Inkbit
Inkbit has closed a 19 million USD financing round, with Stratasys once again among the investors.
Stratasys, who previously invested in Inkbit back in 2019, was joined by Future Labs Capital, GC Ventures America, iGlobe Partners, Ocado, Phoenix Venture Partners and Zeon Ventures in contributing to a funding round led by Ingersoll Rand, a pumping equipment company.
As part of the investment, Jason Weber, Vice President of Engineering, Compressor Systems and Services, North America of Ingersoll Rand, and Henry Ford III, Director at the Ford Motor Company and Trustee at the Ford Foundation, will join the Inkbit Board of Directors.
Inkbit will harness the funding to advance its 'multi-functional' additive manufacturing technology, Vision-Controlled Jetting (VCJ). VCJ is a multi-material manufacturing technology that is said to allow manufacturers to scale from prototyping to production on the same platform. It leans on machine vision-based feedback control and sees parts built layer by layer on a platform that moves under several stations - each performing a specific function, such as material jetting, UV curing, inspection, cooling.
“From the moment we met with the extraordinary Inkbit team and saw its novel Vision-Controlled Jetting (VCJ) technology, we wanted to be part of the journey to drive commercialisation and adoption across life science and industrial applications,” said Vicente Reynal, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Ingersoll Rand. “Together, we can transform how the industry thinks about component manufacturing and accelerate innovation.”
“A century ago, my great great-grandfather developed the moving assembly line – a production method that revolutionised the automotive industry and manufacturing in general. I am delighted to join Inkbit and contribute to reinventing the assembly line for the factories of the future,” said Henry Ford III, who joins Inkbit as Independent Director.
“This new partnership with Ingersoll Rand marks a key milestone in the history of our company. We are evolving from an equipment provider to partnering with manufacturers to develop new materials and processes to enable the acceleration and simplification of product innovation. For me personally, and for our team at Inkbit, being able to learn from and be inspired by some of the most iconic names in the history of American manufacturing is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I look forward to building on this extraordinary tradition of technical ingenuity and operational excellence. Together, we will create the factories of the future,” added Davide Marini, Cofounder and Chief Executive Officer at Inkbit.
