Additive manufacturing application identification software provider CASTOR has ceased operations, the company's founder has confirmed.
Posting on LInkedIn over the weekend, Omer Blaier shared that CASTOR 'as most of you know it' came to an end in October. It follows reports that the company had filed for liquidation earlier this year.
The company was founded eight years ago by Blaier and Elad Schiller, with the pair working to develop a software solution that could assess the printability of part designs and provide information relating to the most suitable combination of 3D printing process and material. Application identification, it is widely agreed, is a significant challenge for those looking to adopt additive manufacturing, and CASTOR was among the first to offer a product that sought to address this head-on.
Its first significant product release was the CASTOR Light solution, which provided automated technical and economic analysis of CAD files. This was followed in October 2020 by CASTOR Enterprise, a tool designed to help manufacturers drive profitability with industrial additive manufacturing, and in July 2022 by a capability that could automatically identify suitable parts for AM using 2D drawings. A year on, CASTOR's software was able to visualise 3D parts from 2D drawings, and last year the company began offering a free trial of its n3D printing part identification software.
Over the years, CASTOR attracted investment from the likes of Evonik, Xerox and Asahi Kasei, with UltiMaker and Nexa3D among the 3D printing hardware brands to integrate the CASTOR software with its products. In 2023, the company was selected as runner-up in Hexagon's Sixth Sense innovation platform.
According to Blaier, CASTOR had built a 'lovable product' from a 'great idea', boasted 'a large number of paying customers' and had assembled a 'dedicated team.' Despite all this, the company was unable to navigate an 'unstable environment' with success.
Posting on LinkedIn, Blaier wrote: "I am writing to share that after an incredible eight-year journey, last week marked the end of CASTOR (as most of you know it). The past eight years have been a roller coaster [sic]. We’ve gained new friends (and some enemies), faced amazing situations with investors/customers/partners/employees worldwide, and while we achieved the highest levels of satisfaction, we also paid a heavy personal price. At home. At the bank.
"CASTOR served as proof that even with a great idea, a dedicated team, a lovable product, and a large number of paying customers, navigating the unstable environment we live in requires more than that. Despite the outcome, I look back with immense pride in how we conducted ourselves. We maintained a constant race for improvement, an obsession with customer satisfaction, and a fully transparent and professional decision-making process."
