Leopoly Continues Offering Rich 3D Toolsets for Users; Completes Another Investment Round with Rothenberg Ventures

Here at 3DPrint.com, we have the privilege of seeing and reporting on some brilliant innovations created by one-of-a-kind truly talented artists. While learning about all that 3D design and 3D printing have to offer, it can often become intimidating as you see what others have dreamed up and then actually made, whether it be the work of an amazing artist like Melissa Ng, featuring fabricated and intricate masks and even glorious sets of women’s armor, or that of off-the-grid technogeeks putting forth their own (sometimes extreme) techniques, offering incredible results generously shared with the making community.

Throughout the ages, artists, designers, and innovators have sprung up, offering great inspiration. But the world is made up of many of us who either don’t have an artistic bone in our body or we are simply busy honing other talents. And within the 3D realm, few who get involved are ever going to reach rock star status—but if companies like Leopoly have anything to do with it—we can all have a damn good time trying.

The Leopoly 3D printing software is meant for everyone. The company’s mission from square one has been to enable any user to be able to use their interface, putting the true definition of user-friendly to the test in what has become a highly competitive industry espousing that popular term with abandon, sometimes not quite accurately.

When using Leopoly products, anyone should be able to make personalized products from their own devices. Whether in the home or the office, their easy-to-use interface makes this possible, and Leopoly has proven their mettle in working with more than 12 companies involved in 3D printing, to include Fortune 100 corporations. In each case, they’ve helped customers both make and customize their own products. They’ve also just completed what they define as a ‘very important milestone,’ in completing an investment round with Rothenberg Ventures.

“They invited us into its great River program focusing on frontier technologies and we partnered up with Bosch, Lowe’s, HP and over a dozen other companies,” Leopoly’s CEO, Roland Manyai, told 3DPrint.com

The River program is an accelerator and advisement course offered by Rothenberg, which Leopoly has attended in their mission to become ‘the most promising frontier technology’ offering their innovations in 3D printing and object creation software. Earlier in the year, Leopoly also completed a seed investment round with Rothenberg Ventures, PortfoLion, and AndGo Partners.

“By enabling creation and printing of 3D objects without experience or specialized knowledge, Leopoly has moved us forward into a world of mass customization.” said Neil Devani, Rothenberg Ventures Investment Team Manager and Leopoly Deal Rep.

Comprised of 14 passionate team members, Leopoly is headquartered in both Budapest and San Francisco. The team still endeavors to reach the same goal for their users: allowing for personalized creating that is fun—and can be part of their daily life. The company—and their message—began as Manyai began exploring 3D printing on his own.

“One night I decided to create a cabinet knob in my daughter’s room. I selected the shape, color, even the material, and I put my personal message engraved in it, all completed in seconds. Magic!” said Manyai.

In doing so, he was stymied as to how 3D printing was becoming so popular and constantly referred to as one of the fastest growing sectors, yet was not reaching users on a larger scale. As he asked himself how to reach users outside of the niche group of serious designers, the idea for Leopoly was born, quickly expanding into a simple, accessible platform for makers around the world—on all levels.

We’ve been following Leopoly and their team ever since, whether engaged in their commitment to forge ahead with 3D printing in education, busy accepting awards, or integrating their popular apps into numerous platforms.

The Leopoly concept was also tested last year as a new service at the Orchard Store in Mountain View, California. There, customers were lucky to have access to something most venues do not: on-demand, personalized 3D printing. They were able to use templates to 3D print a variety of home accessories and related items, personalizing them at the end. They received their models in just minutes, engaging throughout the process with a touchscreen.

“What I see in the market is that most startups struggle to monetize, scale up, and engage masses of people, as adoption of these things takes time,” Manyai told 3DPrint.com. “This is why we focus on having a flexible, scalable and multiplatform software platform enabling us to work on more types of cutting edge business solutions and partners, so we can tailor both health care clients, home retail or the toy industry for personalization, while schools are using our online apps.

Not letting the momentum stop, they are still hard at work on other innovations, as well as a second-‘generation retail solution.’ This will allow retailers to offer Leopoly’s famous product customizing to their own customers. They’ve also launched their app on HP’s Sprout platform, and tease us that for future, they are working on something very exciting, connecting their concepts with virtual reality. Discuss this dynamic company further in the Leopoly & 3D Software & Apps forum over at 3DPB.com.