European Arm of Shapeways Saved by Dutch Senior Management

The Dutch part of Shapeways has been saved from bankruptcy. The new company will shed some of its employees but will be able to continue in business. Curator Jeroen Tulfer of the law firm Boels Zanders handled the bankruptcy. The new incarnation of Shapeways, dubbed Manuevo, will offer new contracts to around 30 employees; previously, 53 people worked there.

The American parent company is still bankrupt. That part of the firm is likely to remain bankrupt due to excessive costs incurred in the U.S. and insufficient revenue generation. Salaries for senior management in the U.S. were a particularly significant burden on the firm. The Dutch part of the company, however, was profitable. In Eindhoven, Shapeways had its main production facility, which generated $10 million in revenue in 2023. The Eindhoven division made over $2 million in profit annually on $10 million in revenue. Shapeways itself, however, managed to lose over $40 million.

The winning bid was not the only one, as several other firms were interested in acquiring the production division. The creditors and curator chose the most viable bid that saved the most jobs. That bid is said to include Jules Witte, the plant manager at Shapeways in Eindhoven, who was joined in his bid by other senior management of the Dutch unit. Jules has spent nearly 12 years at Shapeways, joining as Operations Team Lead in 2012, becoming Director of Distribution in 2015, and heading up the plant since 2019. It will be a joyous event for him and his team to restart the firm that he has worked for so long. Tiago São José, who was at Shapeways for 11 years serving as Engineering Manager will join him together with Job van de Laar who was plant manager at Shapeways for five years. First CFO Marleen Vogelaar has put together the deal and will become CEO, she will be joined by former COO Robert Schouwenburg.

We reached out to Jules Witte and asked for his comments. He told us that,

¨We´re relieved that after so much work we can continue to build a 3D printing service here in Eindhoven. We´re so grateful that we got so many encouraging reactions from clients urging us to continue and pledging to stay with us if we do. We´re also so grateful that the employees we are able to rehire have all agreed to come back. We hope to continue to build a great company here in Eindhoven.¨

What about the future,

¨We want to rebuild first and create a better company. We want to continue doing the services we used to do, only better. In addition, we want to develop more end-to-end solutions for and with customers. We want to cocreate the solutions that our customers need with them. Think of things like hands-off fulfillment, more finishing options and assembly. On that basis we hope to grow along with our customers.¨

It won’t be easy, however. Shapeways’ parent company has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in the United States. It’s unclear if there is any path for the Dutch unit to acquire Shapeways’ branding, domain, and other assets. The company has already fired all of its Dutch employees, some of whom may have found new employers. The Dutch arm has creditors, including the Dutch tax office and 20 others. These creditors are owed around one million euros, while it owes €178,336 to the tax office. The inventory was valued at €500,000, while the firm has €60,000 in cash. The curator is said to have spent 234 hours on the project, which must also be paid for. Additionally, there may be some costs from the Dutch government. Previously, there was some talk about a $5 million bid that was rejected. Happily, another bid has now gone through.

This has still been a humbling journey for the once high-flying company. Shapeways wanted to disrupt 3D printing and democratize the design and manufacturing of goods. The company wanted nothing less than to be an eBay for manufacturing. Along the way, it lost its way. The company wanted to be all things to all men. Kind of like Costco, it wanted to be the place for both consumers and serious restaurants. But it never leveraged its large professional community as much as it should have. It also didn’t do a big push towards the professional user as Xometry has done, for example. At one point a few years ago, the firm seemed to stop doing anything on the marketing front. We were surprised when it was announced that the firm’s software was sold to its own CEO Greg Kress. Not very surprised when the firm went bankrupt soon after. Yes, the SPAC didn’t help, but there seemed to be some severe ethical and management failings at the firm. It’s sad to see a company go from wanting to change the world to bankruptcy. I was Shapeways’ first employee, and I know just how hard many people worked to get that company off the ground. I’m saddened that just so little of the initial energy, drive, and creativity was there at the end to save it. I’m very happy, however, that some Shapies will still be employed, and, in some way, the company will continue.