Shapeways takes the SPAC way: the 3D-printing marketplace to list on NYSE

New York-based company Shapeways, 3D-printing marketplace that has its roots in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, and Galileo Acquisition Corp. – a publicly traded SPAC, have entered into a definitive merger agreement in which Shapeways will be acquired by Galileo.

The transaction is expected to close in the summer of 2021. The combined company will be named Shapeways Holdings, Inc. and is expected to remain listed on the NYSE under the new ticker symbol, SHPW. The company will be led by Greg Kress, Shapeways’ Chief Executive Officer.

Transaction Overview

According to the company, the business combination values Shapeways at a $410M (approx €338.3M) pro forma enterprise value, at the $10 (approx €8.25) per share PIPE price with an equity value of $605M (approx €499.1M).

The transaction will provide more than $195M (approx €168M) of net proceeds to the Shapeways, including a $75M (approx €61.87M) fully committed common stock PIPE by investors including Miller Value Partners and XN, along with a strategic partner Desktop Metal.

Use of the funds

With the raised capital, the company plans to invest $100M (approx €82.5M) in CAPEX over the next five years into new technologies and materials to fuel its overall growth. The funds will primarily be used to accelerate Shapeways’ metal additive manufacturing capabilities, expand its material and technology offerings to extend market reach and grow customer share of wallet as well as to provide additional working capital.

Greg Kress, CEO of Shapeways, says, “Our vision to enable anyone to rapidly transform digital designs to physical products is reaching a significant milestone today as we transition Shapeways into a public company. We have been successfully executing on our vision, and this capital will allow us to empower digital manufacturing at scale, accelerating Shapeways’ additive manufacturing capabilities while expanding the company’s material and technology offerings to more markets and industries.”

About Shapeways

Founded in 2008 by Marleen Vogelaar, Peter Weijmarshausen, and Robert Schouwenburg, Shapeways spun-out of the Lifestyle Incubator of Royal Philips Electronics in 2010. It is a 3D printing marketplace and community. 

The company’s proprietary software combined with on-demand manufacturing enables customers to rapidly transform digital designs into physical products.

Shapeways makes industrial-grade additive manufacturing accessible by digitising the end-to-end manufacturing process and by providing a broad range of solutions utilising 11 additive manufacturing technologies and more than 90 materials and finishes, to scale new innovation.

Headquartered in New York with offices in Eindhoven and Seattle, the company has delivered over 21 million parts to 1 million customers in over 160 countries. Shapeways customers range from individual project-focused engineers to small and large enterprises requiring high-mix production at scale

According to Crunchbase, the company has raised a total of nearly $107.5M (approx €88.68M). Its investors include venture capital firms Lux Capital, Union Square Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, INKEF Capital, Index Ventures, and Hewlett Packard Ventures.

Growth ahead

According to a statement, Shapeways, the digital manufacturing market is expected to grow from approximately $39B (approx €32.17B) in 2020 to approx $120B (approx €99B) in 2030. The industry is experiencing a transformation due to significant advances in production technologies, innovation in materials, and the adoption of software to increase speed, lower cost, and achieve higher flexibility.

With proprietary software, Shapeways believes, it is positioned to benefit from this industry transformation. Its manufacturing “operating system” is agnostic to hardware technology and materials, which allows the company to adapt to market shifts and user needs.

Shapeways’ platform is positioned to scale across materials, markets and technologies. Expanding additive manufacturing capabilities will enable acceleration of adoption in markets including industrial, medical, automotive, and aerospace. 

As an example of this opportunity, Shapeways signed a strategic partnership with Desktop Metal, a company that designs and markets 3D printing systems, an important expansion beyond Shapeways’ current focus on polymers, industrial metals, and materials across composites and ceramics.

Last year, Shapeways began licensing a commercialised SaaS version of its proprietary software to key partners, enabling them to deploy Shapeways’ manufacturing operating system within their own organisations.

About Galileo Acquisition Corp.

Galileo Acquisition Corp. is a blank check company or SPAC affecting a merger or similar business combination with one or more businesses.

It raised $138M (approx €113.85M) in October 2019 and its securities are listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbols “GLEO.U,” “GLEO” and “GLEO.WS.” 

The company’s initial focus is on targets operating in the consumer, retail, F&B, fashion and luxury, specialty industrial, technology or healthcare sectors that have a European and North American market nexus.

Galileo is led by a serial SPAC sponsor team having successfully completed four business combinations, in addition to Shapeways. Its team is composed of seasoned dealmakers with diverse nationalities, M&A, principal investing and public company operating experience in both the North American and Western European markets.