Mantle
Mantle has announced the raising of an additional $25 million in a Series B financing round, taking its total amount raised to $41.5m.
The financing round was led by venture capital fund Fine Structure Ventures and saw contributions from Foundation Capital, Hypertherm Ventures, Future Shape, 11.2 Capital and Corazon Capital, who are all existing investors.
Mantle is set to use the funding to accelerate the development and installation of its first commercial 3D printing systems in early 2022, while also adding to its hardware, software, materials science and manufacturing teams. The company came out of stealth with its TrueShape metal 3D printing technology earlier this year and, through the additive manufacture of tooling components, has already managed to facilitate the production of one million end-use parts. Supporting the manufacturers of deodorant packaging, medical devices, dishwasher components and more, Mantle says its TrueShape technology has enabled lead time and cost reductions of around 65%, shaving months off of hardware development cycles while meeting the ‘stringent needs’ of manufacturing tooling with its multiple steel materials.
Read more: Fast cycle | Mantle on how its metal 3D printing technology will accelerate product development
Among Mantle’s success stories is the 3D printing of a Tessy Plastics production tool for a high-volume consumer product that has withstood more than 400,000 cycles and met the company’s rigorous quality standards for dimensional accuracy and surface finish. A multinational medical device manufacturer has also deployed TrueShape and managed to reduce the lead time of a prototype tool from 12 weeks to 4 weeks, while cutting the cost by over 65%. L’Oreal has also been revealed as a user of TrueShape, with the company’s Director of Product Conception, Blake Soeters, championing the technology’s ability to ‘deliver the dimensional tolerance and surface finish’ required by the leading cosmetics brand.
These applications and endorsements have gone some way to attracting further investment in Mantle, who will now harness the funds to accelerate the development and deployment of TrueShape technology.
“Fine Structure Ventures sees that a digital transformation is happening in the manufacturing industry,” commented Shyan Kamadolli, Managing Director at Fine Structure Ventures. “Mantle is helping manufacturers redefine how they bring products to market by reducing lead times and costs while implementing more digital, flexible and local supply chains. We are impressed by the value that Mantle’s early customers have realised and look forward to supporting Mantle’s expected growth.”
“Most of the products we use every day are manufacturers using the types of tools that Mantle prints,” added Mantle co-founder and CEO Ted Sorom. “Our investors and customers are excited about the evolutionary and revolutionary nature of Mantle’s unique approach. Mantle allows companies to evolve with the manufacturing processes, materials and supply chains they know and trust while realising a revolutionary improvement in tooling lead time and cost.”
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