Tag Archives: analysis
Top 10 Countdown: Most Popular 3D Printing Stories in April
Here are the top 10 most popular stories On 3D Printing brought you in April 2012.
10. We explored innovative and strange 3D printing concepts, from chocolate to stone to candy to organs!
9. Former MakerBot COO is launching a new 3D printer called Solidoodle, with a $500 price tag.
8. The Forbidden City is cloned with 3D printing (photo above).
7. Hollywood’s storytellers turn to 3D printing, including Iron Man.
6. The lucrative toy industry is challenged by 3D printed generics.
5. The Economist publishes a special report on 3D printing, called “The Third Industrial Revolution“.
4. Google sold 3D modeling software SketchUp to Trimble.
3. We analyzed the market size of 3D printing creators and consumers.
2. Stratasys merged with Objet, and we captured the key deal points.
1. Leapfrog launches a new 3D printer line in Europe.
Thanks for reading in April!
Analyzing the Market Size of 3D Printing Creators and Consumers
Robert Schouwenburg, CTO and Co-Founder of Shapeways, wrote an interesting blog post connecting venture capitalist Fred Wilson’s 100-10-1 rule of social services with the 3D printing and personal fabrication industry.
Fred Wilson – VC Union Square Ventures – often recites his rule of thumb of social internet services. It is the 100-10-1 rule. He sees with social internet services that on average 100% of users consume, 10% of users interact and 1% of users actually create.
When you apply the 100-10-1 rule of thumb, the opportunities for scaling such a service become immediately clear. As far as I know there are no exact figures available on how many 3D modelers / product designers there are in the world. But let’s assume there are 5 million of them. That would turn social fabrication into a 500M users opportunity. That is Facebook and Google territory. Just imagine 50M users interacting on personal fabrication and the effects it can have on product design and how we design products. This is a very significant opportunity. Of course, the big caveat is that not all 3D modelers / product designers are interested in social fabrication. Maybe only 10% or less. That still leaves a 50M opportunity.
Great analysis, but we believe the 100-10-1 rule will be broken for 3D printing and personal fabrication.
Let’s define the steps as 100% browse 3D printed goods, 10% buy 3D printed goods, and 1% make 3D printed goods.
First, the 10% will likely increase to 50% or 75% as the industry grows and buying a 3D printed good is as seamless as buying a SKU at Walmart.com or Walmart retail. This would be further aided if Amazon, for example, gets into the business of selling 3D printed goods.
Second, the 1% will likely increase to 10% with a combination of globalization and design software becoming easier
Globalization: 3D design of consumable goods will become a mainstream profession for people in developing countries, especially India and China, if there is an efficient marketplace for them to sell their designs.
Software enablement: How many people use Photoshop? Only professionals and hobbyists. But how many people use MS Paint? I would wager a decent size of the population who have computers have dabbled in MS Paint. If 3d design software is made to be as easy as MS Paint to create real, valuable 3d printed objects, the creation will increase. We are already seeing steps in that direction with Autodesk 123D and other tools.
The implication is that not only are there more designers and more purchasers, but a greater volume of 3d printed goods purchased, making the overall size of this industry quickly a multi-billion opportunity in the next five years.
Photo credit to anjan58 via Creative Commons.
3D Printing and the Public Markets: Market Cap Comparison [Charts]
In the last few weeks, we have seen consolidation in the 3D printing space. Public companies are combining with startups, acquiring niche players, and increasing their market capitalizations through M&A.
Below are two charts, courtesy of Kapitall, that show market caps and prices over time of 3D printing giants: 3D Systems (NYSE:DDD) and Stratasys (NASDAQ:SSYS).
Interactive Chart: Press Play to compare changes in market cap for DDD and SSYS:
Interactive Chart: Use the Turbo Chart to compare the stock performance of DDD and SSYS against the Standard & Poor 500 index (SPX):
Stock Market image used under Creative Commons from Marcos Fernandez Diaz.
Stratasys and Objet Merger: Analysis and Key Takeaways
Yesterday, Stratasys (NASDAQ:SSYS) announced plans to merge with Objet in an all-stock transaction valuing the newly combined company at $1.4 billion.
Today we are publishing the investor presentation prepared to describe the merger. Here is an analysis with some key takeaways:
- Areas of synergy include a portfolio of complementary products and the strength of a combined leadership team
- Deal highlights for new merged entity:
- Stock-for-stock merger with 55% owned by Stratasys; 45% by Objet
- Will combine under the public ticker SSYS on NASDAQ
- Blended management team: Stratasys CEO becomes Chairman and Objet CEO becomes combined CEO
- Dual HQ in Minnesota and Israel
- Transaction expected to close in Q3
- Objet has 2800 customers of 3D printers; 2011 revenue of $121M and net income of $14M; based in Israel with 430 employees
- Stratasys had 2011 revenue of $156M and net income of $22M
- Combined entity has $125.7M in cash and short term equivalents
