New York, NY – April 19, 2018 – Shapeways – the leading platform redefining product creation through services to ‘design, make and sell’ using 3D printing technologies – today announced $30M Series E led by Lux Capital. Other participants in this round include Union Square Ventures, INKEF Capital and Andreessen Horowitz all recommitting as earlier investors. The capital will be used to accelerate company growth and launch additional services to support Shapeways’ overall vision to become the complete end-to-end platform helping creators ‘design, make, and sell,’ regardless of 3D modeling experience. While Shapeways receives 140,000 uploads each month, the company plans to simultaneously laterally and vertically expand its current services, addressing both creative and business pain points for creators.
The first program to come out of the expansion is Design With Shapeways which offers one-on-one support to creators at any stage of the 3D modeling process. Whether someone just has the spark of an idea or needs help optimizing a file before production, ‘Design With Shapeways’ will help solve a key pain-point for creators looking to access the benefits of 3D printing without the technical 3D modeling know-how.
To show the potential of Shapeways’ upcoming modeling tools for creators to use with their own ideas and businesses, Shapeways is unveiling Spring & Wonder, a custom jewelry collection that will allow users to personalize the look, material and design of each piece. Spring & Wonder was created to help demonstrate to creators the company’s soon to be accessible customizable and consumer-facing capabilities via 3D modeling and printing. This is the first of several in-house showcase brands to be announced this year with others planned across a wide-range of product categories.
Additionally, the team is working on offering an end-to-end service that will help creators successfully scale into small businesses via Shapeways. Through brand development, website design, marketing support, merchandising, customer service, utilizing Shapeways as an outsourced production and integration into its management system and more, users can take advantage of Shapeways’ experiences to grow their own companies. Current beta clients for this service create products in the outdoor recreation space. More details about the program will be released in the coming months.
“Millions of people have brought their product ideas to life with Shapeways thanks to the company’s unparalleled 3D printing expertise, scale and capability,” shared Zack Schildhorn, partner at Lux Capital. “The plan is to put this product creation engine in the hands of millions more, through more approachable and expansive services. Life-changing businesses will be built on this platform.”
“We’ve just hit our 10 millionth product printed but we are just getting started, there is so much more to do,” added Greg Kress, CEO of Shapeways. “We want to enable more creators to reach success and this will include supporting them through design services, manufacturing beyond just 3D printing and helping them create small businesses.”
Shapeways has set out to redefine product creation. It is a platform that enables the full creator experience through design, making and selling – born out of its consumer 3D printing service, the largest in the world. Shapeways has a community of over one million creators printing over 10 million products. The company supports these creators via its design tools and services, access to advanced production technology starting with 3D printing and services to build a business. Printing in over 60 different materials and finishes, Shapeways has factories and offices in New York, the Netherlands, and partners around the globe. It is a spin-out of the lifestyle incubator of Royal Philips Electronics – investors include Union Square Ventures, Lux Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, INKEF Capital, Index Ventures, Hewlett Packard Ventures and Presidio Ventures.
The media kit including: written materials, executive bios and headshots.