Nano Dimension has suddenly closed the deal to acquire Markforged.
The deal had been pending for months, likely held up by the regime change at Nano Dimension after a shareholder revolt earlier this year. There were two pending acquisitions, one with Desktop Metal, and the other with Markforged.
The Desktop Metal acquisition closed last week as a result of a court decision to force Nano Dimension to immediately complete the transaction. Meanwhile, there had been no news on the Markforged deal — until late last week.
The deal involves a financial payment of US$116M, which seems pretty sweet given that the company generates around US$43M per year in profit. Along with Markforged’s key systems, their metal and continuous carbon fiber 3D print technologies, they also acquire all of Markforged’s previous acquisitions. These include technologies from Digital Metal, which can print super high resolution small metal parts, and Teton, which provides advanced simulations in print job slicing software.
There is quite a contrast between the completion of these two acquisitions. On one hand, we have Desktop Metal:
- Desktop Metal launched a lawsuit to force completion of the deal.
- A court agreed and forced the deal to complete.
- Nano Dimension immediately undertook a “strategic review” of Desktop Metal assets.
It seemed pretty clear that the new Nano Dimension management didn’t really want to complete the Desktop Metal deal. However, the Markforged deal seems very different. We had no news, court cases, or controversy about the deal, just an announcement that it had been completed. Nano Dimension announced it provides “the Company a strong foothold in metal and composite manufacturing solutions and a leap forward in AI-enhanced manufacturing.”
Further, Nano Dimension CEO Ofir Baharav said:
“Nano Dimension remains firmly committed to its vision: building a preeminent digital manufacturing leader. Completing the Markforged acquisition is a major milestone in fulfilling that vision. With proven metal and composite solutions that tightly integrate hardware, cloud-based AI-enhanced software, and materials science, Markforged has played a critical role in manufacturing on factory floors worldwide. Its install base of over 15,000 systems across leading industrial customers can serve as a strong platform for expanding Nano Dimension’s reach. While Markforged solutions have achieved nearly 50% gross margin, we will continue to take clear, decisive steps to drive profitability and strengthen our capital position in the quarters ahead.”
And even further, Nano Dimension appointed Markforged’s CFO, Assaf Zipori, as the new Nano Dimension CFO.
It seems that Nano Dimension is quite welcoming to their new Markforged assets. A profitable company with lots of interesting technology and customers is an easy win.
On the other hand, that tells us something about the state of Desktop Metal.
Via Nano Dimension
