Black Buffalo 3D, an emerging additive construction (AC) startup, announced a strategic partnership with FITTLE, Xerox’s equipment financing arm. Through the alliance, FITTLE will help make it easier for Black Buffalo customers to purchase the company’s concrete printing solutions.
Black Buffalo’s signature products are the NEXCON series of printers and Planitop, a proprietary cementitious material. The company also sells a variety of other AC materials, including wood and metal, along with premolds and castings.
In a press release, the CEO and COO of Black Buffalo, Michael Woods, commented, “A huge part of our company’s mission is to increase awareness, efficiency, and utility of additive manufacturing [AM] to completely transform the way we build. We’re excited to partner with FITTLE to help us execute on this mission as we grow our global footprint.” Tim Murphy, president of Black Buffalo 3D Finance, added, “It’s the convergence of ConTech and FinTech, which now enables construction firms and contractors to solve the affordable housing crisis faster, more efficiently, and with manageable monthly payments instead of massive upfront costs.”
The AC sector needs to rapidly scale up over the next decade, and not just for the success of the interests involved. From a much larger perspective, this is simply the timeline that will be necessary, in order for the technology to truly be able to make a significant impact on the multidimensional housing crisis.
As such, occupational training and financing are probably the two biggest focal points that need to be addressed, in order to make possible all of the other progress the sector needs to make. As the leadership from Black Buffalo points out, partnering with a corporate giant like Xerox is a good way to instill faith in one’s customer base. In addition, it should also instill faith in everyone who is hopeful for the success of AC.
It is unclear exactly when Black Buffalo formed, but there seems to be no record of the company prior to 2020. Assuming it was established around that time, Black Buffalo has certainly been quite busy, despite its brief history. Recently, the company even partnered with the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to display the NEXCON at the National Mall, as part of HUD’s Innovative Housing Showcase.
Given that Xerox has strong ties to the federal procurement supply chain, Black Buffalo clearly has an opportunity to continue building upon its relationship with the government. That is crucial, as public spending is another factor that is going to be indispensable in pushing the sector’s growth forward.