A really very long time in the past, in 2023, the additive manufacturing (AM) trade was enraptured over the makes an attempt by a big chunk of its publicly traded unique gear producers (OEMs) to amass each other. In the end, none of these initially floated offers went by way of, though one of many gamers within the fracas, Nano Dimension, did finally take over one other of the gamers, Desktop Metallic, and adopted up on that deal the subsequent 12 months with the acquisition of Markforged, an organization that hadn’t even been on the desk in 2023.
A lot of that unusual time within the trade’s historical past was pushed by Nano Dimension’s repeated efforts to execute a hostile takeover of Stratasys, which supplies some notably attention-grabbing context for the newest AM trade deal: Stratasys will buy Markforged from Nano Dimension in an all-cash deal valued at $42.5 million. Stratasys will get the whole lot aside from Markforged’s metallic binder jetting (MBJ) enterprise, constructed by way of the corporate’s personal 2022 acquisition of Sweden’s Digital Metallic for $40 million in money and shares.
So, Nano Dimension is now an MBJ firm. Positive, why not! The corporate already offered its unique enterprise line, which revolved round 3D printed electronics, in April, following Desktop Metallic’s declaration of chapter final 12 months, leading to elements of the latter firm’s portfolio being acquired by Anzu Companions and the flagship Desktop Metallic MBJ model being rescued by ARC Impression. So far as I can inform, basically nothing of what stays of Nano Dimension has something to do with what the corporate’s enterprise mannequin was as not too long ago as 3 years in the past, and maybe that’s for one of the best. Possibly it’s going to attempt to copy the pivot that ARC is making with the Desktop Metallic rump state.
In any case, Stratasys is the true protagonist right here, and I believe this acquisition makes much more sense than any of the chances that had been up within the air in 2023, apart from possibly the 3D Methods supply to merge with Stratasys. This deal, nevertheless, is way much less of a threat and suits a lot the identical profile, albeit on a smaller scale, because the upsides within the hypothetical 3D Methods merger: minimizing redundancy by maximizing synergy. As an illustration, Stratasys and Markforged each excel at tooling functions, particularly in automotive, they usually each even have ample expertise with plane inside functions.
Other than the distinction in model longevity — Stratasys is, after all, one of many trade’s pioneers, whereas Markforged emerged within the 2010s — the largest differentiator between the 2 manufacturers most likely lies in Markforged’s metallic extrusion capabilities, which I believe the corporate has leveraged very properly in recent times by way of a print engine adaptor for its FX 10 system. Earlier this 12 months, Stratasys invested in Tritone Applied sciences, the OEM of a novel spin on MBJ, so Stratasys didn’t want the Digital Metallic division.
All in all, Stratasys acquired one of the best bits from an organization that did $70 million in income final 12 months, and that Nano Dimension itself acquired for round $120 million in 2024, for simply over $40 million, which looks as if an awesome worth regardless of the way you slice it.
In a press launch about Stratasys’s acquisition of Markforged, Yoav Zeif, the CEO of Stratasys, stated, “This acquisition additional advances our capabilities to fulfill clients’ rising wants in essential areas comparable to protection and aerospace at a time when additive manufacturing continues to displace conventional manufacturing for top requirement functions in manufacturing. We consider that our groups can instantly reinvigorate income development by including MarkForged, Inc.’s merchandise and software program techniques as we leverage our main companion networks. We’re assured this transaction will strengthen Stratasys’ place in most of the largest and most structurally essential industries the place efficiency, provide chain resilience, reliability, and scalability are important.”
Zeif is appropriate that protection is certainly one space the place Markforged has rather a lot to supply Stratasys, now that they’ve joined forces. Stratasys isn’t any stranger to the protection trade, however Markforged provides its new mother or father company instant, further capability that aligns completely with what the latter is already doing.
Markforged X7 Area Version. Picture courtesy of Markforged
Particularly, each manufacturers have current relationships with the US Navy surrounding deployable 3D printers, together with a minimum of one Markforged X7 put in on a submarine. Stratasys may additionally definitely profit from incorporating the Markforged Digital Forge stock platform into its ecosystem, given the Navy’s ramp-up of its digital stock capability.
Once you get down into the weeds of the corporate that may outcome from this acquisition, one of the crucial attention-grabbing prospects is how Stratasys may gain advantage from leveraging the aforementioned metallic equipment for the FX10 to a few of its personal product strains. Maybe no potential exists there, but when Stratasys can study from its new subsidiary to use the identical rules to sure Stratasys machines, that’s a really low cost path in direction of successfully doubling the addressable market of each polymer machine that may be viably mixed with a metallic adaptor.
The primary takeaway for me is that one of the best acquisitions are inclined to go to the businesses that may afford to be affected person. Stratasys may’ve accomplished what Nano Dimension did in 2024 and, unwilling to only sit on its palms and wait, paid over $100 million for Markforged. As a substitute, Stratasys bided its time and fewer than a few years later, snapped up the exact same firm (much less the Digital Metallic division) for a cut price. With its Tritone funding, Stratasys now has two totally different metallic 3D printing applied sciences, and Markforged has entry to Stratasys’s international footprint. Given all of the chaos of 2023, the end result in 2026 is arguably the best-case state of affairs for one of many longest-standing corporations within the AM trade.
Featured picture courtesy of Stratasys
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