3D Printing Financials: Velo3D Revenue Up Fueled by Defense Momentum

Velo3D (Nasdaq: VELO) reported a strong start to 2026, with revenue rising as defense and aerospace customers continued shifting from pilot programs into full-scale additive manufacturing (AM) production. The company also showed major improvement in gross margins and losses, while executives pointed to a growing demand for its Rapid Production Solution (RPS) business model.

CEO Arun Jeldi said the company continues to see AM treated as a true production technology, especially across defense and aerospace markets, instead of an experimental tool. What’s more, during an earnings call with investors, Jeldi indicated that management is seeing accelerating momentum across the business.

First-quarter 2026 revenue reached $13.8 million, up 48% year-over-year and 46% from the previous quarter. The company said growth was driven by higher system sales, better pricing, and rapid expansion of its RPS business.

Gross margin improved to 17.2%, up from 7.5% a year earlier and from negative margins in the previous quarter. According to executives, the improvement came from higher machine usage, better manufacturing efficiency, and stronger production volume.

Velo3D’s losses continued to go down during the quarter. The company posted a $7 million net loss, a major improvement from the $25 million loss reported during the same period last year. Adjusted EBITDA also improved, moving from negative $6.9 million in the first quarter of 2025 to negative $3.6 million this quarter. Operating expenses were lower as well.

At the end of the quarter, Velo3D had $16.6 million in cash, down from $39 million at the end of 2025. At the same time, the company reduced its debt by roughly 70% through debt-to-equity conversions. After the quarter closed, Velo3D also raised another $50 million through equity financing.

The quarter also marked the first earnings report under new CFO James Suva, who joined the company in April after leadership roles at Goldman Sachs, Citi, KPMG, and, most recently, Cricut.

A major focus during the call was the company’s RPS business, which centers on longer-term manufacturing agreements instead of traditional one-time printer sales. Under the model, customers use Velo3D systems as part of ongoing production programs, particularly in defense and aerospace.

In fact, RPS represented roughly 25% of first-quarter revenue. About half of the company’s $30 million backlog is now tied to RPS-related business.

Jeldi described the company’s RPS model as “transformational” for Velo3D, saying it creates deeper, longer-term relationships with customers instead of relying on one-time equipment sales.

“Unlike traditional one-time system sales, RPS creates long-duration production relationships with repeat utilization across multiple programs, driving greater visibility, stronger customer integration, and what we believe will be improved long-term economics for the business,” he explained. “As adoption accelerates, we believe this mix shift positions us to pursue more durable, high-quality revenue streams and scalable profitable growth over time.”

The company spent much of the call discussing defense growth. During the quarter, Velo3D underlined several major government and defense milestones, including an $11.5 million production contract with a U.S. defense prime contractor and a $9.8 million five-year contract with the Defense Logistics Agency tied to the Department of Defense’s Joint Additive Manufacturing Acceptability program. Velo3D also said it became the first additive manufacturing vendor qualified for U.S. Army ground vehicle applications.

Executives said defense spending, reshoring, and supply chain concerns continue to support additive manufacturing growth.

“We are seeing a growing number of defense primes and tier-1 aerospace suppliers transition from pilot projects into multi-system production deployments. This marks an important inflection point for additive manufacturing industry and further validates our belief that the market is increasingly moving from experimentation to scale production adoption,” Jeldi said.

Plans are also underway for a major manufacturing expansion in California that could eventually support up to 100 production systems. Management expects to have more than 40 production machines operating by the end of 2026.

For 2026, Velo3D maintained its full-year revenue guidance of $60 million to $70 million. The company also said it expects gross margins to move above 30% during the second half of the year and still aims to reach EBITDA profitability later in 2026 if it continues securing funding.

Following the earnings release on May 12, Velo3D shares surged nearly 50%, climbing from around $1.50 before the announcement to more than $2.10 in after-hours and next-day trading as investors reacted to the company’s rapid revenue growth, improving margins, and expanding defense backlog.

Velo3D released its earnings report after markets closed on May 12, when shares were trading around $17.50. The following day, the stock climbed more than 20% to as high as $21.36 as investors reacted to the company’s stronger revenue growth, improving margins, and expanding defense business. Since then, shares have pulled back a bit but have continued trading in a pretty high range between roughly $18 and $21 through the rest of the week.