Carbon, the world’s leading digital manufacturing platform, recently announced it has raised over $260 million in growth funding co-led by Madrone Capital Partners and Baillie Gifford. New investors Temasek and Arkema joined the round with participation from existing investors including Sequoia Capital, Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC, Inc. (JJDC), Fidelity Management & Research Company, adidas Ventures, and JSR Corporation. This brings Carbon’s total fundraising to more than $680 million.
“With the Carbon Platform, powered by our Digital Light Synthesis™ technology, companies are finally breaking free of the constraints of traditional polymer manufacturing methods to make what’s next now, and at speeds and volumes never before possible,” said Dr. Joseph DeSimone, Carbon’s CEO and Co-Founder.
Carbon plans to use this new capital to expand R&D efforts, establishing its first Advanced Development Facility (ADF), and to fuel international growth and expansion in Europe and Asia. The ADF will enable Carbon’s engineering teams to improve Carbon’s platform and workflows in scaled-up manufacturing environments to better support its customers and partners. These strategic areas of investment will allow Carbon to continue delivering on the promise of 3D printing by enabling its customers in industries including healthcare, automotive, and consumer goods to accelerate product innovation and create breakthrough products that are digitally manufactured at scale.
Additionally, Carbon will use the funds to invest in its ongoing development of recyclable and biocompatible materials and to accelerate the expansion of its software capabilities including Carbon’s Digital Manufacturing Cloud. Carbon’s software objectives will emphasize automated design tools focused on algorithmic lattice generation, as well as improved digital factory workflow, including fleet monitoring, quality control, and compliance information management. As part of this expansion, Carbon will continue developing and improving the automation, monitoring, and analytics software that enables large-scale production on the Carbon Platform.
“What impresses me about Carbon is their diversification across markets and industries,” said Greg Penner, Founder and General Partner at Madrone Capital Partners and Chairman of Walmart. “Through their partnerships with large-scale manufacturers in automotive, healthcare, and consumer goods, they are proving that, with their Digital Light Synthesis™ technology, additive manufacturing in larger scale production is becoming a reality across industry sectors. This is an inflection point for the company, and we’re proud to be able to contribute to Carbon’s future success.”
Founded in 2013, Carbon has expanded to over 400 employees with world-class talent globally, including new C-level executives and a seasoned board of directors with an impressive track record of leadership across multiple industries. Team expansion plans include investing in the company’s sales, marketing, and customer experience to continue fueling Carbon’s growth.
“At Baillie Gifford, we seek to invest in companies capable of delivering transformational growth over the long term,” said Peter Singlehurst, Investment Manager at Baillie Gifford. “Through a combination of technical and business model innovation, Carbon is delivering on the promise of additive manufacturing, and in the process growing rapidly into an enormous opportunity. The thoughtful way in which the team at Carbon is building the company and the strong emphasis on the values and culture of the organization make us incredibly proud to support the company in their growth round.”
Now operational in 14 countries, the Carbon Platform has seen a 33X increase in print volumes over the past 12 months and more than a 5X increase in print hours. The company has also released 17 new third-party resins and three new first-party resins over the past year. This consistent growth speaks to the success customers across a diverse range of industries are having on the Carbon Platform as they upgrade their analog manufacturing workflows to a digital factory of the future.
“Carbon’s business model is as innovative as its technology. Its “hybrid SaaS” business model is an industry first for manufacturing, enabling a high level of predictability and recurring revenue,” said Ellen Kullman, Lead Director of Carbon and former Chairman and CEO of DuPont. “Having designed smart hardware from the ground up that is updatable via regular, over-the-air software upgrades, the team is ushering in a new era of high-tech manufacturing, one destined to unlock the full promise of Industry 4.0.”
