As the additive market continues to mature, the news of mergers and acquisitions will undoubtedly continue to percolate, capitalizing on opportunities to boost innovation efforts and better position companies to meet evolving market needs.
Today, Desktop Metal Inc. announced the signing of a definitive agreement to acquire EnvisionTEC for total consideration of $300 million, consisting of a combination of cash and newly issued Desktop Metal stock. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2021, subject to customary closing conditions. Following completion of the acquisition, EnvisionTEC will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Desktop Metal. EnvisionTEC with founder Al Siblani continuing to serve as CEO of the EnvisionTEC business.
EnvisionTEC is a true pioneer and responsible for many of the leading technologies widely used today to produce end-use photopolymer parts through additive manufacturing,” said Ric Fulop, founder and Chief Executive Officer of Desktop Metal, in a statement. “Together, Desktop Metal and EnvisionTEC have an opportunity to shape the future of Additive Manufacturing 2.0 and transform how parts are made around the world.”
“Bringing the two companies together will deliver a global footprint of customers that can cross-benefit from our combined technology platforms,” said Siblani in a statement.” I believe we have many opportunities to scale the business, disrupt traditional manufacturing, expand our customer base, and create value for our shareholders.”
As the original inventor of digital light processing (DLP) 3D printing technology, EnvisionTEC sports a solid IP portfolio in the area wide photopolymer 3D printing market, counting over 140 issued and pending patents.
Today, EnvisionTEC has over five thousand customers across a broad range of industries, including medical devices, jewelry, automotive, aerospace, and biofabrication. In addition, the company is a leader in the dental market, more than tripling the number of Envision One dental shipments from 2019 to 2020 and with over 1,000 dental customers now using its printers for end-use parts. Key customers include Cartier, Celgene, Ford, Hasbro, Oral Arts, Stuller, and Smile Direct Club. In addition to extensive customer adoption, EnvisionTEC has a broad library of over 190 materials, featuring photopolymer resins with material properties in-line with or exceeding those of thermoplastics and multiple FDA-listed and 510(K)-cleared resins for the manufacturing of medical devices. The company augments its robust proprietary material development efforts with a selectively open business model, leveraging relationships with major chemical companies such as Henkel Loctite, DSM Somos, Detax, Keystone, Adaptive3D, and Arkema to sell third-party, industry-validated resins for use with its additive manufacturing platforms.
EnvisionTEC brings a compelling product portfolio for producing photopolymers under Desktop Metal’s umbrella, including the new Envision One and Xtreme 8K printing platforms. The Xtreme 8K platform, which is expected to begin commercial shipments in the first quarter of 2021, features the largest build area among production-grade DLP printers. The Envision One platform, which includes models for dental, medical and industrial segments and for high temperature resins, leverages patented continuous digital light manufacturing (cDLM) and domeless basement technologies to deliver high-speed, end-use parts production with exceptional accuracy.
The acquisition more than doubles Desktop Metal’s global distribution network and increases its geographic sales capabilities to 68 countries around the world. EnvisionTEC adds a robust set of vertically-focused partners in the dental and jewelry markets, which Desktop Metal plans to leverage to sell its metal additive manufacturing solutions. In addition, Desktop Metal’s horizontally-focused channel partners will provide an outlet for distributing EnvisionTEC products and scaling its sales, particularly in industrial, education, and R&D segments.
Desktop Metal tells IndustryWeek, while the companies will remain separate entities for the time being, there will be some immediate synergies they plan to tap into. Specifically, like digital casting capabilities. The plan is to combine EnvisionTEC’s patented industrial-scale robotic additive manufacturing (RAM) offering with Desktop Metal patent-pending Single Pass Jetting technology to improve part economics and speed for large castings.
