Mantle
Mantle has secured 20 million USD in Series C funding, raising the company’s total funding to more than 61.5 million USD.
The company says the latest round of funding marks a 'crucial step' towards the widespread adoption of its metal 3D printing technology, which has been designed to enable precision tooling. Mantle previously raised 25 million USD in 2022.
Per a company press release, Mantle will use the cash injection to support rapid market expansion, scaling its manufacturing operations to meet demand, while also developing new capabilities and materials.
The Series C funding round will be critical in supporting Mantle’s rapid market expansion, scaling manufacturing to meet demand, and developing new capabilities and materials. It comes after a year of 'double-digit growth in shipments', with the likes of Heyco Products, a US-based manufacturer of wire protection products and electrical components, and General Pattern, a fourth-generation, woman-owned custom manufacturer specialising in low to medium plastic forming operations, both deploying Mantle's metal 3D printing technology successfully.
General Pattern has utilised Mantle's technology to enhance the flexibility of its tool production, not only saving 3.5 weeks in lead time, but also reducing the active hours of toolmaker time to just four hours. Heyco, meanwhile, was able to bring a new product to market two months faster than its prior method.
According to Mantle, since launching in 2021 the company has 'played a crucial role in producing millions of end-use parts,' with applications ranging from medical devices and deodorant packaging to industrial components. To this end, the company suggests customers are seeing cost reductions exceeding 65% and expedited development cycles by up to 90 percent.
"The fragile state of the global supply chain has triggered a massive reshoring initiative that sharply increased the demand for moulded parts and thus toolmaking," said Ted Sorom, CEO and co-founder of Mantle. "We're navigating a twin set of hurdles: a toolmaking workforce in the U.S. that has shrunk by half over the past quarter-century, coupled with the rising costs and extended lead times brought on by constrained toolmaking capacities. This has driven manufacturers to seek out groundbreaking solutions. For our innovative customers, the adoption of Mantle’s tooling technology has emerged as a key strategy to enhance labor productivity, cut expenses, and drastically shorten lead times."
Mantle's Series C round was led by Schooner Capital, a Boston-based private investment firm, with the company’s largest existing investors, including Fine Structure Ventures, Foundation Capital, Corazon Capital, 11.2 Capital, and Build Collective, all contributing to the round.
"Mantle is poised to revolutionise the global tooling industry," offered Alexandra Manick, Principal of Schooner Capital. "The company’s advanced manufacturing platform, TrueShape, is proven to deliver significant cost savings and, more importantly, unprecedented speed for its customers. This paradigm-shifting solution is readily adoptable and sorely needed to address persistent skilled labor shortages and accelerate product development timelines for industrial toolmakers and OEMs worldwide.”
