3D Printing Technology Market Overview and Innovation Quadrant – Q1 2017

The following post highlights how Venture Scanner categorizes the 3D Printing Technology startup landscape, and presents our Innovation Quadrant showing how those categories compare to one another. The data for this post is through March 2017.

The above sector map organizes the sector into 9 categories and shows a sampling of companies in each category.

Our Innovation Quadrant provides a snapshot of the average funding and average age for the different 3D Printing Technology categories and how they compare with one another.

• Heavyweights: These categories are comprised of companies that have reached maturity with significant financing.
• Established: These categories are comprised of companies that have reached maturity with less financing.
• Disruptors: These categories are comprised of companies that are less mature with significant financing.
• Pioneers: These categories are comprised of companies that are less mature with earlier stages of financing.

The definitions of the 3D Printing Technology categories are as follows

3D Printer Manufacturers: Companies that manufacture 3D printers and accompanying hardware (e.g. injection heads). There are numerous players in this space from large incumbents, to emerging crowdfunded projects.

3D Printing Applications: Companies that highlight specific use cases and advantages of 3D printing (e.g. mass customization). Emerging trends in the space are health, dental, consumer applications (e.g. custom eyewear), rapid manufacturing.

3D Printing CAD Software: Computer Aided Design software that enables users to upload, create, and modify 3D models. Some of the newer CAD software can be used directly through the browser, reducing friction for e-commerce websites or consumer facing services.

3D Printing Communities: Groups and websites that organize multiple users around 3D printing.

3D Printing Marketplaces: Marketplaces that connect two parties around 3D printing products and services. This can include the finalized 3D products (e.g. jewelry, action figures), CAD files, and proposals (e.g. designers looking for bids from manufacturers).

3D Printing Materials: Providers of 3D printing materials such as proprietary plastic filament (e.g. acrylonitrile butadiene styrene) or resin.

3D Printing Networks: 3D printing networks connect to printers via the cloud and enable features such as wireless printing and job reporting.

3D Printing Services: Companies in this category provide 3D printing as an outsourced service for their customers. Services can vary on a spectrum from consulting (e.g. design, create, scan, print) to only managing one aspect of the value chain (e.g. upload your design to print, scanning service only).

3D Scanners: Companies that manufacture scanning equipment used to create digital models of 3D objects. Models can then be reprinted or modified and shared using compatible software. Includes industrial 3D scanners, consumer-focused scanners, and do-it-yourself scanners on crowdfunding websites.

We are currently tracking 375 3D Printing Technology companies in 9 categories across 41 countries, with a total of $1.4 Billion in funding. Click here to learn more about the full 3D Printing Technology report and database.