As it was predicted many years ago, with the increase in the value of the entire 3D printing market, the companies that create it begin to consolidate – larger players take over smaller ones, those who did not manage on it either sell out for next to nothing, or completely cease their operations. In 2022, there were some truly spectacular transactions – the undisputed leader here is Nikon Corporation, which took over the leading manufacturer of 3D metal printers SLM Solutions and the surprising merger of MakerBot Industries and Ultimaker. In this respect, there were also many surprises on the Polish market…
In this list, we present all the most important acquisitions that took place in 2022 on the global 3D printing market. The list has been created chronologically. The most active company on the market was the Israeli Nano Dimension, which took over a total of three companies and was tempted to take a surprising takeover of a dozen or so shares in Stratasys. Larger purchases followed. Markforged, Hexagon and Nikon. The largest number of transactions took place in the third quarter of the year (9).
Nano Dimension acquires Global Inkjet Systems, an Israeli manufacturer of specialist additive manufacturing equipment, has acquired British company Global Inkjet Systems Ltd. (GIS), a manufacturer and supplier of high-performance control electronics, software and ink delivery systems.
Authentise acquires Elements, a maker of data-driven workflow software for additive manufacturing, has acquired all stakes in the Elements technology platform, a provider of self-service workflow tools for manufacturing.
3D Systems acquires Kumovis and Titan Additive – the first and still one of the largest companies in the 3D printing industry to take over two manufacturers of 3D printers working in FDM / FFF technology. Kumovis is a German manufacturer of 3D printers creating medical applications from PEEK, while Titan Additive is an American manufacturer of hybrid machines combining 3D printing from filament or granules with machining.
Markforged acquires Teton Simulation – a manufacturer of industrial 3D printers based on high-performance plastics and carbon fiber composites, has taken over the Teton Simulation software company, whose proprietary SmartSlice technology automates validation and optimizes models for 3D printing. The purpose of the acquisition is to develop the Digital Force platform created by Markforged.
MyMiniFactory acquires 3DC – the owner of Only-Games – one of the world’s largest platforms with 3D printing models, announced the acquisition of 3DC, the owner of Only-Games. Only-Games specializes in 3D printing and selling game figures and accessories. With the acquisition, MyMiniFactory will leverage Only-Games’ infrastructure and enable its community of independent 3D designers to sell their designs in both digital and physical form.
BICO takes over Allegro 3D – the largest manufacturer of 3D bioprinters in the world has taken over Allegro 3D – a company specializing in the so-called. high-speed 3D bioprinting. Allegro 3D is developing a technology for producing tissue models on an industrial scale, dedicated to drug research and the development of medical tests.
MakerBot joins Ultimaker to form UltiMaker – the first manufacturer of desktop 3D printers in the world, and at the same time one of the largest companies of this type on the market, has merged with Ultimaker – considered by many to be the largest player on the market of desktop machines in general. As part of the concluded agreement, NPM Capital – the owner of Ultimaker, contributed the assets of the Dutch company to the newly created entity and invested USD 15.4 million in it, while Stratasys – the owner of MakerBot, contributed the assets of the American manufacturer and invested an additional USD 47 million. At the same time, NPM Capital became the owner of 54.4% and Stratasys 45.6% of the shares of the new, combined company.
PRUSA Research acquires Printed Solid Inc. – a Czech manufacturer of amateur 3D printers has taken over the American distribution company Printed Solid Inc. to expand direct sales in the US. Thanks to the acquisition, PRUSA will offer products, service support and training directly to US customers.
E3D acquires ZODIAC 3D – a British manufacturer and supplier of accessories for 3D printers, in particular hotends, nozzles and extruders, acquired ZODIAC 3D – an Austrian manufacturer of nozzles for FDM / FFF 3D printers. As part of the acquisition, E3D acquired all assets and intellectual property of manufactured nozzles and FDM class solutions offered on the aftermarket.
Nano Dimension Acquires Admatec and Formatec – Further acquisitions of the Israeli company include Admatec and Formatec, previously part of Precision Surfacing Solutions. Thanks to this acquisition, Nano Dimension has expanded its product and service portfolio to include 3D printing from ceramics and metals. Formatec is a Dutch company dealing in 3D printing of ceramics, and Admatec is a manufacturer of photopolymer 3D printers (SLA), which use resins doped with metal and ceramic particles.
Markforged acquires Digital Metal – Three months after its first-ever acquisition, Markforged signed an agreement with Höganäs AB to acquire Digital Metal, a company that manufactures 3D printers for metal in Binder Jetting technology. The formal takeover of the company took place in the fall of this year. With the acquisition of Digital Metal, Markforged has expanded its position in additive metal manufacturing to include binder spray processes in addition to its existing metal extrusion capabilities.
Nano Dimension takes over 12% of shares in Stratasys – although in this particular case there was only a partial takeover of shares, the story itself is unusual enough to be mentioned … Nano Dimension is a relatively small company that owes its capital to investors from the American stock exchange NASDAQ securities. Within a few months, it made a number of acquisitions, but the acquisition of 12% of shares in Stratasys – one of the two largest companies in the 3D printing industry aroused astonishment …? Stratasys himself was also amazed by this, and a week after the event, he carried out a series of actions to prevent further acquisitions of his shares in an uncontrolled manner.
Sygnis takes over Zmorph – it is without a doubt the largest acquisition of companies on the Polish 3D printing market so far. Sygnis – a stock exchange company listed on NewConnect has taken over one of the longest operating Polish producers of FDM / FFF 3D printers.
3D Systems acquires dp polar – the chemical company ALTANA has announced the sale of a controlling stake in the manufacturer of 3D printers dp polar to 3D Systems. dp polar was founded in 2014 in Karlsruhe, Germany. It designs and supplies 3D printing systems for mass additive manufacturing for industry and healthcare.
Carbon acquires Paramatters – a manufacturer of super-fast, industrial 3D printers printing from light-curing resins, acquired ParaMatters – a supplier of additive manufacturing software. This acquisition extends Carbon’s current capabilities to optimize the topology of 3D printed models.
Nikon Corporation acquires SLM Solutions – undoubtedly the most important event of the whole of 2022. In early September 2022, Nikon Corporation, a Japanese manufacturer of photographic and optical equipment, began the process of acquiring SLM Solutions for the respectable amount of EUR 622 million. The transaction was formally completed at the turn of November and December.
Materialise acquires Identify3D – a Belgian services and software company has acquired Identify3D – a developer of software for encrypting, distributing and tracking the flow of digital parts in complex supply chains. The solutions offered by Identify3D aim to make the Materialise CO-AM platform the most secure platform for distributed production.
Nikon acquires Hybrid Manufacturing Technologies – two weeks after the announcement of the acquisition of SLM Solutions, the Japanese concern acquired another company from the metal 3D printing industry – Hybrid Manufacturing Technologies Global, Inc. (HMT). Founded in 2012, HMT pioneered an advanced manufacturing approach that enables manufacturers to combine metal additive manufacturing and CNC machining processes on a single platform. HMT’s patented AMBIT embedding heads allow you to add 3D printing capabilities to machine tools with a simple tool change.
Stratasys Acquires Riven – The American-Israeli 3D printing giant has acquired Riven – a CAD design software quality assurance company. The American startup based in Berkeley, California, was already a software development partner of Stratasys, and now its cloud-based solution has been fully integrated with the GrabCAD Additive Manufacturing Platform.
SyBridge Technologies takes over (bankrupt) Fast Radius – in early November Fast Radius – a large American company providing 3D printing services, listed on NASDAQ, filed for bankruptcy (so-called Chapter 11 Bankruptcy) and was urgently looking for an investor ready to take over its assets and resources . In mid-December, SyBridge Technologies announced the acquisition of Fast Radius assets following a comprehensive sale and competitive auction conducted under U.S. Section 363. bankruptcy code.
Hexagon acquires Divergent, a world leader in digital reality solutions combining sensors, software and autonomous technologies, announced a $100 million investment in Divergent Technologies Inc., a pioneer in green manufacturing technologies with the first modular digital factory for the automotive industry.
Hexagon Acquires LocLab – Second Acquisition in Two Weeks. Hexagon AB took over LocLab – a company whose proprietary technology using i.a. artificial intelligence, allowing the creation of so-called “digital twins”. The German company serves some of the world’s largest companies in the transport, construction and design industries.
Meta (FB) is taken over by Luxexcel – at the end of the year, a loud, but from the point of view of the 3D printing industry, very niche acquisition. Meta (the owner of Facebook and Instagram) has acquired the Belgian-Dutch optical company Luxexcel, which deals with 3D printing of lenses. Founded in 2009, the company uses proprietary 3D printing technology from light-curing resins.