Composite equipment and software OEM 9T Labs AG raises $17-million USD in series A funding led by 3D printing company Stratasys, the venture capital arm of high-performance thermoplastic composites supplier Solvay SA (Solvay Ventures), as well as VC investors Verve Ventures, ACE & Company, Zürcher Kantonalbank and Wingman Ventures
The Switzerland-based company develops the Red Series® Additive Fusion Solution™ platform for the production of advanced carbon fiber-reinforced thermoplastic (CFRTP) composite parts.
Since 2018 (its year of founding), the company has successfully demonstrated there is added value in betting on structural Composite 3D Printing, an area where no one was seeing any opportunity a few years ago. Today, using the combination of software, 3D printing with compression molding in matched metal dies, 9T Labs’ technology solution can produce desktop size high-performance structural parts in production volumes ranging from 100 to over 100,000 parts/year.
This combination of both additive and conventional manufacturing is appealing to several industries : aerospace companies that are looking for lightweight parts, medical companies that are looking for reducing material waste for manufacturing medical instruments or even the leisure and luxury industries that are often looking to increase functionality of their products.
The money raised during the Series A investment round will be used to fund the next phase of growth at 9T Labs to help its customers ramp up their applications to mass volumes, complement the current material portfolio, and develop future technology platforms, the company says in a press release.
“This round of investment and the combined expertise with our partners will allow us to make the next big leap in commercialization and fulfilling our mission to enable widespread replacement of metal parts with fully recyclable high-performance carbon composite materials,” adds Martin Eichenhofer, 9T Labs co-founder and CEO. “Through this support, we will be able to demonstrate things we could not have imagined 10 years ago.”
Following the investment round, John Hartner, former Chief Executive Officer of ExOne (Pittsburgh, PA, USA) will join 9T Labs’ board of director as chairman. Hartner is an experienced leader with more than 30 years’ involvement in the automation, semiconductor, clean tech, and 3D printing industries.
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