Two leaders in desktop 3D printing have come to a business combination agreement that will accelerate the adoption of additive manufacturing by providing a comprehensive desktop 3D printing ecosystem of hardware, software, and materials.

The new entity will be backed by existing investors, NPM Capital and Stratasys (Nasdaq: SSYS), and will benefit from a planned cash investment of US$62.4 million to fuel innovation and expansion into new markets. The new company will be led by Nadav Goshen, current MakerBot CEO, and Jürgen von Hollen, current Ultimaker CEO, who will act as Co-CEOs, with Nadav managing operations and R&D and Jürgen managing the commercial functions.

Bringing desktop 3D printing into mainstream business adoption

"This merger marks an important milestone for Ultimaker and MakerBot," noted Jürgen von Hollen, CEO of Ultimaker – a company with 380 employees that offers the largest diversity of 3D printing products and services in the industry. "Innovation and growth are both critical to bringing desktop 3D printing from a speciality technology into mainstream business adoption. The new company will leverage and expand its combined global footprint with sales and operations in the Americas, EMEA and APAC."

Technological innovation is “paramount” in growing the availability of easy-to-use professional 3D printing solutions, according to Nadav Goshen, CEO of MakerBot, which manages Thingiverse – the largest 3D printing community in the world. “By combining our teams and leveraging the additional funding, we can accelerate the development of advanced solutions to provide our customers with a broad portfolio of hardware and software solutions to serve a wide spectrum of customers and applications.”

The new entity aims to offer easy-to-use and accessible desktop 3D printing solutions for any application while inspiring the industry to a future state of responsible and sustainable manufacturing. 

The new company will maintain headquarters in both The Netherlands and New York, USA. The transaction is subject to consultation of appropriate employee representative bodies and regulatory approvals, with closing currently expected over the course of the second or third quarters of 2022.