Formlabs Buys Pinshape, a 3D Design Marketplace

A bit of consolidation in the 3D-printing market today: Formlabs, a desktop 3D-printer company in Somerville, MA, says it has acquired Pinshape, an online marketplace for 3D designs, based in Vancouver, Canada.

No terms of the deal were given, but it’s a fairly small acquisition. Pinshape has eight employees and got started in 2013. Its investors include 500 Startups, Dave McClure’s seed fund.

The acquisition means Formlabs will gain access to Pinshape’s 3D-printing community and design content, while Pinshape may see more of those designs get out into the world through Formlabs’ printers.

Formlabs now has 160 employees across its Massachusetts and Germany offices, according to a company spokeswoman. She says Formlabs’ sales have doubled since the launch of its Form 2 printer (pictured) in September of last year.

Formlabs was started in 2011 by MIT Media Lab alums Max Lobovsky, David Cranor, and Natan Linder (Lobovksy remains CEO and Linder is chairman). The company ran a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign, netting $2.9 million, and has raised $20 million-plus in venture funding.

Other 3D-printing startups in the Boston area include Voxel8, Desktop Metal, and MarkForged. Another relevant company is GrabCAD, a design software startup that was acquired by 3D-printing giant Stratasys in 2014.

Author: Gregory T. Huang

Greg is a veteran journalist who has covered a wide range of science, technology, and business. As former editor in chief, he overaw daily news, features, and events across Xconomy's national network. Before joining Xconomy, he was a features editor at New Scientist magazine, where he edited and wrote articles on physics, technology, and neuroscience. Previously he was senior writer at Technology Review, where he reported on emerging technologies, R&D, and advances in computing, robotics, and applied physics. His writing has also appeared in Wired, Nature, and The Atlantic Monthly’s website. He was named a New York Times professional fellow in 2003. Greg is the co-author of Guanxi (Simon & Schuster, 2006), about Microsoft in China and the global competition for talent and technology. Before becoming a journalist, he did research at MIT’s Artificial Intelligence Lab. He has published 20 papers in scientific journals and conferences and spoken on innovation at Adobe, Amazon, eBay, Google, HP, Microsoft, Yahoo, and other organizations. He has a Master’s and Ph.D. in electrical engineering and computer science from MIT, and a B.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.