Desktop Metal, Inc. (NYSE: DM) today announced it has acquired Adaptive3D, a leading provider of elastomeric solutions for additive manufacturing.
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Adaptive3D is a category leader in printed elastomers for additive manufacturing. Its products enable volume end-use parts production via additive manufacturing of odorless, tough, strain-tolerant, tear-resistant, and biocompatible rubbers and rubber-like materials. Adaptive3D’s solutions are designed for high-throughput manufacturing, while maintaining low cost of production, with superior material performance. The company serves a broad customer base across consumer, healthcare, industrial, transportation, and oil and gas markets. (Photo: Business Wire)
Adaptive3D offers category-leading photopolymer elastomers. Its products enable volume end-use parts production via additive manufacturing of odorless, tough, strain-tolerant, tear-resistant, and biocompatible rubbers and rubber-like materials. The Company’s flagship resin is Elastic ToughRubber 90™, a tough, printable elastomer for all seasons. Adaptive3D printable materials are optimized for high-throughput manufacturing of functional, complex 3D plastic and rubber parts in consumer, healthcare, industrial, transportation, and oil and gas markets. Adaptive3D’s core technology was developed through Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) funding, and the Company has received strategic capital from leading materials companies including Covestro, Arkema Group, West Pharmaceuticals, Applied Ventures, and Royal DSM.
“The acquisition of Adaptive3D advances Desktop Metal’s vertical integration strategy to grow our portfolio of materials and expand the high-volume applications supported by our polymer additive manufacturing solutions,” said Ric Fulop, Founder and CEO of Desktop Metal. “Elastomers and rubber materials are a killer app for Additive Manufacturing 2.0 (AM 2.0). Adaptive3D has the best photoelastomer resins in the world. Combining Adaptive3D’s patented and superior elastomer materials with our printers, such as the Xtreme 8K, which lead the industry in throughput, affordability, and part quality, will accelerate the adoption of additively manufactured solutions for high-volume, end-use elastomeric parts and products.”
“We are thrilled to partner with Desktop Metal to enable additive manufacturing through our differentiated materials,” said Dr. Walter Voit, Founder and CEO of Adaptive3D. “This acquisition extends our already strong partnership with EnvisionTEC, enabling us to accelerate our growth into the $129 billion1 elastomer and flexible foams market just waiting for high-volume, additive manufacturing elastomer capabilities.”
Acquiring a Category Leader in Elastomers for Additive Manufacturing
Adaptive3D is a best-in-class provider of photoelastomers that enables additive manufacturing of rubbers, polyurethane-like, silicone-like, and rubber-like materials. The material properties of the ToughRubber photoresin material family lead the industry in tear strength, toughness, and elongation2. Adaptive3D’s solutions are designed for high-throughput manufacturing, while maintaining low cost of production, and superior material performance. Adaptive3D serves a broad customer base across consumer, healthcare, industrial, transportation, and oil and gas markets, with a massive opportunity to expand through leveraging Desktop Metal’s scale and channel network.
Bolstering AM 2.0 Solutions for Area-Wide Elastomer Materials
The acquisition extends Adaptive3D’s existing partnership to pair ToughRubber photoresins with EnvisionTEC’s Xtreme 8K. The Xtreme 8K printer is optimized for area-wide photopolymer printing and is the largest build area production-grade digital light processing (DLP) 3D printer in the world. Coupled with Adaptive3D’s photoelastomer resins, customers can produce tough, durable parts quickly and in volume with premium surface quality, robust material properties, and high part accuracy.
Expanding Materials Library
“This transaction advances Desktop Metal’s strategy to grow our proprietary materials portfolio in order to expand the high-volume applications we can provide our customers,” said Fulop. “We will continue to search for attractive opportunities to organically and inorganically add to our library of over 225 qualified materials across metals, composites, polymers, ceramics, biocompatible materials, wood, and now elastomers.”
Adaptive3D will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Desktop Metal, and Voit will continue to lead the business from its Plano, Texas headquarters. Desktop Metal executives will discuss this strategic acquisition during its first quarter 2021 financial results call scheduled for May 17, 2021 at 4:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.
About Desktop Metal
Desktop Metal, Inc., based in Burlington, Massachusetts, is accelerating the transformation of manufacturing with an expansive portfolio of 3D printing solutions, from rapid prototyping to mass production. Founded in 2015 by leaders in advanced manufacturing, metallurgy, and robotics, the company is addressing the unmet challenges of speed, cost, and quality to make additive manufacturing an essential tool for engineers and manufacturers around the world. Desktop Metal was selected as one of the world’s 30 most promising Technology Pioneers by the World Economic Forum and named to MIT Technology Review’s list of 50 Smartest Companies.
For more information, visit www.desktopmetal.com.
About Adaptive3D
Adaptive3D, headquartered in Plano, Texas, is the leader in elastomeric solutions for additive manufacturing. The company has a mission to enable high-volume additive manufacturing through optimized materials. Adaptive3D offers leading additive manufacturing polymer resins and specialty polymers to a range of industries around the world in consumer, healthcare, industrial, transportation, and oil and gas sectors. The company leads in printing and processing rubber-like materials, tough damping materials, and low-cure stress photopolymers. The deeply technical company has developed a patent portfolio based on fundamental materials processing, some of which has been translated from the University of Texas at Dallas and is based on the team’s past funding from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, the National Science Foundation, and the McDermott family who are the co-founders of Texas Instruments.
Forward-looking Statements
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Forward-looking statement generally are identified by the words “believe,” “project,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “estimate,” “intend,” “strategy,” “future,” “opportunity,” “plan,” “may,” “should,” “will,” “would,” “will be,” “will continue,” “will likely result,” and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements are predictions, projections and other statements about future events that are based on current expectations and assumptions and, as a result, are subject to risks and uncertainties. Many factors could cause actual future events to differ materially from the forward-looking statements in this document, including but not limited to the risks and uncertainties set forth in Desktop Metal, Inc.’s filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. These filings identify and address other important risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events and results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made. Readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements, and Desktop Metal, Inc. assumes no obligation and does not intend to update or revise these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.
1 Markets and Markets, 2020 and Mohite, Danekar, & Prasad, 2020
2 Source: data derived from publicly available technical data sheets for commercially available comparable elastomer materials
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