MakerBot and Ultimaker, two leaders in the desktop 3-D printing arena, announced earlier this month that they plan to merge to accelerate the adoption of additive manufacturing (AM) by providing a comprehensive desktop 3-D printing ecosystem of hardware, software, and materials.

The new entity will be backed by existing investors, NPM Capital and Stratasys and will benefit from a planned cash investment of $62.4 million to fuel innovation and expansion into new markets. The merged company will be led by Nadav Goshen, MakerBot CEO, who will manage operations and R&D and Jürgen von Hollen, Ultimaker CEO, who will be responsible for commercial functions.

Ultimaker CEO Jürgen von Hollen said: “This merger marks an important milestone for Ultimaker and MakerBot. Innovation and growth are both critical to bringing desktop 3-D printing from a specialty technology into mainstream business adoption. The new company will leverage and expand its combined global footprint with sales and operations in the Americas, EMEA and APAC.”

MakerBot CEO Nadav Goshen added: “Technological innovation is paramount in growing the availability of easy-to-use professional 3-D printing solutions. By combining our teams and leveraging the additional funding, we can accelerate the development of advanced solutions to provide our customers with a broad portfolio of hardware and software solutions to serve a wide spectrum of customers and applications.”

The new entity will aim to offer easy-to-use and accessible desktop 3-D printing solutions for any application while inspiring industry to a future state of responsible and sustainable manufacturing.

The new company will maintain headquarters in both the Netherlands and the USA. The transaction is subject to consultation of appropriate employee-representative bodies and regulatory approvals, with closing currently expected over the course of the second or third quarters of 2022.