Markforged raises $30M funding from Microsoft Ventures, Siemens and Porsche
Markforged based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, has announced that it has completed a $30 million Series C round of funding. next47, the Siemens-backed venture firm, led the round, with Microsoft Ventures and Porsche Automobil Holding SE (Porsche SE) also making significant investments. The new investors join existing investors Matrix, Northbridge, and Trinity.
Markforged claims to be the only company to offer 3D printers that print the complete range of materials, including plastic, carbon fibre, and metal coupled with a cloud-connected software platform.
“Markforged is making 3D printing simple, repeatable, and fast,” stated Lak Ananth, Managing Partner at Siemens next47, who will also be joining the Markforged board. “This has far reaching implications for our target industries, from automotive and aerospace to healthcare and energy. We see customers embedding Markforged into their product development and production processes, tremendously improving speed to market and addressing new opportunities in their industries.”
“As cloud services shorten development cycles for software engineers, so too is 3D printing accelerating innovation in the physical world,” added Matthew Goldstein, partner, Microsoft Ventures. “Markforged’s full-stack offering and innovative materials are game-changing for 3D printing, opening up incredible new opportunities for mechanical engineers.”
“Start-ups are an important source of innovations. In order to advance and capitalise on such innovations we have to invest in technologies at an early stage,” said Philipp von Hagen, member of the executive board of Porsche Automobil Holding SE, responsible for investment management. “Our investment in Markforged is a perfect example of this approach. Its additive manufacturing technology has the potential to massively change different segments along the automotive value chain.”
Markforged has reportedly raised a total of $57 million to date and achieved profitability in Q2 of 2017 having grown revenues by 300%.
