John Lee johnlee1 15-294 Company Profile 4/22/15

Formlabs is a private 3D printer design and manufacturing company. The company was founded by Maxim Lobovsky, David Cranor, and Natan Linder. These founders were MIT students who met while taking a class called "How to Make (almost) Anything." In September 2011, Formlabs was officially established as a company that develops affordable and easy-to- use 3D printers. In November 2012, 3D Systems sued Formlabs and claimed rights to the stereolithography technology used by the Form 1. In October 2013, Formlabs closed a Series A round of $19 million. This financing came from DFJ Growth, Innovation Endeavors, Pitango Venture Capital, and returning angel investors. Formlabs is currently based in Somerville, Massachusetts and has offices around the . Formlabs publicly announced its first product in October 2012 through a Kickstarter campaign. The Form 1 received $2.95 million in funding and was a record-breaking crowdfunding project. In May 2013, the Form 1 began to be shipped out. In June 2014, the Form 1+ was released with improved speed, print quality, and reliability. The Form 1+ printer is currently about $3,300. Formlabs also distributes PreForm, a software that prepares 3D models for printing. This software does support-structure generation and automatic orientation. Formlabs also sells general-purpose resin that is compatible with their 3D printers. This hard plastic resin is available in grey, white, clear, and black. They also sell flexible resin and resin specialized for casting. The castable resin is specifically designed to burn out cleanly and without residue. Lastly, they also sell finishing kits which include rinse tubs, flush cutters, tweezers, and more. The Form 1 uses stereolithography. Stereolithography is an additive manufacturing process that transform liquid resin into a solid by the use of a laser light. This technology is very useful for and model making. Because of this, the Form 1 has popularity with engineers, artists, and designers. Formlabs has three major distribute partners. These are Elite Robotics in , Express Group in Europe, and iGo3D in . Formlabs has not gone through any acquisitions. Major competitors include 3D Systems, Stratasys, and MakerBot, all of which also sell desktop 3D printers. A current obstacle faced by Formlabs is competition from Chinese knock-offs. Autodesk had released an open source design of a SLA-based 3D printer that is similar to the Form 1. Additionally, hardware hackers have targeted Formlabs. In terms of publicity, Formlabs has received much attention. Formlabs was one company spotlighted in 's documentary "Print the Legend." Additionally, the company has received awards from Makezine, Design Museum, Core77, and Popular Science. The future looks bright for Formlabs. The Form 1 has been used in research for anatomical model making, millifluidic devices, and molecular models. In engineering it has been used for suturing devices, robotic grippers, engine design, and 3D printed lenses. In the field of art it has been used to make 3D printed films, models, and various art pieces. Additionally it has been incorporated into maker spaces along with laser cutting and other high-precision rapid prototyping technologies. Because of the various applications of , affordable desktop 3D printers will become more and more common. Because of this there is a growing market for Formlabs. In terms of careers available at Formlabs, positions are available in the fields of hardware, software, marketing , materials, and operations. Engineers to UX designers materials scientists are needed at the company. This is because 3D printing is a complicated and delicate physical process that requires software that can inform users on how to easily do their printing without understanding the physical processes involved in the printing (physics, materials, geometry, etc.). Formlabs current head of global marketing is Colin Raney. He is targeting professional designers and engineers with the Form 1. This is in contrast to companies like MakerBot where the goal is for 3D printing to become popular with everyday people. Raney believes that although there is hype for 3D printing to replace manufacturing, it is not reasonable to think it will reach the level where people will just print anything they need at home. Raney is focused rather on enabling engineers and designers to create things that cannot be done in any way outside of 3D printing. Formlabs can currently ship all products to Canada, Mexico, the , , New Zealand, Singapore, and and 31 different European countries. The company intends on continuing their expansion.

Sources: http://formlabs.com/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formlabs http://www.wired.com/2014/08/ideo-director-joins-formlabs-to-grow-3-d-printing-market/