This is an interesting announcement for the 3D printing industry: the American company MakerBot and the Dutch company Ultimaker have just announced that they will now form a single entity…
While the Anker brand recently launched a very promising 3D printer on Kickstarter, now two 3D printing giants are coming together with the aim of accelerating the adoption of additive manufacturing.
Two big names in 3D printing merge
A few days ago, MakerBot and Ultimaker, relatively unexpectedly, announced their merger. If for its part MakerBot was renowned for the production of desktop 3D printers for the general public, Ultimaker was aimed more at professionals. By joining forces, the two companies will be able to target different categories of customers, with the joint objective of democratizing additive manufacturing. But beyond 3D printers, the new company will also focus its business on software design and materials manufacturing.
In total, the company will benefit from an investment of $62.4 million. NPM Capital, which is backing Ultimaker, will invest $15.4 million while Stratasys, the investor behind MakerBot, will provide the rest of the funds. Note that NPM Capital will hold the majority of the company with 54.4%, where Stratesys will only hold 45.6% of the now merged company.
For now, this new company has not yet found a name and will retain its current headquarters in New York and the Netherlands. It will be led by the respective CEOs of MakerBot and Ultimaker, namely Nadav Goshen and Jürgen von Hollen.
What if new 3D printing techniques made it possible to manufacture everything in seconds? What if this profoundly transformed our way of producing and consuming?
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Source : Tom’s Hardware
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