Lockheed and Others Award $20M to H3X to Develop Electric Motors with 3D Printed Parts

H3X, a developer of high-power-density electric motors made with 3D printing, has closed a $20 million Series A funding round. This round was led by Infinite Capital, with investments from Hanwha Asset Management, Cubit Capital, Origin Ventures, Industrious Ventures, Venn10 Capital, and follow-on investors such as Lockheed Martin Ventures, Metaplanet, Liquid 2 Ventures, and TechNexus.

Founded in 2020 and based in Denver, Colorado, H3X focuses on electric motor manufacturing. The company was established by engineers from aerospace, automotive, and motorsports sectors, bringing together expertise in electric machines, power electronics, material science, and advanced manufacturing. H3X hopes to become a leading supplier of advanced electric motors by 2030, targeting applications in aviation, marine, and heavy industry, as well as defense technology.

H3X Co-Founders Max Liben (CTO), Jason Sylvestre (CEO), Eric Maciolek (President)

Key to H3X’s technology is the use of additive manufacturing (AM). Early last year, H3X introduced the HPDM-30, a high-power density electric motor with a 3D printed synergistic cooling jacket. This component enhances cooling efficiency and motor performance, demonstrating how 3D printing enables the production of complex and efficient designs that traditional manufacturing methods cannot achieve.

“We’re on an ambitious journey to become the world’s leading supplier of advanced electric motors,” said Jason Sylvestre, Co-Founder and CEO of H3X. “With remarkable speed, we’ve proven that this technology works and has a key role to play in enabling sustainable aviation, decarbonizing the marine and industrial sectors, and unlocking next-generation electrified defense technology. This funding round will enable us to scale up production and operations and deliver on some very large contracts in our pipeline.”

“Through the past three years working with H3X, I have seen a phenomenal display of rapid innovation from the team. Bringing technical advancements to market this fast is rare, as they have already commercialized a series of market-leading electric motors,” said Nathan Doctor, Founder and Managing Partner at Infinite Capital. “I strongly believe we’re on the verge of electrifying aviation and maritime transport, with H3X’s electric propulsion systems as the foundational technology.”

In the past two years, H3X has launched several products, including the HPDM-30, HPDM-250, and HPDM-140 integrated motor drives, delivering these units to aerospace and defense customers. H3X has also completed contracts with NASA and the U.S. Air Force. With the Series A funding, H3X plans to expand production and introduce next-generation motor drives such as the HPDM-350, HPDM-1500, and HPDM-2300. These megawatt-class machines are designed to enhance electric aircraft performance, potentially doubling range by reducing weight for additional energy storage. They will also open new market segments in marine and heavy industry.

“H3X is focused on scaling innovative technologies that we believe could offer our customers effective solutions for electrifying legacy, multi-domain systems,” said Chris Moran, vice president and general manager of Lockheed Martin Ventures. “Lockheed Martin’s continued investment in H3X underscores our dedication to advancing innovative solutions and expanding the defense industrial base to ensure the U.S and its allies remain ahead of emerging threats.”

“As an investor in frontier technologies, we were immediately impressed that H3X has solved the biggest engineering challenges to unlock major benefits for weight and volume sensitive applications,” said Philip Carson of Cubit Capital. “Notably, every customer spoke about how they want to work with this team above others. With strong traction today at the Department of Defense, we’re excited about how they can leverage that success to scale across industries.”

H3X’s integrated motor drives, engineered and tested at their Denver headquarters, range in power from 30kW to 30MW. These products are meant to address a market gap for US-made high power density motors and generators. H3X sees hybrid systems as increasingly important in the electrification transition, reducing fuel burn and emissions without sacrificing mission range or endurance. In hybrid applications, H3X’s products can function as either motors or generators without hardware modifications.

H3X is not the only company using 3D printing to develop electric motors, which is becoming an increasingly active area for additive manufacturing. Firms like Hyliion, Additive Drives, WATT, and Wright Electric are developing unique electric motor designs that take advantage of the geometric complexity offered by 3D printing to improve overall efficiency. Much of the activity in this space is geared toward transportation, but the underlying technology could also be applied to general power generation, as demonstrated by Hyliion and WATT.

The transportation sector and electricity production together account for a significant portion of global greenhouse gas emissions, with electricity production being the slightly larger contributor at about 25%, compared to the combined transportation sector’s 20-23%. If the technologies from all the aforementioned companies were implemented globally, it’s possible that we could cut overall emissions by 15-25%, potentially reducing the projected temperature increase by 0.1-0.25°C. While this alone may not be sufficient to meet the 2°C or 1.5°C targets of the Paris Agreement, it would be a crucial step towards mitigating climate change.