There’s news from MX3D.
The Dutch company has been quietly developing its robotic wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) process for quite a few years now. I recall seeing them long ago offering a print head that could be mounted on robotic arms.
Today it’s quite different at the company, as they offer huge industrial metal 3D printing systems — using the same technology. Their turnkey enclosures are ready to go and enable buyers to almost immediately produce large metal parts.
Their product line has attracted interest in several application areas where traditional methods of producing large metal parts can be quite time-consuming. Meanwhile, MX3D’s systems can complete these jobs in far less time.
Evidently, investors are beginning to understand this, as MX3D has just raised a whopping €7M (US$7.8M). This puts their total capital raised at over US$12M. The latest round is by far the largest received by the company.
The investment round was led by EDF Pulse Ventures, which happens to be the venture arm of a huge French energy company, EDF. This tells you something about the application areas MX3D has been exploring. If an energy company is investing in MX3D, then you can be sure they see much value in producing metal parts for their industry.
What’s also surprising is that there is an investment at all. With several monumental investment failures over the past few years, the sentiment from most VCs towards 3D printing is extremely negative. The huge failures were likely deserved, but hidden among the financial carnage are several smaller firms that are doing very well. They’ve been shut out of investment because of the failures of other parties.
However, occasionally, the benefits are so compelling that investments happen anyway, and this is certainly one of them. It says a lot about MX3D.
What will they do with this enormous pile of cash? They explain:
“With this strategic backing, MX3D will fast-track global deployment of its range of 3D printing Systems and expand its rapidly growing Print-on-Demand services.”
And:
“To meet global demand, MX3D is expanding its Amsterdam facility with a new production hall equipped with six additional systems capable of printing up to 20 tonnes of metal parts. This expansion brings the company’s total number of systems to 15, including several systems dedicated to material innovation and the continued development of its proprietary MetalXL Software.”
This adds to previous news that the company partnered with Philips to help resell products in the US. Our discussions with MX3D revealed that they may consider manufacturing directly in the US at some future point.
Things are looking up for MX3D.
Via MX3D
