US-based MakerBot and The Netherlands-based Ultimaker, two leaders in desktop 3D printing, announced on Thursday that they have agreed to merge and secure additional funding to accelerate the global adoption of additive manufacturing.
The new entity has secured additional funding of $62.4M (approximately €60M) to fuel global 3D printing innovation. The funds came from existing investors NPM Capital and Stratasys to help the new entity boost innovation and expand into new markets.
The new company will be co-led by Nadav Goshen, current MakerBot CEO, and Jürgen von Hollen, current Ultimaker CEO. They will act as co-CEOs, with Goshen managing operations and R&D, and Jürgen managing the commercial functions.
Why the merger?
Nadav Goshen, CEO of MakerBot, says, “Technological innovation is paramount in growing the availability of easy-to-use professional 3D printing solutions. By combining our teams and leveraging the additional funding, we can accelerate the development of advanced solutions to provide our customers with a broad portfolio of hardware and software solutions to serve a wide spectrum of customers and applications.”
The new entity aims to offer desktop 3D printing solutions for any application, while inspiring the industry to a future state of responsible and sustainable manufacturing. The new company will maintain headquarters in both The Netherlands and New York, USA.
Jürgen von Hollen, CEO of Ultimaker, adds, “This merger marks an important milestone for Ultimaker and MakerBot. Innovation and growth are both critical to bringing desktop 3D printing from a speciality technology into mainstream business adoption. The new company will leverage and expand its combined global footprint with sales and operations in the Americas, EMEA and APAC.”
About Ultimaker
Founded by Erik de Bruijn, Martijn Elserman and Siert Wijnia, Ultimaker claims to have built an open and easy-to-use solution of 3D printers, software, and materials that helps professional designers and engineers to innovate every day. The company’s mission is to accelerate the world’s transformation to flexible, empowering and sustainable solutions.
Ultimaker, which started shipping its first 3D printers in May, 2011, currently has offices in the Netherlands, New York, Boston, and Singapore. It also has production facilities in Europe and the US. The company says it has a team of over 400 employees that work together to accelerate the world’s transition to local, digital manufacturing.
“A global leader in desktop 3D printing”
Founded in 2009 by Bre Pettis, MakerBot claims to be one of the first companies to make 3D printing accessible and affordable with its first 3D printer, the Cupcake CNC. Now, the company is a global leader in the desktop 3D printing industry. It claims to empower the engineers of today and tomorrow with its additive manufacturing ecosystem.
MakerBot says it strives to redefine the standards for 3D printing for safety and emissions, reliability, accessibility, precision, and the ease-of-use. The company already has a large install base, manages Thingiverse, the largest 3D printing community in the world, and has members on the UL 2904 standards committee to ensure it is on the ‘cutting edge’ of emissions regulations.
