As we had been including the ending touches to the primary of what is going to be a quarterly characteristic of our Deep Dives and e-newsletter content material, some somewhat weighty, and really related, information dropped.
For an editor who thought they may tick off one other job on the to-do checklist, it is the worst form.
For an editor who was masking the Nice AM M&A Saga of 2023, it is the very worst form, truly.
Our first-ever Deep Dives e-newsletter centered on this very subject. As Nano Dimension chased Stratasys, and as Stratasys pursued a $1.8m merger with Desktop Steel, and as 3D Techniques did its highest to wade in on the motion, we explored the implications of the varied potential outcomes, the exterior pressures affecting the businesses concerned, and sought to evaluate the place it might all find yourself – a valiant effort, I am certain you may agree.
The plan for our Deep Dives content material then was to supply a long-form characteristic centered on AM financials and enterprise issues each quarter. We by no means received round to it. Till now.
As happenstance would have it, the massive enterprise story of the yr to this point got here this week, as Stratasys acquired MarkForged from Nano Dimension for almost a 3rd of the worth of Nano’s personal acquisition of MarkForged 13 months in the past. Bored with this, already? Advantageous, we can’t dwell on it too lengthy.
The headlines are this:
- In April 2025, Nano Dimension (lastly) accomplished its acquisition of MarkForged in a deal price $116 million ($5.00 per share) and rapidly discarded Desktop Steel – one other of its short-lived and somewhat costly acquisitions – for a lower than ideally suited fraction of the acquisition value.
- All through 2025, Nano Dimension generated $102.4 million, of which roughly $70 million could possibly be attributed to MarkForged merchandise.
- But, by means of a mix of direct and oblique working prices, Nano has reported $15m in annualised money burn that it expects to save lots of with the sale of MarkForged.
So, as Stratasys presses on to finish the deal this yr, what’s it shopping for? Effectively, to make use of a sporting analogy, MarkForged is sort of a younger prodigy who breaks by means of at a younger age, exhibiting all of the potential and seemingly having all of the instruments, solely to by no means fairly reside as much as the hype. Due to the hope and the promise, nevertheless, they’re the sort of participant who by no means will get utterly written off. And although it is truly been greater than a decade since their emergence, the commentariat continues to speak about them sooner or later tense, as if the potential should still be realised.
And it could but be. However Stratasys may have knots to untangle and hurdles to beat whether it is to take action.
MarkForged introduced a working know-how to market, serving to to fly the flag for composite 3D printing and combat the combat for extra accessible steel AM options. However a number of patent infringement disputes slowed its progress and did nothing good for its status, the worth level of its polymer and composite machines has proved to be a barrier for adoption, and its steadfast refusal to open up these machines to third-party materials merchandise has proved a degree of rivalry for customers. It burdened itself with a hefty quantity of enterprise capital, was among the many a number of failed SPAC public listings of the Covid period, and has been purchased and offered by Nano in simply over a yr. Unshackling this baggage will likely be no imply feat.
