Category Archive: Funding News

The latest funding news in advanced manufacturing: all the VC rounds, crowd funding, acquisitions, IPOs and new funds being raised

The Week in Advanced Manufacturing Funding – March 6, 2015

Japanese bioprinting firm, Cyfuse Biomedical, raises $11.7 million Series B; The intelligent money is on 3D printing of electronics

On 2 March, Cyfuse Biomedical K.K. announced they had completed a 1.4 billion JPY (approximately $11.7 million USD) Series B funding round, with participation from 12 investors, including venture capital funds and corporate investors as well as government support. The Japanese BioPrinting firm has now raised a total of 1.98 billion JPY, which includes a 422 million JPY (approximately $4.77 million USD) Series A back in January 2013.

Continue reading →

The Week in Advanced Manufacturing Funding – February 27, 2015

Sols raises $11.1 million Series B; Stratasys acquires 3D printing consultancy Econolyst

Today, two major deals were announced in the advanced manufacturing world: one, a vote of confidence for a future of mass customization; the other, an acknowledgement that in order for the additive manufacturing / 3D printing market to grow, traditional product manufacturers will require advice on how to best utilize the disruptive technology.

Continue reading →

The Week in Advanced Manufacturing Funding – February 13, 2015

3D Systems branches out with new acquisition; NVBots and New Matter score funding; VC funding for 3D printed casts and splints

It was a very busy week in the advanced manufacturing venture space as three startups scored VC funding, while 3D Systems continued to grow through acquisitions. It continued an exciting start to 2015 for the advanced manufacturing startup sector, which, thus far, has shown a bias towards the development of low price printers and digital design.

Continue reading →

The Week in Advanced Manufacturing Funding – February 6, 2015

Stratasys to invest in the future; Bolt raises new fund, expands and partners

Up and down news from the advanced manufacturing funding realm this week: Stratasys came out with a press release regarding its preliminary FY 2014 financial results indicating an impairment of $100-110 million on MakerBot while making plans for future investment across a number of areas. Meanwhile, Bolt – an early-stage venture capital firm specializing in startups at the hardware/software interface – announced a new $25 million fund (Fund II) and expansion to a second facility in San Francisco. As if that wasn’t enough, a few days later, Bolt and well-known seed accelerator Y Combinator jointly announced a partnership that will see Bolt’s partners and engineering staff added to Y Combinator’s already impressive list of mentors, while offering access to Bolt’s workshop facility to YC hardware startups.

Continue reading →

The Week in Advanced Manufacturing Funding – January 30, 2015

3D-Pen Startup, CreoPop, Raises Financing Round Led by 500 Startups

On 26 January, Singapore-based CreoPop announced a new financing round led by 500 Startups, with participation from Singapore-based venture capital firm Ruvento, in addition to a number of private co-investors. Investment in CreoPop continues 500 Startups’ interest in 3D printing, highlighted by the successful acquisition of Makerbot by Stratasys for a reported $400 million, and joins other printer-based startups – pinshape and AstroPrint – hoping to follow in Makerbot’s successful footsteps.

Continue reading →

The Week in Advanced Manufacturing Funding – January 16, 2015

Stratasys strengthens Southeast Asian distribution channels and New Capital Fund II gets a new investor

After the excitement of last week, the advanced manufacturing funding scene has been relatively quiet, apart from the the 3D-printed rocket exploits of prominent venture capitalist Steve Jurvetson. That said, there were a couple stories worth noting:

Continue reading →

The Week in Advanced Manufacturing Funding – January 9, 2015

botObjects acquired by 3D Systems and Rethink Robotics raises $26.6 million in Series D

botObjects cashes in on colorful innovation

On January 5, 3D Systems announced that they had acquired London-based botObjects, designers and manufacturers of the CubePro C, a color desktop 3D printer. When botObjects first announced the launch of their new printer in 2013, their claims of full-color 3D printing caused both excitement and disbelief in the additive manufacturing community. When the printer was finally revealed, botObject showed that it could achieve a color filament solution for PLA (plastic) extrusion using a five-color cartridge system. Each of the five filaments are a primary color (cyan, magenta, yellow, black and white) and by mixing in specific ratios (pre-deposition), the printer can print all the colors of the rainbow. It represents significant innovation beyond essentially open-source extrusion printing and is a good case study for value being created in the wake of Stratasys‘ original FDM patent expiration.

Continue reading →

Funding Complexity

VC Firms Invest in Two Additive Manufacturing Startups Adding New Materials Capabilities

Within the past few days, various news sources have reported that two new additive manufacturing startups, Voxel8 and Impossible Objects, have received venture funding from Braemar Energy Ventures and OCA Ventures, respectively. While Cambridge (MA)-based Voxel8 is focused on printing embedded conductors, wires and batteries, Northbrook (IL)-based Impossible Objects is targeting composites, such as carbon fiber, fiberglass and kevlar. Their material palettes might be quite different, but the theme of the investments strikes the same note: there is much to be gained from the ability to print varied and complex materials.

Continue reading →

Analyzing Autodesk’s acquisition of Lagoa

Although the recent acquisition of cloud-based 3D design and publishing startup, Lagoa, has yet to generate significant headlines (neither company have officially announced the deal on their respective websites), La Presse.ca  and Techvibes are reporting that the US CAD giant has paid $60-62 million for the young, Montreal-based Lagoa.

The deal represents another notable acquisition-exit for an advanced manufacturing service/software company.  Although the details of the deal and the previous venture-backed investment rounds are not available, I’ve gone through the exercise running some conservative estimates to better understand how the venture capital community should regard the transaction:

Continue reading →