Chaos continues to reign in the industrial 3D-printing space as former tech leader Desktop Metal has emerged from bankruptcy and its former parent company, Nano Dimension, has fired its CEO in a bid to restructure itself.
A quick recap of the history:
In 2023, additive manufacturing was a hot investment topic, and major companies announced several multi-billion-dollar mergers, almost all of which collapsed before consummation. In 2024, Nano Dimension agreed to buy Desktop Metal for $183 million but almost immediately tried to back out of the deal. Desktop Metal sued, forcing the completion of the sale, and Nano Dimension quickly forced its newly acquired subsidiary into bankruptcy proceedings, seeking at various points to liquidate its former partner instead of letting it reorganize.
This week, Arc Public Benefit Corp., a New York-based investment company, bought Desktop Metal out of bankruptcy for an undisclosed sum. Arc officials named longtime DM chief operating officer Thomas Nogueira as the reformed company’s CEO.
Arc CEO Bryan Wisk said he and his partners see Desktop Metal in the same light as Bell Labs, AT&T’s research and development wing that drove massive communications technology advancements throughout the 20th century.
“AT&T’s position in long-distance telephony created a steady stream of real problems (“pull”), and a vertically integrated engine—from research to Western Electric manufacturing—turned answers into deployed infrastructure (“lab-through-production”),” Wisk said in a blog post. “Arc acquired Desktop Metal because we want to build the 21st-century idea factory—open to every company, not just one.”
Arc officials say the reformed Desktop Metal will focus on defense, automotive and aerospace parts—combining binder-jet metal and ceramic printing, production-grade polymer platforms and AI-assisted materials development.
Nogueira said, “Our north star is simple: Put advanced, automated manufacturing back to work in domestic markets.”
While Desktop Metal returns to the market, its former parent may be heading in the other direction. Earlier this month, the company fired Ofir Baharav – who became CEO last December after an earlier shakeup – and replaced him with David S. Stehlin, a board member who joined Nano Dimension in February.
As part of the change, Nano Dimension invoked the “strategic alternatives” language, a sign to Wall Street that the company is up for sale, restructuring or bankruptcy.
“I recognize that Nano Dimension has been going through a very challenging period, but we now have a strong understanding of the value we can unlock through a clear focus on fiscal responsibility and targeted growth opportunities,” Stehlin said when he took over as CEO.
