Tech investors remain committed to the vision of creating physical products as swiftly and effortlessly as software coding.
Executives at Freeform, a startup focused on a groundbreaking 3D printing system for metal components, informed TechCrunch about the company raising $67 million in a Series B round to enhance its manufacturing platform.
Investors in this round include Apandion, AE Ventures, Founders Fund, Linse Capital, NVidia’s NVentures, Threshold Ventures, and Two Sigma Ventures. Freeform opted not to disclose its post-financing valuation, which Pitchbook records as $179 million.
CEO and co-founder Erik Palitsch stated the investment will enable the company to advance its current GoldenEye printing system, which employs 18 lasers for fusing metal powders into precise components, into a new version called Skyfall. This new platform aims to utilize hundreds of lasers to manufacture thousands of kilograms of metal parts daily.
This marks the realization of a vision Palitsch and co-founder/president Thomas Ronacher initiated in 2018. They collaborated at SpaceX, building rocket engines, where they identified the shortcomings of industrial machines for metal component printing, which were costly, complex, and not suited for mass production.
Freeform was established to craft its platform from scratch, aiming for increased throughput and flexibility, with a strong focus on active software controls. Palitsch claims Freeform’s platform is “AI native,” highlighting a partnership with Nvidia that provides access to advanced GPUs.
“I think we’re the only so-called manufacturing company in existence with H200 clusters in a data center on site,” Palitsch told TechCrunch. “What are they doing? Running real-time physics-based simulations while learning various aspects of the entire manufacturing workflow.”
The sensor-generated data coupled with simulations allow Freeform to rapidly enhance production quality and output.
“We have more meaningful data on the physics of the metal-printing process than any company in the world,” said head of talent, Cameron Kay.
While Palitsch was unable to name any clients, he mentioned the company is already supplying hundreds of “mission-critical” parts to buyers. The company now plans to hire up to 100 new employees and expand its facility to address its contract backlog.
Manufacturing-as-a-service is increasingly capturing the interest of venture investors who are focusing on vehicles, robots, and energy systems. For instance, Hadrian has recently achieved a $1.6 billion valuation from its investors as it develops automation for defense, and companies like VulcanForms and Divergent have raised significant funding to create their own metal-printing services.