Digital Alloys investment series b
Digital Alloys, a metal additive manufacturing company, has raised $12.9m through a Series B funding round thanks to contributions from G20 Ventures, Boeing HorizonX Ventures, Lincoln Electric and Khosla Ventures.
The latter of those outfits led the first round of investment which amounted to $5m last year, but as the company gears up to launch its metal 3D printing technology has now attracted funding from a host of renowned venture firms.
Digital Alloys was founded in January 2017, has recently been granted two US patents for its Joule Printing process, and next month will make its trade show debut at IMTS in Chicago. The Massachusetts-based firm has a management team and board full of graduates from some of the world’s best universities, including Harvard and MIT, and plenty of industrial experience too, with past roles at the likes of HP Indigo, Carbon and Stratasys.
But it’s the Joule Printing process that has mainly enticed the Series B investors to inject millions of dollars into the firm. Joule Printing use wire feedstock and high deposition rates to print significantly hard metals at fast rates and low costs, according to Digital Alloys. Early applications of the technology include conformally cooled tools for the automotive and consumer goods markets, and high-quality titanium part for aerospace.
“When you look at the process required to produce practical hard metal parts using the much-hyped early generation of metal printing, what you find is a Rube Goldberg machine of complexity, touchy materials, and complex finishing steps,” commented Bill Wiberg, co-founder and Partner G20 ventures. “This great team has invented and now commercialised an entirely new approach that’s both faster and cheaper to the point that – once you see it – you have to wonder why anyone would do it any other way.”
“Our investment in Digital Alloys will further Boeing’s ability to produce a higher volume of metal structural aerospace parts faster than ever before,” added Brian Schettler, Managing Director of Boeing HorizonX Ventures. “Through emerging additive manufacturing technologies, we aim to accelerate the design and manufacture of 3D printed parts to transform production systems and products.”
Lincoln Electric’s Senior Vice President, Technology and Research and Development at Lincoln Electric, offered: “Our investment in Digital Alloys and Joule Printing technology extends Lincoln Electric’s presence in metal-based additive manufacturing and helps advance development of value-added solutions in areas such as tooling low-volume cast parts.”
