BASF Venture Capital, the investment division of BASF recently announced that it will be leading a Series A investment round in holdings company, Essentium along with additive manufacturing company Materialise.
Reportedly, Essentium and BASF are looking to extend their strategic partnership through this investment to create a global material supply chain that will benefit the High Speed Extrusion additive manufacturing platform of Essentium. In the meantime, Materialise will be entering the partnership by compounding Essentium’s technology with a 3D printing software.
Notably, Essentium and BASF have been in a strategic relationship for more than a year. As Materialise enters the mix it is being anticipated the companies will complement each other’s strengths. The three entities hope that they will together enable industrial additive manufacturing and ramp up 3D printing technology. The companies are of the opinion that end users will benefit from the partnership as they will gain access to rapid HSE technology and have the advantage to use 3D printing software developed by Materialise.
Markus Solibieda, MD, BASF Venture Capital, has been quoted to say that the joint investment strengthens BASF’s co-operations with both Materialise and Essentium and is expected to accelerate the innovation potential of the team will eventually benefit of BASF customers.
Though BASF and Materialise both have other private investors committed to their cause, in partnership with Essentium, the three companies are anticipated to be making an advancement from 3D printing to additive manufacturing.
Bart Van der Schueren, CTO, Materialise has been reported to say that the partnership will help in the promotion of an open market model that will in turn assist in driving the adoption of 3D printing as it will offer more choice in materials and more control to users and an ultimate increase in volumes and lowering of prices.
Blake Teipel, CEO, Essentium, has been quoted to say that the partnership will help manufacturers to accelerate production as they will gain increased access to new solutions that will be bolstered by customer-centric, holistic approach.
