BCN3D Is Saved

In June, Barcelona-based BCN3D filed for bankruptcy. Now the firm has been saved, its assets have been bought by Quantum. Quantum is an investment vehicle for a group of firms from Lleida. Lleida is a lovely Catalan city around two hours from Barcelona, known for its escargot festival and its agricultural firms that produce meat, olive oils, and cereals.

Large firms tend to be very vertically integrated. The investors in Quantum are Sorigué, Banasegur, Teberfer, and Inversions Vall. Sorigué is a construction and asphalt firm that builds infrastructure and residential buildings based in Lleida. Its foundation is transforming a large industrial estate into an art and does about $800 million in revenue per year, usually building roads in Spain. Banasegur is an insurer focusing on agriculture and industry that is a part of the Sabseg Group, which is in turn owned by Miura Partners. Teberfer seems to be a transport and trucking firm. Invesions Vall is an investment group owned by $4 billion revenue Vall Companys, who slaughter five million pigs and 171 million chickens a year.

At first glance, these companies can afford to buy BCN, but they are not the most traditional partners for a 3D printing business. In helping bring more high-tech industry to Lleida and industrializing 3D printing for their constituent companies, there could be a distinct advantage for some of the players. There is no news of whether this bid includes Professor Francesc Adell Poch, who was leading an earlier bid along with Vall.

The takeover will see the entire BCN team kept on, resulting in a company that is “leaner, more agile, and better positioned to continue delivering advanced 3D printing solutions to the light industrial market.” The company had already relocated a lot of its operations to Lleida under a previous investment in 2024. The company aims to shift its focus towards the industrial and enterprise market, leaning most heavily on its Omega I60 and Epsilon Series printers.

If the new owners bring in capital and connections to the industry, BCN3D may benefit significantly from the deal. Helping to create printers for real applications, along with industrial customers, could let the company really make useful printers that meet people’s needs. BCN3D’s vision of creating industrial workhorse systems that can be a centralized unit for a department or manufacturing team seems to be a very solid one already. But, it is frankly hard for me to see anyone surviving the Bambu Lab onslaught beyond Creality, Formlabs, and Prusa Research.

A focus on good support and the enterprise market with a made-in-Europe 3D printer seems like a good path forward. But, still, a lot of companies working beyond aerospace and military will plump for a Chinese 3D printer that performs very well. Specializing only in secretive industries and defense could sustain the firm, but then it would have to compete directly with Ultimaker for that market. Perhaps there could be enough business to sustain both firms, but I wouldn’t bet on it.

The company has good customers, but will need to listen to them more and improve quality to grow. Service contracts, replacing printers quickly, and machines engineered for end-use applications could work. Or the company could go all in for one vertical, making the ultimate Oil & Gas machine, for example. It will have to do a good job of engineering a very good system, however. The company, in my opinion, can’t afford to have a lineup or a very broad offering; it will need to focus and get one system absolutely right. It will be difficult for the firm to find the right value proposition and engineer the right system. But a well-served enterprise market with service contracts is a beautiful prize, should they get it right.

Images courtesy of BCN3D