Sarah Goehrke / Fabbaloo
Addifab
AddiFab has raised $6.3 million in an oversubscribed funding round which is set to help the company boost the availability and supply of Freeform Injection Molding (FIM).
Previous investment into the company has come from Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Corporation’s US venture arm, with Mitsubishi later launching Freeform Injection Molding services across three continents, and via an EU grant in March 2019. This latest round has been led by private equity firm West Hill Capital, was oversubscribed by a factor of two and was closed inside 48 hours.
AddiFab says the investment will drive the international market expansion of Freeform Injection Molding, a technology that uses 3D printing to produce injection mould inserts and allows users to prototype parts in the same materials they plan to go into production with. The company plans to harness the funds to ‘further strengthen’ the presence of its technology in the US, Europe and Japan – the three locations Mitsubishi Chemical launched its service offering in – while growing into other markets too. Since AddiFab brought Freeform Injection Molding to market, the technology has been deployed in the development of medical devices, PPE, automotive components, packaging applications, consumer electronics and critical utility infrastructure.
“Freeform Injection Molding is quickly gaining acceptance as the number one 3D printed tooling technology. Superior design freedom and unconstrained selection of materials are key factors driving adoption among injection moulders,” commented AddiFab CEO Lasse Staal. “With FIM in their toolbox, moulders can reduce injection moulded product times to market and costs to market, while at the same time raising the bar on innovation, customisation and on-demand deliveries. This funding round will enable us to speed up further international roll-out of Freeform Injection Molding, to keep up with the increasing demand in the market.”
Mitsubishi Chemical Advanced Materials Chief Innovation Officer Randy White added: AddiFab’s Freeform Injection Molding is already the flagship technology featured in MCAM’s global rapid prototyping services. This investment allows the best prototyping technology in the industry to get even better with faster processing times and added capability to mould larger parts.”
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The funding is also facilitating AddiFab’s move to a new, larger European headquarters which is located closer to Copenhagen’s airport and offers more than twice the space for growth. This move, the company believes, will help it meet increased demand for its Freeform Injection Molding technology and has resulted in AddiFab setting a target to triple the number of systems that can be produced. AddiFab will also work to ‘dramatically increase’ the number of customer evaluation projects that can be carried out.
“At AddiFab, we are dedicated to supporting our customers in their implementations of Freeform Injection Moulding,” Staal said. “The new headquarters allow us to take this support to an entirely different level. Whether it be extensive feasibility studies, on site R&D projects or deliveries of larger FIM system packages, we will be able to accommodate customer ambitions.”
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