South Carolina-based ZVerse has quickly risen in status in the 3D printing industry since we first covered them in 2014. With a robust portfolio of licensed sports memorabilia, the company was soon earning over $1 million in revenue through the use of their LAYR™ software, capable of transforming 2D images to full-color, 3D printable models with ease. By last summer, ZVerse had received $3.5 million in funding and had already been an important member in a partnership with Source3 and Capcom. In what may be their biggest move yet, today, ZVerse announced a non-exclusive software reseller agreement with Japanese tech giant Konica Minolta.
The agreement will see Konica Minolta’s sales force sell access to ZVerse LAYR™, the firm’s 2D-to-3D content creation platform. LAYR is an appealing solution for established brands given the facility with which existing assets can be made into 3D models, which are then 3D printed in fully color using 3D Systems’ ColorJet Printing technology. More or less instantly, a brand can create a wide range of products without the obstacles posed by true 3D modeling.
John Carrington, ZVerse CEO, elaborates, “The biggest challenge to widespread adoption of 3D printing, is that you need a 3D file. And creating these files can be a very inefficient and expensive process. We designed the ZVerse LAYR™ platform to solve the challenge of 3D printable content creation. ZVerse LAYR™ is a turnkey suite of software applications that make any 2D content 3D printable. Simply put, We 3D 2D.”
Carrington also spoke to how the new agreement with the Japanese leader expands its existing customer base, which already includes commercial printer companies, as well as global marketing agencies, architects, engineers, and educational institutions. He says, “The Konica Minolta partnership will extend our reach in mature markets beginning with 300 print production specialists who will be offering the solution to their customers in North America. We are very excited about this partnership which supports our mission to make all 2D content 3D printable.”
Gavin Jordan-Smith, Vice President of Solutions and Production Planning at Konica Minolta, too gave his input on the deal, by saying, “We are very excited about this partnership. We are already successfully selling a line of 3D printers, but the ZVerse LAYR™ platform takes the opportunity to an entirely new level. We are bundling ZVerse services with a 3D printer, or alternatively, we are selling the services platform and sales training to enable them to enter the market without an equipment investment. It’s a key strategic partnership for us.”
Konica Minolta will begin offering ZVerse LAYR™ software in the second quarter of this year. Not only does this demonstrate the growing popularity of ZVerse’s own platform, but it also represents the increased investment of Konica Minolta in 3D printing. They first began reselling 3D Systems’ CJP technology in 2014, so throwing LAYR software into a package is certainly a reasonable conclusion.
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