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MakerBot and Ultimaker Announce Merger

If there is one thing that is certain in life, it is that the additive manufacturing market never sleeps. And after a busy 2021 in terms of mergers and acquisitions, 2022 is continuing the trend. Today two of the leaders…

Ultimaker and MakerBot
3Dnatives

If there is one thing that is certain in life, it is that the additive manufacturing market never sleeps. And after a busy 2021 in terms of mergers and acquisitions, 2022 is continuing the trend. Today two of the leaders in desktop 3D printing, MakerBot and Ultimaker, have announced that they have agreed to merge in order to accelerate global adoption of additive manufacturing. According to a press release, the move will allow them to provide a more comprehensive desktop 3D printing ecosystem including of course hardware but also software and materials.

Though 3D printing generally did not suffer in the pandemic, the desktop 3D printer market truly thrived as people turned towards it as a way to occupy their time. Though that started to reverse in 2021 as industrial 3D printer shipments increased, the market is still enormous. Indeed, just the global desktop 3D printer market was valued at $1.4B in 2019 and is expected to reach around $5B by 2027 according to a report from Emergen Research. The size is also clear by the sheer number of manufacturers in the field. From the USA to China and everywhere in between, the desktop 3D printer market is one of the most saturated, with fierce competition. This move will link two of the most well-known names in desktop 3D printers together with hopes to bring desktop 3D printing more into the mainstream.

Photo Credits: Ultimaker

What Do We Know about Ultimaker and MakerBot’s Merger?

The announcement on Thursday noted that the two companies have come to a business combination agreement. Essentially, the goal seems to be to create a new entity that will have headquarters in both the Netherlands and New York and which will be co-lead by Nadav Goshen, current MakerBot CEO, and Jürgen von Hollen, current Ultimaker CEO. This new entity will be backed by existing investor, NPM Capital and Stratasys, who acquired MakerBot back in 2013, with a planned cash investment of $62.4 million. It is hoped that this will help to move into new markets as well as to fuel innovation.