Apr 26, 2016 | By Benedict
Desktop Metal, a 3D printing startup based in Lexington, Massachusetts, has raised $33.76 million in equity funding, taking its total investment to more than $47 million in the space of a year. The company plans to create a desktop 3D printer capable of printing with metals.
Although it is still early days for Desktop Metal, everything appears to be in place for the startup to make significant progress over the next few years—that is, if it can achieve its lofty aim of producing an affordable, consumer-level 3D printer which can print with metals. The company has now raised almost $50 million in equity funding, and boasts a highly talented team of developers, designers, and engineers, including a number of MIT professors. Back in October 2015, the company completed its first round of funding, in which Statasys, New Enterprise Associates, Lux Capital, and others invested around $14 million.
According to a recent regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Desktop Metal has now raised a further $33.76 million in equity funding. The names of the six investors have not yet been disclosed but the filing, which surfaced on Monday, lists Dayna Grayson, partner at New Enterprise Associates, and Bilal Zuberi, partner at Lux Capital, amongst the directors and executives, suggesting that NEA and Lux Capital represent two of the six investors. Whether the total $50 million of equity funding proves sufficient for the development of the potentially game-changing metal 3D printer remains to be seen.
Desktop Metal is yet to provide any concrete details regarding its forthcoming metal 3D printers, but the company’s website claims that the “family of 3D printers will build complex parts beautifully and at a price that makes it attainable by every design and manufacturing team.” The website describes the company as “a highly capable team of experts in the fields of material science and metallurgy, mechanical engineering, robotics, industrial design, software, 3D printing and Computer Aided Design (CAD).”
After Desktop Metal’s initial round of fundraising last year, co-founder and CEO Ric Fulop explained the motivations behind the company’s business plan: “Metal 3D printing has been out of the reach of most companies because it’s very expensive and slow. We’re developing a system that’s very fast and more accessible.”
Other members of the Desktop Metal team include co-founder Chris Schuh, an MIT professor and Chairman of the university’s Department of Material Science and Engineering; co-founder Yet Ming Chiang, an MIT Professor in the Material Science Department; co-founder John Hart, an MIT Professor who leads the Mechanosynthesis Lab; and co-founder Ely Sachs, an MIT Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering.
Posted in 3D Printer Company
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