Desktop Metal, a US-based additive manufacturing technology producer that counts several corporates among its investors, agreed yesterday to a reverse merger with special purpose acquisition company Trine Acquisition Corp.
The company will get Trine’s listing on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) once the deal closes later this year. The combined business is expected to be valued at $2.5bn and Desktop Metal’s shareholders will own approximately 74% of its shares.
The deal will net Desktop Metal $575m in financing, including $300m held in trust by Trine and $275m supplied through a private investment in public equity from Miller Value Partners, XN, Baron Capital, Chamath Palihapitiya, JB Straubel and HPS Investment Partners.
Founded in 2015, Desktop Metal has created a 3D printing system for metal parts, with applications ranging from rapid prototyping to mass production. It claims its technology is 100 times faster than others and can produce parts at the same cost as traditional manufacturing.
The company will use the proceeds from the deal to drive business growth and plans to capitalise on politicians’ calls to bring manufacturing back to the US. The capital will also allow it to pursue strategic acquisitions.
Leo Hindery, Trine’s chairman and CEO, will join Desktop Metal’s board of directors and all the company ’s shareholders will retain their stakes.
The deal comes after $438m in funding, including $160m in a series E round led by Koch Disruptive Technologies, a unit of chemicals and energy conglomerate Koch Industries, in January 2019 at a reported $1.5bn valuation.
GV, a subsidiary of internet and technology group Alphabet, also took part in the series E round, as did electronics producer Panasonic, hardware provider Techtronic Industries, Lux Capital, New Enterprise Associates (NEA) and Kleiner Perkins.
Carmaker Ford Motor Company led a $65m bridge round for the company in early 2018 that included Future Fund, after GV, Techtronic Industries, oil supplier Saudi Aramco, home improvement retailer Lowe’s and GE Ventures, the investment arm of power and industrial technology provider General Electric, backed its $115m series D round in July 2017.
The series D round also attracted NEA, Future Fund, Lux Capital, Moonrise Venture Partners, DCVC Opportunity, Tyche Partners, Kleiner Perkins predecessor Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers (KPCB), Shenzhen Capital Group and Vertex Ventures.
Desktop Metal had secured $45m in a series C round five months earlier that was also led by GV, with the backing of BMW i Ventures and Lowe’s Ventures, subsidiaries of automotive manufacturer BMW and Lowe’s.
GE Ventures and Saudi Aramco’s corporate venturing arm, Saudi Aramco Ventures, injected an undisclosed amount in the company in mid-2016, adding to $33.8m it raised earlier the same year.
3D printer producer Stratasys invested in Desktop Metal as part of a $14m series A round in 2015, alongside NEA, Founder Collective, Data Collective, Lux Capital, Bolt, KPCB and assorted angel investors.
GE Ventures exited Desktop Metal last month, when 40 North Ventures – a venture affiliate of industrial group Standard Industries – purchased several of the unit’s portfolio companies.