Arris Composites Completes $48.5M Series B Funding, Led by Tawania Capital

As additives for materials in digital fabrication continue to play an expanded role in 3D printing and additive manufacturing processes, companies like Arris Composites plan to open new facilities around the world, enabling industrial customers to take on critical new projects for a wide range of applications.

Now, Taiwania Capital, NEA (previously involved as they led Arris Composites’ $10M Series A round in January 2019), Valo Ventures, and AVG have come together in a Series B round of funding, leaving Arris Composites with secured funding of $48.5M to aid in accelerating mass production of their high-performance carbon fiber products.

“What made Arris Composites appealing to us is their ability to make consumer electronics products that were simply not possible with previous manufacturing technologies,” said Huang Lee, Managing Partner at Taiwania Capital and Arris Composites Board Member. “Despite major advances in the electronics within portable devices, the structures have not changed very much, until Arris.”

Carl Bass—connected with Arris over the past few years as an investor, advisor, and research partner (with the company previously incubating in his personal machine shop)—now joins the board of directors too as an independent board member.

Founded in 2017 and headquartered in Berkeley, CA, Arris plans to increase their presence in the manufacturing world via carbon-fiber composites, also moving to open new sites in the US and in Taiwan as they cater to the consumer electronics market and clients engaged in applications such as aerospace, automotive, and other products.

Specializing in mass production of high-strength and lightweight composites as part of their Additive Molding manufacturing technology, the Arris team is able to offer greater potential for customers who can take advantage of the ability to create unique new tools for on-site design of products which may previously have been impossible to make with traditional techniques.

Arris customers are now also able to design parts that are not only highly integrated but also stronger and lighter—and in many cases, smarter.

“When NEA introduced us to Taiwania Capital it was clear they had deep manufacturing expertise, as well as a track record scaling up new high-volume consumer electronics technologies,” said Ethan Escowitz, CEO and Founder of Arris Composites. “The alignment of our organizations was immediately evident, and I knew they were an ideal partner to assist in scaling-up production for our consumer electronics customers.”

The electronics industry, continuing to show signs of increased demand, is the most important market for Arris Composites today—with an emphasis on smaller yet more streamlined products; in fact, in their latest press release, the company states that a portable electronic device will probably be their first manufactured product made available to the public.

“Since we began working with Arris Composites in 2018, we’ve been impressed with the maturation of their manufacturing technology and the intense interest and enthusiasm we’ve seen from top brands in the consumer, automotive, aerospace and other industries in leveraging Arris’ manufacturing methods for next-gen, not-yet-released products,” explains Greg Papadopoulos, Venture Partner, NEA and former Chief Technology Officer, Sun Microsystems. “High-performance composites that can be mass-produced in new ways hold incredible promise for all kinds of products.”

3D printed electronic devices continue to captivate technology enthusiasts and consumers around the globe, from home goods to sensory devices, wearables, and more. What do you think of this news? Let us know your thoughts! Join the discussion of this and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com.

[Source / Images: Arris Composites]