Stratasys Enters Agreement to Acquire GrabCAD

“Acquiring GrabCAD is like adding a turbo charger to the Stratasys engine. Pedal to the metal!” – Bre Pettis, Stratasys.

This has certainly been the year of acquisitions within the 3D printing space, at least when it comes to the two giants within the industry; 3D Systems and Stratasys. In what seems to be a tit-for-tat acquisition spree for both companies, Stratasys has just added another ‘tat’.

The company has just announced that they have agreed to terms to acquired GrabCAD in an all cash deal. The deal for the Cambridge, MA company, founded in 2010, in which TechCrunch reports to be worth approximately $100 million, will close sometime by the end of this month.

GrabCAD is basically a file sharing service for CAD models, which allows designers and engineers to to work together on projects, ensuring that the most updated version of each model is seen by all members of a design team. Currently, with over one million engineers using the service, and over 520,000 free downloadable CAD models, the service will put Stratasys instantly atop the collaborative CAD model market.

“The addition of GrabCAD provides Stratasys with a leading cloud-based collaboration platform for engineering teams to manage, share and view CAD files,” said David Reis, Stratasys Chief Executive Officer. “By increasing the collaboration and accessibility of 3D CAD files, we believe we can further accelerate the adoption of 3D printing solutions and Stratasys’ product offerings. Together with GrabCAD, we believe that we will accelerate innovation and provide increased value to a growing universe of customers seeking to utilize 3D printing solutions. We also welcome GrabCAD’s active and important community to the Stratasys family. The potential within our 3D ecosystem is very exciting.”

The acquisition, which is likely a way for Stratasys to both take control of a growing CAD modeling marketplace, as well as acquire the immense talents behind the company, will certainly allow for GrabCad to see additional growth now that they are a unit within the Stratasys Global Products and Technology Group.

As the market gets more competitive, and a land grab ensues, talent as well as strong business practices will continue to be key acquisition targets. Bre Pettis, the Co-founder of MakerBot, which was later acquired by Stratasys, just tweeted, “Just gotta say again how excited I am about the genius talent at GrabCAD.”

“GrabCAD was founded to bring the world’s engineers together and help them collaborate to bring better products to market faster,” said Hardi Meybaum, Chief Executive Officer of GrabCAD. “By joining forces with Stratasys, a global leader in 3D printing and additive manufacturing, we believe we can extend the reach of one of the most exciting and innovative design collaboration technologies available. With its broad and growing customer base and worldwide presence, Stratasys can provide more customers around the world with exciting new solutions to meet their design needs.”

Hardi Meybaum, the Co-founder and CEO of GrabCAD, will continue to lead GradCAD as a subsidiary of Stratasys. Let’s hear your thoughts on this acquisition in the Stratasys/GrabCAD forum thread on 3DPB.com.