Within every emerging market there are a handful of startups which really stand out. Whether it’s because of their business model, a unique product, or the people behind the company, these companies are usually the ones which end up on top.
We have seen several of these companies over the last couple of years within the 3D printing space. Whether it’s Organovo, which is trying to 3D print human organs, New Matter and their unique, affordable MOD-t 3D printer, or companies like BigRep and their large-scale 3D printers, which quite literally dwarf the competition, these are the drivers of the industry.
Today, one of these companies, Berlin-based BigRep, has announced a successful round of seed financing. The round, led by KfW Development Bank and its “ERP Fund Program”, along with several experienced venture 
capital investors, including Dr. Alexander Ey (founder of Billsafe) and Johannes von Borries (founder of Nanda Technologies).
“BigRep’s affordable large-format printers and customer solutions such as BigRep Industrial Cloud Printing, surges forth to a new dimension in this promising technology,” explained René Gurka, BigRep CEO explains. “Since we started our business in the beginning of 2014, we have been literally flooded with requests and inquiries. Our new shareholders not only support us with capital, but more importantly they provide knowledge to foster the expansion of our R&D, production and sales.”
For those unfamiliar with the company, it launched only 11 months ago in a big way, unveiling an enormous FFF 3D printer called the BigRep ONE, capable of fabricating objects with a volume of approximately 1.3 cubic meters. For comparison, this is a volume that is approximately 100 times greater than what a MakerBot Replicator 2 is capable of achieving.
Although the details of this initial round of financing have not been announced, the company seems very confident that this seed round will go a long way in allowing it to expand its market presence, and further develop its 3D printing ecosystem (which currently consists of hardware and cloud printing services). BigRep currently has 27 employees and is expanding operations quite rapidly. Earlier this month it announced its brand new BigRep One.2 and back in September unveiled the BigRep Pro.
Let’s hear your thoughts on this financing news and what it could mean for the company and industry in general. Discuss in the BigRep Seed Round forum thread on 3DPB.com.
