We’re excited to share that the Partnership Fund for New York City is providing Shapeways with a $1.2M loan to help us expand our Factory of the Future in Long Island City. We cut the ribbon on the space this past October with the help of Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and have been building out while continuing to 3D print custom products for our North American customers. The loan will enable us to supercharge our efforts, helping us bring in state of the art 3D printers and build a world-class factory capable of creating 3-5 million 3D printed products a year and grow our team in LIC to over 50 engineers and specialists. 


“The Partnership Fund for New York City has been a great partner and supporter of Shapeways, and with their help we’re able to continue the expansion of our facility in Long Island City. We’re incredibly appreciative and look forward to making our community’s ideas a reality even more quickly,” said Shapeways co-founder and CEO, Peter Weijmarshausen.
“Shapeways is a leader in 3D printing with the expertise to take advantage of New York’s melting pot of talent and ideas, in particular those from the city’s extensive design community,” said Maria Gotsch, President & CEO of the Partnership Fund for New York City. “Our $1.2 million loan to help them outfit their Long Island City facility will translate into good paying jobs for more New Yorkers and ensure that New York is a vibrant hub for 3D printing.”

We’re also eager to update everyone on the progress of the build out of our factory in Long Island City! We continue to get new machines (over 10 and counting!) and are seeing dry wall go up daily (see below). We currently have 18 full time employees based in the factory and we’re hiring for more! Once fully built out, our Factory of the Future will become the largest consumer facing 3D Printing manufacturing facility in the world. It will have the capacity to 3D Print 3 to 5 million objects annually.

We’ll be conducting monthly tours once the factory is fully up and running so that everyone can check out the magic in person! Stay tuned.