Desktop Metal has added $115 million in venture capital to its coffers.
The Series D funding round announced Monday ups the already-high expectations for the Burlington, MA-based metal 3D printing company, one of New England’s biggest technology bets. Two-year-old Desktop Metal has hauled in a total of $212 million from investors—all before shipping its first product.
But that commercial launch is expected to happen soon. The company says it plans to start shipping its first metal 3D printer—the office-friendly machine pictured above—in September. Its second product—a larger printer intended for mass-producing parts in a factory—is slated to hit the market next year. (Click here for photos and more details about those products.)
The Series D money comes from a slew of well-known investors in the venture capital, retail, and manufacturing industries. The group includes New Enterprise Associates, GV, GE Ventures, Lowe’s, and Techtronic Industries, whose brands include Milwaukee Tool power equipment and Hoover and Dirt Devil vacuums.
In a press release, Desktop Metal says it will invest the new capital in research and development, sales efforts, and other commercialization initiatives. Desktop Metal’s early customers include Caterpillar, BMW, and Lowe’s, the company has said. It’s initially focusing on selling its products in the U.S., but a spokesperson says it’s also considering “strategic partnerships and growth opportunities in Europe and Asia.”
Desktop Metal employs around 150 people, the spokesperson says. Members of its team come from companies and organizations like A123 Systems, SolidWorks, Kiva Systems, and MIT.
The Boston-area 3D printing scene has been active over the past 12 months. New Valence Robotics (which goes by NVBots) raised more venture capital and spun out a company, Digital Alloys, to commercialize the metal-making 3D printing technology that NVBots had been developing. Formlabs unveiled its latest 3D printer and a new system for automating much of the printing process. Rize was one of the new 3D printing companies to emerge. And GE spent hundreds of millions of dollars to acquire controlling stakes in two European firms focused on metal 3D printing technology.
