and production processes, tremendously improving speed to market and addressing new opportunities in their industries."
"As cloud services shorten development cycles for software engineers, so too is 3D printing accelerating innovation in the physical world," said Matthew Goldstein, partner, Microsoft Ventures. "Markforged's full-stack offering and innovative materials are game-changing for 3D printing, opening up incredible new opportunities for mechanical engineers."
"Start-ups are an important source of innovations. In order to advance and capitalize on such innovations we have to invest in technologies at an early stage," said Philipp von Hagen, member of the executive board of Porsche Automobil Holding SE, responsible for investment management. "Our investment in Markforged is a perfect example of this approach. Its additive manufacturing technology has the potential to massively change different segments along the automotive value chain."
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