For a long time, 3D printed parts created with polymer powder, such as those produced through SLS processes, were rather dull, or at least monochromatic. Then DyeMansion came along offering a colorization system for SLS 3D printed parts, as well as coating and finishing. The company introduced its Print-to-Product workflow earlier this year, a three-step process that involves depowdering, surface finishing and coloring. Now DyeMansion has announced that it will be expanding its business and portfolio further thanks to recent $5 million Series A funding.
Investors include UVC Partners, btov Partners and AM Ventures.
“With AM Ventures and our new investors, we have found the right people and expertise to accelerate our global roll out and to develop more technologies and industry 4.0 solutions,” said CEO and Co-Founder Felix Ewald. “To have such experienced partners on board will help a lot along this journey.”
In the last three years, DyeMansion has gained more than 400 customers across the world, including such heavyweights as BMW, Daimler, Under
Armour, HP, Shapeways, Materialise, FKM and others.
Felix Ewald (L) and Philipp Kramer
“Thanks to our customers and partners we have learned a lot about the demand for the digital factory of the future,” said Philipp Kramer, Co-Founder and CTO of DyeMansion. “With the new funds, we will expand our R&D capacity in order to raise the bar in post-processing automation and to provide the best possible end-use part finish for every application. Our new system for getting completely smooth surfaces on AM plastics will demonstrate DyeMansion’s capabilities once again.”
DyeMansion’s next goal is to develop a finishing technology for getting injection molded quality surfaces on 3D printed parts.
“3D-printed polymer parts will find their way into serial production worldwide,” said Benjamin Erhart, Partner at UVC Partners. “DyeMansion not only serves but also enables this market. UVC is proud to support this fast-growing leader in its category.”
Founded in 2015, DyeMansion is still a young company but has made a big impact on the 3D printing world. Its technology is compatible with all major industrial powder-based 3D printing systems, including EOS, 3D Systems, HP and Prodways. The company’s reach extends into a wide range of industries, including eyewear, automotive, retail, medical and sports equipment. DyeMansion is based in Munich.
“We have been supporting DyeMansion from the early beginning as a seed investor and we are very proud to seeing this extraordinary team growing successfully into a mature, professional and still one-of-a-kind company,” said Arno Held, Chief Venture Officer at AM Ventures. “In addition, this funding round is also a fantastic statement for Munich as the world’s leading region for industrial Additive Manufacturing Technology.”
As additive manufacturing matures, finishing processes are just as important as 3D printing processes themselves when it comes to taking the technology from a prototyping method to an actual means of series production. Technologies such as DyeMansion’s play a vital role in helping additive manufacturing to compete with other manufacturing processes such as injection molding. This latest investment will help the startup to polish, so to speak, its processes further and take the next step in developing finishing technology.
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[Images: DyeMansion]
