US-based digital manufacturing technology provider Carbon secured more than $260m in funding yesterday from investors including sporting apparel producer Adidas, chemicals provider Arkema, pharmaceutical group Johnson & Johnson and advanced materials manufacturer JSR.
Venture capital firm Madrone Capital Partners and investment manager Baillie Gifford co-led the round, which also featured investment and financial services group Fidelity Management & Research (FRM), Temasek and Sequoia Capital.
Adidas and Johnson & Johnson participated in the round through corporate venturing vehicles Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC and Adidas Ventures. Reports in April this year stated the round, which had a $300m target, was set to value Carbon at $2.5bn.
Carbon has created a method of additive manufacturing it calls Digital Light Synthesis, combining digital light projection, programmable liquid resins and oxygen permeable optics to produce 3D printed components it claims have the consistency of injection-molded parts.
The cash will fund the completion of a facility that will fuel research and development by enabling Carbon’s engineers to enhance the technology. It will also support European and Asian growth along with the enhancement of its software and base materials.
Joseph DeSimone, co-founder and CEO of Carbon, said: “With the Carbon Platform, powered by our Digital Light Synthesis technology, companies are finally breaking free of the constraints of traditional polymer manufacturing methods to make what is next now, and at speeds and volumes never before possible.”
The round increased the company’s overall funding to more than $682m since it was founded in 2013 as Carbon3D, $10m of which was supplied by design software provider Autodesk’s Spark Investment Fund in 2015.
Carbon closed a $181m series C round the following year that included JSR, Autodesk, optical technology producer Nikon, automotive manufacturer BMW, payment technology producer FIS, GV and GE Ventures – subsidiaries of internet technology group Alphabet and industrial manufacturer General Electric.
Reinet Investments, Sequoia Capital, Silver Lake, Northgate Capital and Yuri Milner also contributed to the series C round, which was followed by a $200m series D round that was completed in January 2018.
The series D included Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC, GE Ventures, Adidas Ventures (then known as Hydra Ventures), FMR, Baillie Gifford, Sequoia Capital, Reinet Investments, Silver Lake Kraftwerk, Archina Capital and Emerson Collective’s Emerson Elemental vehicle.
Images courtesy of Carbon, Inc.
