Incus GmbH, an Austrian 3D-printing manufacturer specialized in Lithography-based Metal Manufacturing (LMM), closed a Series A investment round in Q4 2021, also including existing investor AM Ventures. The company is also bringing onboard industry veteran Adrian Keppler, former CEO of world market leader in Powder Bed Fusion systems EOS GmbH, as an investor and growth consultant.
Incus was founded in 2019 and received seed investment from AM Ventures, known for their investments in additive manufacturing (AM) businesses. Since its inception, Incus has brought its flagship 3D-printing solution, Hammer Lab35, into series production and acquired new partners in Europe and Asia. With this Series A investment Incus will accelerate the development of its LMM technology and further industrialize its current AM solution. Incus will team up with industry leaders to get broad feedback on their expectations in industrialized AM part production with a new printer concept including a larger building volume and simplification of post-processing steps. This evolution in combination with automation will lower the cost per part and allow the manufacturing of larger parts at the same printing speed.
“The continued support of our investors underscores the potential of our technology and enables us to expand our operational and R&D capability,” stated Dr. Gerald Mitteramskogler, CEO of Incus. “Our production-scale printer is symbolic of our future goals. In sinter-based AM, post-processing and the manual work it entails is time-consuming and we are planning to provide new solutions to simplify these steps, especially for smaller parts.”
Manufacturing on Demand
The printing of the green parts is followed by several steps such as cleaning and preparing to create the final product. For smaller, complex parts, the fine cleaning step might account for more than 50% of the total manufacturing costs due to manual labor. As a part of their LMM technology, Incus is developing new ways of simplifying these steps to minimize labor via automation and reduce costs.
“Post-processing is one of the biggest pain points in additive manufacturing. We believe that with Incus and the LMM technology we have a manufacturing solution in our portfolio that can bring the industry closer to a practical solution for mass manufacturing,” added Johann Oberhofer, Managing Partner at AM Ventures.
In the last two years, Incus has grown its team of experts from four to 16 employees and is now bringing Adrian Keppler, industry expert and former CEO of EOS GmbH, on board as an investor offering guidance on the growth journey ahead. Keppler will help to transform Incus from a product to a solution business focusing on overall customer success.
“Any new industrial AM solution has to prove additional value. The Incus LMM technology is competing with Metal Injection Moulding, Powder Metallurgy as well as Investment casting processes. We are working with world-leading companies active in the Incus core industries to transform applications from traditional to additive manufacturing. These success stories are key for the further adoption of the LMM technology and development from niche to mainstream,” comments Keppler. “I’m excited to join the Incus Team, help them bring their technology to the forefront of the industry, and to profitably grow the business.”
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Author: Davide Sher
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