Category Archives: News
Will 3D Systems Be Acquired by IBM? DDD Stock Jumps 6%
3D Systems (NYSE:DDD) has had quite a run as a public company this year. With a stock price up nearly 100% year to date, the company now has a market capitalization over $7 billion.
And today was a big day with a 6% gain thanks to rumors that IBM was looking to buy 3D Systems for a premium at $90 per share (DDD’s current price is $70 as of this writing).
Why Would IBM Buy 3D Systems?
First of all, 3D Systems is the leader in the 3D printing market. The company boasts the largest market capitalization and has proven it can expand its scope through acquisition and R&D.
Read: What is next for 3D printing giant 3D Systems?
The company has also expanded into the hot desktop 3D printing category.
3D Systems expects to generate around $500 million of revenue this year, with the majority of sales in the industrial sector. But it has also expanded aggressively into the consumer business with the Cube and CubeX 3D printers, and expects prices of desktop 3D printers to come down from $1300 to below $500 over time.
Related: Watch our video interview with 3D Systems CEO
A Defensive Move?
Perhaps IBM is concerned about the entry of other computing giants. HP CEO Meg Whitman said recently, “We want to lead this [3D printing] business. HP Labs is looking at it.” With over $13 billion in cash, would HP’s first move be an acquisition?
Amazon also has entered the 3D printing market with the launch of a 3D Printing category on Amazon.com. eBay has also entered with a mobile 3D printing strategy.
Time will tell if the IBM rumor is true, and if so, IBM could be the company to usher in the next technology revolution.
Related: IBM Sees Exponential Growth of 3D Printing Industry
3D Printing Week: Neiman Marcus, Materials Market, Etsy, Buccaneer
3D Printing News
Here is a roundup of the top 3D printing news from October 28 to November 3.
Netherlands-based startup Protocow launched STL Harvester, looking for help smaller 3D printing services in Europe. We interviewed Protocow’s co-founder.
Kickstarter star Buccaneer started accepting pre-orders for its $500 desktop 3D printer.
Online marketplace Etsy made some revisions to its handmade policy in favor of 3D printing.
The 3D printing materials market is forecasted to grow to $600 million, only if premium pricing holds.
And finally, Shapeways teamed up with Neiman Marcus for a holiday collection.
Tuesday, October 29
Wednesday, October 30
Thursday, October 31
Friday, November 1
Sunday, November 3
Buccaneer 3D Printer Opens Pre-Orders After Closing $1.4M Kickstarter
$500 3D printer boasts its product design and quality
In June, the Buccaneer 3D Printer closed an epic $1.4 million Kickstarter campaign. The Buccaneer takes an Apple-like approach to product design, and hopes to be the most elegant and easy to use 3D printer on the market.
Just this week, the breakthrough 3D printer was made available for pre-order, and Pirate3D, the company behind the device, has released technical specs for the Buccaneer.
The Buccaneer 3D printer bundle sells for $497. It includes the 3D printer and 1 cartridge of filament. You can order additional filament bundles, each with 5 colors, for $60. There is a delivery fee of $100 for each order.
Technical Specs
The Buccaneer is manufactured in Singapore and boasts high precision and quality control. The FDM-style 3D printer has a resolution of 85 microns per layer and a build area of 145 x 125 x 155 mm (or about 5″ x 6″).
The system has a patented unibody extruder for filament flow, meaning that you should not experience any jams with your filament.
The build platform is removable, making it easy to access your 3D printed objects. “Getting your hands on a freshly printed item is simpler than taking a cake out of the oven,” says Pirate3D.
The company also publishes SmartObjects software for editing 3D models and accessing their Treasure Island store.
Go to Pirate3D to learn more or order your own 3D printer.
Interview with Protocow Founder On Finding the Next Shapeways 3D Printing Service
Protocow Wants to Help Smaller 3D Printing Services with New Software
Earlier this week, Protocow launched an e-commerce platform that enables 3D printing services to offer online quotes and order fulfillment.
This allows smaller 3D printing services to automatically process their online orders and compete on service with the larger companies such as Shapeways, Materialise and Sculpteo. Protocow offers this service for a low monthly fee and per-order commission.
“Last year, $800 million was spent on objects that were 3D printed on a professional printer,” explained Protocow. “This market is growing 25% per year and 80% of this market is being produced by smaller 3D printing companies, including 500 such companies located in Europe. A lot of these companies handle their orders via email which is quite labor-intensive. Furthermore, it is discouraging for website visitors to order via personal contact such as email.”
Protocow’s solution is a plugin called the STL Harvester that can process 3D models and provide online pricing within 30 minutes. Watch the video below to see how the company describes its service.
Protocow is based in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, and was founded by Harold van der Hoeven, John Tillema, Dimer Schaefer and Raymond Muilwijk. They have deployed the platform in The Netherlands and Belgium and are looking for funding to expand.
Interview with Protocow Founder
We sat down with Protocow co-founder Harold van der Hoeven to learn more about his business.
On 3D Printing: Tell us about your inspiration for the STL Harvester.
Protocow: The inspiration for developing the Harvester had its origin with two of our team members, John Tillema and Dimer Schaefer. They are industrial designers by profession. On a regular basis they were facing the fact that Materialise and Shapeways could not fulfill their service- , budget- or delivery needs. And although smaller 3D print service are more flexible, they do not offer online quoting and ordering. Asking them why, they answered it is to expensive and complex to develop this software for themselves. So we decided to do that for them.
On 3D Printing: When did you start the company and what are the key milestones you have hit?
Protocow: We started the company almost a year ago (December 2012). We have worked on this beside our regular business in evenings and weekends and we love our wives for all the support we received.
We have hit a few milestones. First we did test the concept with several 3D print services. They helped us with several insights which we used to improve our formula, the contact options with options during the ordering process and the additional techniques we did not yet cover. We are proud that importers of 3D print machines embraced our online platform because it is good for the revenue of their customers (and therefor for them). We also found out that it is possible to calculate a fair price for a 3D print using different (more) variables then the larger companies who already have online quotation and ordering.
On 3D Printing: Who are your customers? Your video says “3D printing services”. Can you give us some examples or help provide some size estimates of the total number of companies that could benefit from your product?
Protocow: Our customers are professional 3D print services. We calculated that there are approximately 500 professional 3D print services in Europe who do not offer online quotation and ordering tot their website visitors.
Learn more at www.protocow.com.
Shapeways 3D Printed Jewelry Sold in Neiman Marcus Holiday Collection
Your Holidays Can Now Be 3D Printed
Holiday shoppers now have even more unique gift options to select from this season thanks to a partnership between retailer Neiman Marcus and 3D Printing marketplace Shapeways. Starting today, consumers can shop a limited edition holiday collection from the brands.
The collection consists of two pieces available in Shapeways’ high-quality 3D Printed metal finishes:
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Monogrammed Silver Heart Pendant Necklace – A twist on a classic pendant, this one-of-a-kind piece designed by Roger Pearce, is made by Shapeways’ 3D Printing technology and polished by hand. Each pendant can be customized to add your initials or those of a loved one.
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Orb Stainless Steel Sculpture – Far more than a paperweight, this statement piece is truly a work of art. Designed by Bathsheba Grossman, the sculpture is made from a fluid shape brought to life by Shapeways’ 3D Printing.
“We are thrilled to partner with Neiman Marcus on this limited edition collection, which marks their very first collaboration with a 3D Printing company,” said Carine Carmy, Director of Marketing at Shapeways. “We believe that the future of retail is 3D Printed, and we’re excited to work with Neiman Marcus to make this goal a reality through these beautiful, custom products.”
Shoppers can purchase products from the limited collection through the Neiman Marcus website www.neimanmarcus.com. Once an order is placed, each piece will then be 3D printed and shipped from Shapeways’ Long Island City factory. Shoppers will receive their custom orders within three weeks.
“Neiman Marcus is known for offering shoppers the very best selection of gifts during the holiday season. Through our partnership with Shapeways, we are adding a cutting-edge, yet fashionable twist to this year’s offerings,” said Gerald Barnes, Chief Merchant, Neiman Marcus Direct. “3D printing technology opens up a whole new world of possibilities for beautiful, on-demand gifts. While what we are making available this season is just one of millions of such possibilities, we could think of no better partner to work with on our first foray into this space than Shapeways, the leader in 3D printing.”
The limited edition collection is available for purchase online today through the holidays.
