3D printing company Shapeways today announced that it has raised a $6.2 million Series B funding round led by New York-based Lux Capital, with participation by existing investors Union Square Ventures and Index Ventures. Shapeways also announced that it has now printed over 1 million 3D objects and currently powers over 6,000 shops on its platform. The service now has over 150,000 members (up from about 100,000 last November) who can upload and print their own 3D creations through the site and sell them to other users.
The New York-based company, which was founded in 2007, currently has over 50 employees. Shapeways operates its own printing facility in Eindhoven, Netherlands and uses third-party vendors to augment its own production capabilities. The company raised its first funding round ($6 million) in 2010 and a $5.1 Million Series B round in 2011. Today’s new funding round, which is an add-on to the previous Series B round, will enable the company to expand its team and help it “bring creative commerce and 3D printing to everyone.”
As the company announced last year, it’s also planning to build out its NYC facilities (its “factory of the future”) with the help of this additional funding.
Shapeways’ users can currently choose between 30 different materials for their creations, including ceramics and Elasto Plastic, a fully flexible material the company just introduced last month.
Shapeways.com is the world’s leading 3D printing marketplace and community. The NY start-up harnesses 3D printing to help anyone turn ideas into a physical reality, making product design more accessible, personal, and inspiring. Shapeways prints everything on-demand, which means that every order is customized and personalized. By providing a platform for community members to gain access to cutting edge 3D printing technology and share their designs with the world, Shapeways is democratizing creation for everyone. Headquartered in New York with...
Lux Capital Management is a research-driven investment firm focused on founding, seed and early stage investments in the physical and life sciences. Lux takes an active role in helping entrepreneurs build successful businesses in high growth sectors. Our investment team has built over 20 companies from scratch. Lux’s investment strategy ensures our portfolio companies are better connected, have deeper insight, and command industry leadership faster than their competitors.
Union Square Advisors is a strategic advisory firm focusing exclusively on the technology sector. The firm provides customized service offerings in mergers and acquisitions and private placement. According to the firm’s website, their partners average more than 20 years of experience, and collectively have worked on strategic transactions totaling hundreds of billions of dollars in value. Many have financial backgrounds from high-end Wall Street firms, but specialize in advising technical and entrepreneurial clients.
Index Ventures is a leading venture capital firm specializing in investments in information technology and life sciences companies. The firm invests in seed, early and growth stage start-ups across US and Europe. Since its inception in 1996, Index Ventures has backed visionary entrepreneurs who have taken on incumbents and built seminal companies in a number of growth sectors including: open source software companies such as MySQL, Trolltech, Zend and Pentaho; broadband and VOIP companies such as Virata, Skype, FON and...
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