Cemex Ventures, the corporate venture capital unit of construction materials producer Cemex, has invested an undisclosed amount in Denmark-based construction-grade 3D printing technology producer Cobod, the first investment it has made in the technology.
The investment follows an agreement struck between Cobod and Cemex Ventures’ corporate parent in December last year. They agreed to collaborate on 3D printing technology using Cobod technology and Cemex’s “D.fab” cement products, which are designed to be more fluid and easier to pour through a machine.
D.fab is designed to be easily mixed with locally sourced aggregate, which gains shape right away. Theoretically, this saves time and costs during the construction process.
The pair have since seen their joint system in action in Angola, where a construction company used it to build the country’s first 3D-printed house, after which the German University of Technology in Oman used it to build what was claimed to be the largest 3D-printed building in the world, a 2,100 square-foot home in Muscat.
With this deal, Cemex becomes the second corporate backer on Cobod’s cap table, following a minority investment from industrial conglomerate General Electric’s renewable energy division, GE Renewable Energy, in May this year.
While the number of companies specialising in 3D printing for construction has been growing – now including names such as Mobbot, Ethereal Machines, Elementum 3D, Apis Cor and Tvasta – very few are backed by corporates.
Icon, a US developer of a range of 3D printing technology for construction, managed to raise $207m in an August 2021 series B round backed by financial services firm Citi, architectural firm BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group, real estate developer Ensemble and construction company Lennar’s LenX unit.
Citi and BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group invested in Icon’s series A round while existing corporate backers also include real estate developer Cielo Property Group.
Photo courtesy of COBOD
