PRESS RELEASE
The new funding will expand production of the Inkbit Vista in the U.S. and beyond
Boston, MA – July 20, 2021 – Inkbit, the company that built the first 3D printing system driven by vision-based feedback control, today announced the closing of $30M in its Series B round of financing. The new funding, led by Phoenix Venture Partners LLC (PVP), will boost production of the company’s additive manufacturing system, Inkbit Vista, and grow the commercial team to support expansion into the APAC and EMEA regions.
PVP’s Managing General Partner, John T. Chen, stated, “As the leading investor in materials science enabled technologies, PVP sees the technology Inkbit has commercialized as a total game changer to the additive manufacturing industry because it solves the key bottlenecks preventing 3D printing from being adopted for mass manufacturing of high-quality finished goods. We are pleased to help Inkbit in its scaleup phase and welcome it as the newest member of the PVP portfolio.”
“Inkbit is currently experiencing significant growth and we are excited to have the opportunity to continue to build our talented team and scale the company to meet customer demand,” said Davide Marini, CEO and co-founder of Inkbit. “The opportunities for additive manufacturing are growing as adoption of 3D printing for full-scale production increases. We look forward to using our raised capital to continue evolving and innovating within this dynamic industry.”
Launched in February 2021, Inkbit Vista unlocks the potential of additive manufacturing at scale for Inkbit’s partners and customers.
“We are excited to continue our journey with Inkbit and its unique jetting technology powered by machine vision and AI,” said Guy Menchik, CTO of Stratasys. “We believe Inkbit’s novel approach enables expansion to new applications for end-use polymer part production, opening up new manufacturing use cases across multiple verticals.”
“The Inkbit team and their technology have been an invaluable resource as we push the boundaries of additive manufacturing” said Matt Whelan, Head of New Concept Design, Ocado PLC. “We are very happy to support their growth ambitions by participating in this latest funding round.”
Inkbit Vista features a patented Vision-Controlled jetting technology that enables real-time, in-process voxel-level control to meet the reliability and performance demands of volume manufacturing. Coupled with the system’s multi-material printing capabilities, the Inkbit Vista unleashes design freedom and enables manufacturers to bring 3D printing of entire assemblies into a full-scale production environment.
Since spinning out of the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) at MIT in 2017, Inkbit has raised a total of $45M in equity investments from investors such as Stratasys, DSM Venturing, Ocado, 3M, IMA and Saint-Gobain. The closing of this Series B funding round comes on the heels of major milestones, such as Inkbit’s recent award from the United States Airforce to build Inkbit systems for use at USAF bases across the country, and builds upon work funded by DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) to develop Inkbit’s proprietary vision system. For more information about Inkbit, please visit inkbit3d.wpengine.com.
About Inkbit
Inkbit strives to eliminate the existing chasm between prototyping and manufacturing to enable rapid, on-demand manufacturing of multi-material, end-use products. Using computer science to improve manufacturing, Inkbit developed the first 3D printer powered by machine vision and real-time feedback control to meet the speed, precision and reliability requirements of volume production. Based in Medford, MA, Inkbit is a 2017 spinout of the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) at MIT. Inkbit’s technology is based on research led by Prof. Wojciech Matusik and intellectual property licensed from MIT. Early supporters include the MIT Deshpande Center, the MIT Industrial Liaison Program (STEX25) and The MIT Engine Network. To learn more about Inkbit, please visit https://inkbit3d.wpengine.com.