Desktop Metal, a US-based metal 3D printer developer whose investors include a range of corporates, is looking to raise up to $150m in series E funding, Axios reported on Friday.
The prospective round would be led by a large industrial company, a source told Axios, and would value the company at $1.5bn according to a Delaware stock authorization certificate seen by Lagniappe Labs and cited by Axios.
Desktop Metal has developed and 3D metal printers for use in both office and large-scale industrial settings, and is upgrading its production system this month in a bid to create the metal 3D manufacturing process with the highest capacity and the lowest cost per part.
The prospective valuation would represent a jump from Desktop Metal’s last round in March 2018 when it raised $65m in a round led by carmaker Ford Motor Company and backed by the Australian government-owned Future Fund that took its total funding to $277m.
The company secured $15m in a 2015 series A round featuring 3D printer manufacturer Stratasys that included New Enterprise Associates (NEA), Founder Collective, Data Collective, Lux Capital, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB), Bolt and assorted angel investors.
Desktop Metal received a further $33.8m in April 2016 and an undisclosed amount from GE Ventures and Saudi Aramco Ventures, respective subsidiaries of industrial product and appliance producer General Electric and oil and gas supplier Saudi Aramco, six months later.
GV, a corporate venturing vehicle for internet and technology group Alphabet, led a $45m series C round for the company in early 2017 that included Lowe’s Ventures and BMW i Ventures, which invested on behalf of home improvement retailer Lowe’s and carmaker BMW.
Saudi Aramco, Lowe’s, GV, GE Ventures and hardware provider Techtronic Industries joined NEA, Future Fund, KPCB, Lux Capital, Tyche Partners, Shenzhen Capital Group, Moonrise Venture Partners, DCVC Opportunity and Vertex Ventures to invest $115m in Desktop Metal a few months later.
Image courtesy of Desktop Metal, Inc.
