Karolina Boladz is the COO of Zortrax, a 3D printer company in Poland. Her company grew out of a Kickstarter project that ballooned and is now in the running to be one of the largest and most popular printers in Europe. However, unlike her competitors, Zortrax had a hard road to funding and ended up issuing bonds in lieu of raising an A Round. The result? A strong company that is opening storefronts in Europe and expanding out of the Continent.
I sat down with Boladz to talk about her project and the funding environment for hardware startups overseas. While she was a bit concerned, it seems that crowdfunding is still alive and well over there and the best way to success is to build product without outside investment and only grab it when you need it.